British Air vs Iberia

that's interesting, what an odd combo. no flight is just a flight anymore, with all the alliances each plane is a codeshare for 3,4,5 other airlines. I would think the safest thing is to always book on the "mother" airline since they can't try to claim they aren't responsible.

FWIW at Heathrow I was on a Virgin Atlantic flight but got my tickets through Delta, the two ticket counters were next to each other but they kept pointing at each other for checkin. Even the wandering service ambassadors for each airline would get into arguments.

They are both owned by the same company, IAG, and they code share a lot. So It is probably the same flight sold by both airlines.

I have always avoided Iberia, since from what I have heard, it has a poor reputation.

It's one flight operated by British Airways but codeshare with Iberia. Codeshare means Iberia can sell the flight with their own flight number but don't actually fly the plane. You can also buy the flight through American airlines and Finnair. But it's one plane operated by British Airways.

Iberia doesn't fly its own planes between Portland and London.

The airlines have not merged but they are in the same alliance. They also have the same parent company but are run as separate companies.

Thanks all. It is so much cheaper to buy it through Iberia. I can't imagine they'd separate us out once on the plane and say "Oh you're an Iberia passenger so we'll give you worse food, seats, etc, right?!

Once you're onboard, it's the same onboard service experience as everyone else (in your class obviously)

Two terms that are useful to know are marketing carrier (the airline selling you the ticket, in this case Iberia) and the operating carrier (the airline actually operating the flight, in this case British Airways).

The main reasons people typically don't book codeshares are:

• Trip management -- it can be clunkier to manage a codeshare flight, including things such as selecting seats (the marketing carrier may not be able to see the actual seat map on the operating carrier) or if you need to make changes. This will heavily depend on how well integrated the two airlines are.
• Cost -- even when they are the exact same physical flights, it can sometimes be much more expensive to book the same flight as a codeshare
• Mileage and/or status -- if you care about frequent flyer miles and/or attaining status (which many frequent travelers do) then booking a codeshare may work against you (e.g. if you want Air France miles instead of Delta miles, you would want to book an AF-operated flight directly through Air France, not as a Delta codeshare)

These reasons don't always work against you -- sometimes they're in your favor (for example, I prefer to book Air France-operated flights as Delta codeshares, because Delta has a more favorable trip credit policy and I prefer to have trip credit on Delta, not Air France; and in your case, you have seen that for whatever reason it's actually cheaper to book your desired flight as a codeshare) but it will vary case by case.

Since the flight is operated by BA, if you book through Iberia you may have trouble getting an advance seat assignment unless you paid for it when you bought the ticket. If you’re not paying for a seat in advance and waiting until 24 hours before the flight, it may be easier if you have the BA booking reference as well as Iberia’s. If one doesn’t work, the other will. For the return, have the booking reference for the airline operating the flight.

We flew Iberia from Chicago to Madrid recently. The usual stuff was hard. It website was terrible and despite status on AA we could not get seats in advance. Most remarkably, it does not participate inTSA precheck so all of its passengers go thru the regular security line. Having said that, the flight itself was flawless and it was likely better to land at the Madrid airport on Iberia than any other airline.

This is all extremely helpful and now I am thinking I will either need to be really careful since i do like to book seats in advance and don't want to deal with any difficulties on the ground or just go with BA as some have said! (I am now leaning toward that.) I will also check my mileage plan which is with Alaska Air and BA does give you Alaska miles. Not sure about Iberia. I figured there had to be a catch! You all have been great - thanks again.

Same flights. Recently booked it on Iberia (this ORD to LHR and back), and then was directed to BA for management of the tickets, including seats. I think BA recouped the difference in fares when I booked my seats, though. It's a code share.

The price difference might be a currency issue or it might be a contract of carriage difference. As I said, was charged by BA for pre-selecting steerage class seats (World Traveler in BA lingo), a fairly pretty penny IIRC. So, the Iberia may not include seat selection or something.

Honestly, 8-10 hours on a plane in steerage sucks, regardless of the branding of the plane. You're flying a BA plane when leaving the US to London, regardless of whether you buy it as BA, Iberia, or even gasp American.
Do look at SeatGuru.com when selecting seats. That will allow you to avoid quirks like the Row 71 underseat media box that made my outbound flight an absolute misery despite flying on the largest commercial aircraft in the western world.

