a search brought up some older (last year's) posts on Iberia, which said that it isn't that bad. I have found some OK tickets, IAD - JNB return, biz class and not too expensive, but the return is through MAD with Iberian.

Is Iberian still OK? Would you take it? We will have to pay full fare for our biz class seats since not many of our family group has enough miles to upgrade, we are not frequent flyers, so finding a cheap ticket for a long haul is important.

We have flown on Iberia in business class to South Africa a couple of times and it is our preferred carrier. Madrid is a dream for connecting compared to Heathrow, and the seats and service are excellent.

Is the outbound on some other carrier?

IAD - LHR - JNB with a layover that should give us a quick peek at London with UA and SAA. I know LHR is awful, but that layover would be fun. We could do IAD - FRA - JNB, but the family would prefer to see London rather than Frankfurt.

I agree that Heathrow is the pits for connecting, but I would still take BA's business class way, way before I would take Iberia's. I find BA's seats (the older ones; haven't tried the new ones yet) to be enormously more comfortable for sleeping than Iberia's. Iberia's seats are the sloped flat seats, and I never sleep as soundly as in the true flat seats. I also find BA's seats to be more private -- with a window seat and the privacy panel in place, I feel completely isolated. Also, I find BA's ground services (esp arrival lounge in LHR) to be heaps better than IB's.

Momliz: Go ahead with your plans if you consider that the itinerary you prepared is the best. Don't worry with Iberia: you'll have a good flight, and MAD is easy.

Regarding LHR, everybody says how terrible it is, but I personally liked it. Everything went smooth when I used it. On top of that, they are opening the new T5, and for sure this will be a great improvement.

thanks very much, all!

Now, I just hope those fares are still available - they seem to disappear easily.