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Answers (5)

Iberia Avios booking and phantom biz availability?

Iberia Avios booking and phantom biz availability?

  1. Richard37075 New Member

    Good morning. And TIA for any assistance you can provide.

    I’m currently working on gathering information for a Fall European trip (November 18,19 – 28) for my wife and I. We are in Nashville so it’s normally tricky to get to the gateway city on an award ticket (for most availability), especially in Biz.

    We are thinking a few days possibly in Mallorca at the new Park Hyatt, then flying up Germany (Berlin or Hamburg) for the start of the Christmas markets. I have found Biz space on Iberia from ORD-Mad-PMI, then TXL or HAM-Mad-JFK (or ORD). I will use some AA points, or purchase the legs independently and hope they can check bags all the way through since it’s still Oneworld. I guess I could also use Aeroplan with Amexpoints but trying to get that in biz has proven difficult (or without a ton of taxes on LH).

    Here is my dilemma and question. I will need to transfer Amex Points to IB Avios to be able to do this and I have ready horror stories about phantom availability on other airlines. The only place I can see availability is on IBs web site. Expert Flyer gives me an error when I try and do that search. How can I confirm real availability before I pull the trigger to transfer 200,000 or so Amex points for the trip?

    Would calling AA be the way to check? I have 320Kish points with AA and my wife is Gold. I could let them check and confirm possibly?

    I also have about 115K Chase UR and about the same SPG points but I really would like to save those for possibly Hyatt transfers for UR or room nights with SPG.

    Any other suggestions for getting over there that anyway has would be gladly considered and welcomed.

  2. MidSouthSkier Community Ambassador

    [USER=2057]@Richard37075[/USER] – welcome! I’m just down I-40 in Memphis (and am from Nashville originally).

    For the ORD-MAD leg I used EF and did not see space on the 17th or 18th (and got an error on the 19th). On BA’s site I only see connecting flights via LHR. So that might imply the space is only available to customers with IB Avios. I think you’re going to have to call Iberia – though I welcome any suggestions others may have.

  3. Richard37075 New Member

    Thank you MidSouth. I appreciate the input and assitance. Ironically, if I just put in a search ORD-MAD I don’t have a biz class option, but if I complete the 1st leg, ORD-MAD and MAD-PMI I find biz class all the way for 48,000/seat plus fees. This is what concerns me about transferring points. Maybe IB site is coming up with an error. I haven’t had good luck with EF matching up with Iberian web site, so that’s another conern.

  4. Gaurav Community Ambassador

    [USER=2057]@Richard37075[/USER] Welcome. I think [USER=184]@MidSouth Skier[/USER] suggestion to call IB is your best option.

  5. Anonymous Guest

    Welcome [USER=2057]@Richard37075[/USER]!

    Sadly, I’m putting $1 on phantom space. One of the hallmarks of fake space is if you see availability on a connecting route, but not the individual segments.

    But, do call! AA might be able to see the space, and Iberia has been known to impose married segment logic, so it could actually be there.

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