My hubby and I will be flying from Seattle to Spain this Fall. Looking to purchase tickets (coach) this week, I found some decent pricing online for Iberia (American Air) and then spoke with my travel agent, who suggested if we want to be more comfortable, that we should pay a higher price to fly British Air. About $250 more per person. Is there really that big of a difference btw the two? In researching a little more online, I found that AA has more leg room, and I could care less about "free" alcohol. I'd love the feedback. Thanks.

p.s. We flew to Italy on Northwest (KLM) 2 years ago and we weren't that comfortable. Can't remember what kind of planes those were.

american does generally offer more legroom in economy class. other than the free alcohol there is little difference i would say. both are old airlines that have been stripped back to barely more than budget airlines. but budget airlines have have been built from the ground up as budget airlines so they are miuch more graceful at it than AA and BA. american does keep you pretty well fed and soft-drinked though...more so than BA.

but this is just the reality today with transatlantic travel (virgin is a disaster and i've only flown continental a few times). if alcohol and FF miles are no consideration, i would just go with the cheapest even if we are talking about only a modest difference. i would NEVER spend $250 more per person to fly BA. this would be mad.

..and your travel agent is not to be trusted if he/she is giving you that kind of advice. to test i would certainly make him or her explain to you why you would ever spend 500 more in total to fly BA (an airline with generally LESS leg room than AA in economy). so what justifies 500 more? i'd be very interested to hear the answer.

It may depend on the plane they use which is more comfortable. You should be able to find out the type of plane on the airlines website and look at it on Seat Guru.

Is the flight operated by Iberia or by AA? There could be a real difference there- Iberia may not have the same seat pitch as AA.
Presumably you have to go through Heathrow with BA. With AA I assume you transfer within the US.
Personally for ease of transfer, certainly on the home leg I would choose BA. You stay in the same terminal and your bags are checked through, whereas you have the hassle of collecting your luggage and going through customs etc at ORD (or wherever) whilst jet lagged, and still face a long flight home.

Only you know whether you can afford/want to spend the extra for BA. Is your travel agent referring to BA's Economy premium maybe? in which case you get a lot more leg room then on AA.

Walkinaround is busy dissing his adopted country again.

You need to find out what kind of plane and who is operating it as hetismij said. I HATE to trandfer from an international flight at ORD.

If you'd fly Iberia, you'll be changing planes at least once (perhaps more) I would look at the various carriers involved rather than just a 'name'.
http://www.flightstats.com/go/Forum/...?threadId=5341
Lots of negative comments on Iberia...but other sites have compliments on their service.
I've flown Virgin LAX to Heathrow a couple times and was pretty satisfied with their service, just don't like having to change planes at Heathrow.
I would suggest checking out Lufthansa. They have direct flights to Frankfurt, then have connections to Madrid...
Checking some dates in October, the R/T is quoted at $1142 per person (to Madrid)....you can check it out further. Lufthansa usually has sales in the late winter, early spring. They have fly the Airbus A330-300 (I fly Air Tahiti Nui to Paris and this is the plane they use...smaller than the big Boeings, but very comfortabl
http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Luf...nformation.php Seatguru will give you the info on the seats on various planes, something to consider when it's a 10 hour flight (if direct).
If you check the Lufthansa website you'll see a winter sale is going on now, give you some idea of the discounts they offer.
I don't work for them, I used to work for a company that imported BMW parts and when we got shipments with Lufty, it went flawlessly (and their warehouse was spotless!); American and Delta....not even in the running.
BA is having all kinds of labor problems because they're trying to phase out all their senior union members so they can pay new hires less...strikes or walkouts are a possibility...and like I said: Heathrow--chaotic and much too big...and expensive.
Good luck!

I know it's been said many times before but....using the term 'British Air' to anyone British will make you sound like a dumb American tourist....which I'm sure that you're not!

PS I like flying British Airways (AKA BA)

I would say the travel agent is padding the tab.

FWIW, the BA transfer at LHR will not be in the same terminal. All One World flights to Spain are from T3: most BA intercontinental flights (and all flights from Seattle) use T5.

Which said, it's not terribly clear who the poster thinks is operating the non-BA service, or where it involves changing planes. I wouldn't for a moment assume a transfer at ORD, for example, would be any less painful than at LHR.

