Iberia

Iberia is running a very interesting Valentine's Day promotion in which it's selling gift cards with a discount of 25%. With Iberia gift cards valid for travel on any Iberia operated route this is essentially a 25% discount on Iberia air fares....but there are conditions you need to be aware of.

I recently took the opportunity to try out the Iberia A350 Business Class cabin while the airline was still flying its newest aircraft on short-haul routes around Europe. After my flight landed I took the opportunity to walk a little further back in the aircraft to see what the A350's Premium Economy & Economy Class cabins looked like.

Iberia took delivery of its first two Airbus A350s back in July and since then it has mostly been flying them on various short-haul routes around Europe as the airline gets its crews accustomed to the new aircraft. The first Iberia A350 finally flew its inaugural long-haul flight in early August when it took over one of the airline’s two Madrid – New York JFK flights while the second A350 took over the second flight on the New York route this Saturday just gone (1 September).

If you're one of the lucky people who have received their Avios from the recent Iberia Promotion (a.k.a the Iberia fiasco, a.k.a the "what were they thinking?" promotion) you may be looking for ways to spend your newly acquired bounty. The Avios from the Iberia promotion can't be transferred over to the British Airways Executive Club but that still leaves you with a lot of options.

If you're looking to fly to the US in comfort early next year or if you're just looking to edge yourself closer to the oneworld status you're aiming for there are a couple of good Iberia Business Class fares out of Madrid that may interest you.

As regular readers of this blog will know I like to try out new aircraft and new premium cabins in the most cost effective way I can find. This usually involves booking flights on new aircraft while the airlines are testing them out on short-haul routes before letting them loose on the longer routes they were designed to fly.

Iberia is taking delivery of its first Airbus A350 later this year but, while the airline confirmed that the aircraft's first long-haul route would be to New York, we've been kept in the dark about the launch date for the new route and the schedule on which the aircraft will fly. That was until today.

Last week we discovered that British Airways (together with American Airlines, Iberia and Finnair) will start offering Basic Economy fares across the Atlantic from April of this year. Today the airline has announced that April will see Basic Economy fares rolled out to other markets too.

In an announcement to the travel industry British Airways has confirmed that it and its fellow transatlantic joint venture partners will offer "unbundled fares" on select transatlantic routes from as early as next month. In plain speak this means that oneworld Basic Economy fares are about to be unleashed on the flying public. Here's everything you need to know.

I have done more than my fair share of American Airlines bashing over the past two years (it has been well deserved) but, right now, I'm incredibly grateful for some truly fantastic service from the airline after it got us out of a serious mess of Iberia's making.