ETA: Did a bit more research, and it seems that the Iberia is likely selling their equivalent of basic economy, which does not include seat selection, is non-refundable, and boards last. BA is selling the same flight but will put you at what American calls "Main Cabin." The "perks" of "Main Cabin" include "No change fees (ignoring difference in ticket price, and may include a fee for flights originating in Spain, UK, New Zealand, and Australia)" A choice of seat a no charge (fee may apply for Preferred, Main Cabin Extra, or flights operated by another airline), 1 free checked bag, general boarding.

I have a full on rant about general boarding versus boarding last based on fees, rather than rows. I have a full on rant about seat selection as well, but I guess they have to get what they can when they can since they decided in the US to compete on price, sorta. But the whole difference between "Basic Economy" and being treated almost human in "Main Cabin," plus the fees allowed on UK originating flights, explains why I wound up paying as much as I did to ultimately select one of the worst seats on the plane for my departing flight.

Seatguru is basically out of business. They haven't upgraded their website in a couple of years and admits it.

You have to look at the booking class when you purchase tickets. If you want to get seats in advance, you have to make sure the class in which you book allows it.

How to go about getting seats on one airline when you book through another: Let's say you book your tickets through Iberia. You will get a six letter/digit record locator. That is for Iberia so when you call them they can look up your flight. However, it is not the same record locator that BA will be using. To get BA's record locator, wait a day after booking. Then call Iberia and ask them for it so you can book seats. Once you have the BA record locater, you can go to their website, log in using that record locator,, go to manage your flight and choose seats. You will probably have to pay.

Sometimes, the booking airline might be able to assign seats. American Airlines does that for their codeshare flights with JAL. But you have to call, you can't do it online.

Max, thanks for the advice about seat 71! It sounds awful and I guess I am starting to think along the lines of "There is no free lunch..." There aren't too many bargains when flying or you get what you pay for? I give up! And Frank, as always, your knowledge is much appreciated and very helpful!

I think Max may be right about the Iberia price quote bring for BA’s Economy Basic”. You would need to work through the booking page to find out.

Here is the difference, as explained by British Airways for long-haul flights:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/travel-classes/economy/our-long-haul-fares

Basically, in Economy Basic you have carryon only, no checked baggage. And you are “allocated” a seat, which could be a middle seat on a crowded plane. But you CAN still pay to choose your own seat.

Regular Economy (World Traveller) offers a free checked bag, and you can choose your own seat for free—-at online check-in. If you want to choose your seat ahead of time, and not get stuck with what if left at on-line check-in ( 24 hours ahead of your flight), you will have to pay for the privilege, same as you would in Economy Basic.

So, if you are happy with carry-on only,, and you want to choose your seat in advance, you could book the Economy Basic. You could go to the British Airways website and compare the price offered for that class to the Iberia quoted price.

We fly British Airways every trip (15 and counting) and have booked both through BA and with Alaska miles. No matter who you book with, if you want to choose your seat in advance you will have to pay for the privilege (unless you have high status with BA). Even in business class. We always do.

When booking with Alaska miles they give you both the Alaska PNR code and the BA booking code right on the confirmation; you do not have to call and ask for it. I always take that and go register my flight on the BA website under my BA Executive Club account. Then I choose our seats.

It looks like the PDX BA flights use a 777. You can see the seat maps for these on the BA website:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/seating/seat-maps/world-traveller-seatmap

If I were traveling solo, or as a couple, in World Traveler, I would choose one of the seat pairs in the last few rows, where the fuselage narrows. That way I could have a window seat with only one other person in the row. But if you are wanting an aisle seat then something further forward might be better.

Unfortunately the seat map does not indicate where those pesky under-seat boxes are located. And I don’t know if all planes have those.

One more thing: if you book with Iberia, it is Iberia customer service you will be dealing with if any problems arise. Not sure I would want to rely on that. BA customer service can be hard to reach by phone at times, but once you get through the people are great. Also, any notices of delay or cancellation would come straight from BA.