Ignore arguments about "better" airlines. Between major transatlantic carriers, the differences between airline x on a good day and the same airline on a bad one are far, far greater than systemic differnces between airline x and airline y. The only things that are predictable are what plane you're flying and where you change planes.

Find that out first, then come back for advice.

Sorry about that. Since the flights to Amsterdam are from T5 I wrongly assumed they would be to Spain too.

Any transfer at a US airport is a pain flying into the US, because of not only having to go through immigration, but also having to collect your luggage and go through customs at your point of arrival. Plus the fact that you still have another long flight ahead of you to get to Seattle.

>>>>>>
Walkinaround is busy dissing his adopted country again.
>>>>>>>


huh??? i think that i said the airlines were pretty much the same, didn't i?

crikey, we are sensitive...'dissing' BA = dissing the uk? imagine if the americans shouted 'america bashing' every time someone criticised american airlines! even flanner (a flag waver who bizarrely affixes 'uk' to his screen name) says pretty much the same thing that i do. is he 'dissing' britain too?

Paying $250 extra is a ridiculous waste of money. There is not enough difference between even the worst trans-Atlantic carrier (Aer Lingus, probably?) and the best trans-Atlantic carrier to justify that sort of premium.

I choose on price and schedule, with some consideration for my frequent flier balances. If I need a tie-breaker, I will choose based upon the equipment being offered.

I too suspect the travel agent is suggesting the OP upgrade on the British Airways flight to Traveler Plus, a fourth class between Coach and Business class. It does have bigger seats and more room. And a kind of footrest.

I've traveled in coach on both BA and Northwest/KLM. Those are tight seats -- and I'm only 5'2". It's sort of like wearing a full-body straightjacket for 9 hours.(No more. I use my miles to upgrade to Business class.)

A $250 differential between World Traveler + and regular coach would be an excellent deal, so good that I doubt that is what we are seeing. If it is the case, though, then I would jump at the upgrade.

Thanks for the info, everyone. I looked at the Iberia site again today, where the low price fare is, and we would would be flying from Seattle to Chicago on AA, and then from there to Barcelona on Iberia. The flight would be on a Airbus A340. Seatguru.com says the seat pitch is 32", which is one inch better than BA, where the flight I was was looking at would be on a 747 w/ a 31" pitch.

Mimar, I double checked with the travel agent, who was quoting me for plain, ole' coach. And they would charge me a $85 fee! I should feel safe about booking online myself, right?

Flanneruk, thanks for the advice about better airlines. I'm sure you are correct about differences btw "better" airlines. I just hope I pick a "good" day to fly...

One additional question for those who have flown from the States on Iberia on an Airbus A340. Are those planes equipped with the personal movie screens? I was unsuccessful at finding that info. Thanks.

As a few posters have already mentioned, she is probably recommending BA's WT Plus as opposed to AA's coach. I have flown both coach and WT Plus and there is quite a difference in comfort level. As a tiny person I can handle BA's coach, but my tall, long-legged DH is much better off in WT Plus. So when he's with me, that's our preferred cabin.

If she is speaking of regular coach on BA vs. coach on AA then an extra $250/pp is a major rip-off.

kelly22904, I have two words for your ta..BUH BYE.

I too was a little cautious the first time I booked an airline ticket online. Yes, book this online you will save yourself some $. If you've never booked an airline ticket online, most airlines have a help desk to call, I'm not sure about Iberia, but maybe some fodorties who do know can chime in on this thread and let you know if Iberia has a help desk for online bookings. Check the help desks hours and make your booking online when the help desk is open, just in case you need to call.

Regardless, if you have problems you can always post a thread here and as you know there are so many knowledgeable fodorites who can help you.

We have recently flown Iberia (dec '09) from ORD to MAD on Airbus 340-600. Although we were in business, which has individual in-seat TVs, I have also flown the same route and the same plane in economy, and in that class, there were only overhead TVs.

Checking on Seatguru for the Iberia Airbus A340, I see two types of planes, the A340-300 (343) and the A340-600 (346). When you hold the cursor over the coach seats for either one, it shows you that there is overhead TV.