How anyone can get a Business Class ticket to Europe for about the price of Premium Economy
Not everyone has a Scrooge McDuck vault full of miles and points stashed in their various accounts. That means you must use yours carefully to get as many premium class tickets as possible for the finite number of miles and points you have. Sounds obvious, but it’s rarely an easy task.
Until now.
For a short time — through August 31 — Amex is offering a transfer bonus with Iberia, the national airline of Spain. It means Iberia Plus members (anyone can join in minutes) can get a 30% bonus on the transfer. Yes, we’ve seen 40% and 50% transfer bonuses in the past, but if you’re considering booking anytime soon, a duck in hand is worth two in the pond.
Where the Birding Is Good
Use our handy FCF availability treasure map towards the bottom of this report to fish with. Availability at the time of publication is decent. Validate with Iberia for your particular dates before transferring miles in case things change, as they often can.
Business Class Cost in Miles
Iberia operates a flight-distance award chart, so the miles required are based on the length of the flight.
53,000 low season / 77,000 high season round-trip:
(Normally 68,000 / 100,000)
Madrid to/from Boston, Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC
66,000 low season / 97,000 high season round-trip:
(Normally 85,000 / 125,000)
Madrid to/from Dallas and Miami
79,000 low season / 116,000 high season round-trip:
(Normally 102,000 / 150,000)
Madrid to/from Los Angeles and San Francisco
More information on round-trip Business Class flights between the U.S. and Madrid for low-season and high-season dates.
No Amex Points?
Duck Below and Get Some
If you don’t have many or any Amex points, you can buy them for 2.5 cents each. The 30% transfer bonus brings that down to 1.9 cents. Let’s get the calculator out: It means you can buy that ticket to Madrid from Boston, Chicago, New York, or Washington, DC, for just $1,567, including taxes, round-trip.
Now, if you don’t live in one of the airline’s U.S. hub cities — Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, or Washington, DC — you can travel from, or get a stopover in, the U.S. hub city coming and/or going for a few more miles from any of Oneworld’s (American or Alaska) U.S. departure cities based on availability. If you don’t live in a Oneworld hub, consider positioning flights.
Take Iberia’s Deal Even Further
Keen to go beyond Madrid on the other side of the pond? You can also get a free stopover in Madrid.
Travel Beyond Madrid: For 9,000 off-peak (10,000 peak) miles one-way or 18,000 off-peak (20,000 peak) miles round-trip, you can explore other awesome cities near Madrid like Barcelona, Bilbao, Geneva, Ibiza, Lisbon, Lyon, Malaga, Marseilles, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Valencia, and many others.
Travel Far Beyond Madrid: For 15,000 off-peak (16,500 peak) miles one-way or 30,000 (33,000 peak) miles round-trip, you can add on Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Florence, Frankfurt, Genoa, Glasgow, Hamburg, London, Malta, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Naples, Palermo, Paris, Prague, Rome, Strasbourg, Tenerife, Turin, Venice, Vienna, Zagreb, Zurich, and more.
The Math for $1,567
Business Class Round-Trips to Europe
Including Taxes – and Other Great Examples
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FCF’s Iberia Treasure Map
The availability shown below is at the time of research. Make sure to validate with Iberia for your particular dates before transferring miles.
Boston has up to four seats close in for travel in August both on the outbound and on the return, while September has just a handful of days with four seats on the return. And two-seat availability for travel in January, with just a handful of seats for one traveler in February and March.
Chicago outbound has a handful of days with one seat availability in January and March while the return has a handful of days with up to four seats in August and September as well as two seats from December to February.
Miami has a handful of days with two seat availability outbound in January and February while the return has many days with two seat availability from January to May.
New York has a handful of days with four seats for travel both directions in August (close in) while the outbound has a handful of days with one seat availability January to March. The return has a handful of days with two seat availability in December and February through June.
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You can use this Iberia play to launch a spectacular low-cost deal we call The Leg Stretch Strategy. If you’re planning to visit Europe and South America in a 12-month window, you’ll take to these Iberia one-ways like a duck to water.