Lola,
Thank you for all of this! Very helpful. I am now convinced that for us, since we are not frequent overseas travelers, I don't want to hassle with Iberia. I've heard such good things about BA that is worth it to me pay more. I was even considering Business Class. (We are in our mid-60s and comfort is becoming more and more important.) I do have Alaska miles but it doesn't look like you can book Business Class with miles. Does anyone know a way around that?

Actually, you can book BA Business Class with Alaska miles; I have done it several times when we ran out of BA miles. We just flew back from London a week ago in business class, courtesy of Alaska miles.

But—-availability of award seats is the problem. BA releases 2 Biz class seats on each flight to their own mileage plan members 355 days in advance. Most of the award seats get snapped up on the day of release by people like me who know that. This is especially true during high season. At off-times, some award seats remain available for another month, so they are available to One World mileage plan partners (like Alaska) at T-330 (11 months in advance). I have only been able to take advantage of that in the off-season, like now.

Occasionally more award seats will show up after then, due to people canceling, or occasionally BA will release more award seats. You just have to be diligent in searching, and lucky as well. I look at several different airports in addition to SEA—-this flight a week ago was to SFO, which works out because we have grandchildren to visit there.

You might have luck finding award seats in Premium Economy if that is of interest. If your dates are a bit flexible, you will have better luck. You can book one way at a time, if that helps—that is a nice thing about award tickets. I always book our flights that way. But don’t try to book one way with miles and one way with a paid ticket—-that one-way ticket will be much more expensive than half a roundtrip.

Also be wary of the dreaded “mixed cabin” flights offered on the Alaska website when searching for miles seats., especially for a journey with two segments. The flight will show up in the Business Class column with a little two-tone seat icon next to it. Click on it and you will find that one segment ( almost always the short-haul flight) is in Business class ( or First if a domestic flight) and the long overseas flight, the one you really want to be in Business class, is actually in Premium Economy or Economy. And for that you pay the same number of miles as you would for a real business class ticket.

Another caveat—BA charges high supplemental fee for their award seats, whether booked with BA Avios, Alaska miles, or other. For Business Class to London it is currently $900, which is just about double what I paid for our recent flight when I booked it 10 months ago. Even for Economy or Premium Economy it is $280. So prices have gone waaaay up. And to that you must add the fee for seat selection if you want to choose in advance. And still give up lots of miles.

You could look at American Airlines flights with your Alaska miles if you want the cheapest option for Economy class. I see July flights to London on Alaska plus American for 22K miles and $19-24 each way. But those are 2-segment flights, Alaska from PDX to Chicago, and AA from there to London. Not as nice as the non-stop BA flight.

Thank you, Lola - this is all very informative! I kind of wondered if there were things I didn't know, and clearly there are. I can't believe the way BA makes it so expensive and difficult. Our trip will begin the last week of August and return mid-Sept so no chance for the advance tickets with Alaska miles although I will check periodically as you suggest. But those extra fees - on top of thousands of dollars already - wow. I was trying to avoid segmented flights so might just have to spend a ridiculous amount for the convenience and comfort!

I’m a little late to this, but it’s almost certainly that flights codeshared between Iberia and BA are also being sold by American Airlines. The relationship between the three of them is not just a ‘code share’, but a “Joint Venture”. For the purposes of scheduling, marketing, and profit sharing, flights in their trans Atlantic routes, they operate as one company.

The prices for tickets with equal terms may very by a few dollars, but just rounding differences.

I always fly on these “OneWorld Joint Venture” airlines. I pick my flights by price and schedule, but I ALWAYS book and pay via American.

Thanks, Scudder. I understand avoiding Iberia. But why American over British Air??

Peggy,

The the planes I actually fly on, I don’t avoid Iberia at all, but to avoid BA (mostly to avoid connecting through Heathrow).

For me ticketing through American means a few things: AA services the reservation pre-departure (except for seat assignments) and if I ever have to cancel for credit, having that credit at AA is much more flexible than the others.

Got it - thanks!

But since you are going to London, avoiding a connection through Heathrow is not an option.

Right, Lola! I've heard that Heathrow is terrible but we can't avoid it on this particular trip! Unless we don't want to fly directly.