Flights for RS Best of Spain

You might look at into Barcelona and home from Madrid. It is a short train ride from Seville to Madrid and Madrid is worth a couple of days. What are your travel dates? And where is home?

Travel sept 23-Oct 6/7, out of SFO

I'd be surprised if it's significantly less expensive to fly round trip to Barcelona rather than into Barcelona and home from Madrid. Nothing wrong with going all the way back to Barcelona if you know you'll want more time there (I certainly would) and can't manage it before the tour starts, but Madrid is a lot more convenient a departure point if the tour ends in Seville and flying home from that city is not economical. For me in 2019, flying into Seville or Malaga was going to cost an extra $500 for the inbound flight (returning home from London), so I flew to Madrid.

It looks like we could fly nonstop from Madrid (no nonstops into SFO from Barcelona), with Iberian. Any thoughts on that airline?

It's been years since I flew Iberian, but they are nothing to be wary of. Not the best, far from the worst! Really they're all awful when you are not in premium or better, so I always choose based on the best schedule.

Iberia is fine. They are a large, legacy, national flag airline of Spain.

The only thing I'd mention is that like many other old-school airlines, they have adjusted their business model a bit in recent years (forced to do so by competition from ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCCs), and customers demanding ultra-cheap tickets); nowadays, one needs to pay close attention to exactly what is (and what is not) included in the particular ticket that you are purchasing. Many airlines have responded to the ULCCs by "un-bundling" various things, like a checked bag, ability to choose your seat, etc. That gets the ticket price down (which is the only thing that many customers look at); if you want those "extras" you can add them on when you buy your ticket (or just pick a different ticket price on the same plane that does include those things). So long as you are paying attention, and what is/isn't included matches up with your expectations, it's all good.

There are not many nonstops from the US west coast to Spain (I wish there were more!). I believe Iberia flies this route on a new-ish plane. (Disclaimer: It's been years since I flew Iberia; my experiences on Iberia were perfectly fine, with no complaints; some folks have given Iberia customer service a thumbs down, but that's true of many airlines). Personally, I'd fly Iberia without any worries (at least no more than I'd worry about with flying any other airline).

Iberia is a partner with American Airlines (and many others) so if things go sideways, you have plenty of other options for getting between here and there and back.

Pedantic alert: It's Iberia, not Iberian. (No trailing "N")

Do you really save any time, energy or money by flying round-trip to Madrid? You will have to take a train to Barcelona to start your RS tour and a train back from Seville at the end.

Do you have any plans to stay in Spain for extra nights before and/or after the RS tour? If so, the suggestion to fly into and enjoy some time in Barcelona first, do the RS tour ending in Seville, train to and enjoy some time in Madrid and fly out of Madrid makes a lot of sense.

Recommend an open jaw using Iberia with a direct flight from SFO to Barcelona.
Then depart form Seville on Iberia with a connecting flight in Madrid.
I checked the Iberia site and they list the optimal economy ticket for these flights at $875 each (I also found for $650 as basic economy).
We value our time spent on journey to the point where priority is not to backtrack.
Using Iberia you check in at Seville and stay within the secured concourse in Madrid to make the connecting flight. We prefer this method of travel for time efficiency and seamless same day travel.

Thanks for all the great info!

Steven's plan is great unless you want more time in Spain after the tour ends. (A great tour, by the way.) I added days in Barcelona before it started, and more days after it ended in Seville, including time in Cordoba and a few more days in Madrid, flying home from there. I was glad to have the extra time in Madrid after the couple of days the tour had provided.

Lufthansa had a strike so they switched me to Iberia to Heathrow (to connect with BA to home). It was a pleasant on-time short flight, no complaints about Iberia as of 2019.

Ive flown Iberia transatlantic a few times over the past year+. Other than a heads up to be sure you’re buying a fare with the inclusions you want (seat selection and luggage), they’re perfectly fine. Catering has been upgraded — now sourced from a better provider. Flight crews are famous for lacking warmth, but consider that an introduction to Spanish customer service standards. Their website can be wonky and phone support isn’t great. If possible, and the same price, I try to buy my Iberia tickets through American Airlines, their partner.

The timing makes it tough to get from Sevilla to the US on the same day via any routing. Getting from Sevilla to Barcelona is more likely a flight than a train. Id look at flying into BCN and out of MAD, going to Madrid for a night (or more) before flying home.