ahoyne9With no upcoming trips planned for the next few months, I’ve decided to start sharing some of the best flight deals I come across, including how to book them and what I would do during that stay. These deals could range from booking with airline miles and points, to cash steals, budget-friendly trips, luxury escapes, or adventure-packed getaways. I subscribe to various newsletters that send flight deals and have set Google Flights alerts for several countries I want to visit. I’ve realized that many people may not know the best way to book these deals or whether they’re actually traveling at the best time. For example, snagging a cheap flight to Tahiti during the rainy season might seem like a great deal, but you’d be taking the risk of encountering bad weather.
Booking Business Class with Points to Madrid in Summer of 2025
In the summer of 2023, I found a similar deal that I booked on my own. While casually searching, I discovered that there are more seats available for the summer of 2025. Often, when trying to book business class award tickets, you need to either book last minute or plan nearly a year in advance.
The first step in booking business class with points is to visit flightconnections.com. Set the “From” location to “Madrid” and the “To” location to “United States,” then select your preferred airlines, such as Iberia. You can also use Barcelona as your starting point for flights from Spain. Flight Connections is free to use, but if you’re interested in purchasing the premium version, please consider using my affiliate link to support my work.
Iberia has a distance-based rewards chart that distinguishes between peak and off-peak pricing in points. While I couldn’t find this information directly on their website anymore, I’ve included images that I believe are current. The Northeastern United States falls into Category 5 (3,000 – 4,000 miles), but oddly, Chicago is also included in this category, despite being 4,100 miles away. Meanwhile, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Dallas all fall into Category 6.
To get the best rates, I’ll focus on searching for Category 5 off-peak flights, particularly from Chicago, to maximize my time in business class. To determine off-peak dates, we’ll need to refer to the 2024/2025 calendar. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate this on their website, and the link to the previous calendar seems to be broken. Below is an image of the 2023 calendar for reference.
Generally, with a few exceptions during key holiday seasons, the third week of June through mid-September is always considered peak season. The remainder of the year typically falls into the off-peak category. When I did this back in 2023, I booked a one-way Iberia flight leaving on the last off-peak day in June and returned home with Air Canada from Barcelona.
The next step is to search for availability. Unfortunately, Iberia’s website isn’t the most user-friendly when it comes to searching for award bookings. The calendar primarily displays economy award bookings, so to find business class availability, you’ll need to click on each individual date. However, there are alternative options, such as point.me, pointsyeah.com, seats.aero, and pointspath.com.
Pointspath is a free Chrome extension that works with Google Flights, but it only offers award pricing for frequent flyer programs with American, Alaska, Delta, JetBlue, United, and Air Canada. This includes flights on these airlines as well as their partners, but keep in mind that Google Flights only allows you to search for flights up to 330 days in advance.
Point.me offers a free membership option for Amex Platinum cardholders, but Iberia flights didn’t appear in my searches, and it requires searching by individual days. They also provide a premium version or a pay-per-search plan.
I have the premium version of Pointsyeah.com, which lets me search one week out and check two airports for both directions, making it quite convenient.
Finally, Seats.aero is another option that seems to be the best among these; it offers a free version that allows searches up to 60 days out, with the option to upgrade to a premium plan.
Interestingly, I wasn’t able to find any great off-peak award availability using the options mentioned above, but I did locate it directly on the Iberia website. I found award availability for business class at 34,000 Avios one-way from Chicago to Madrid on September 29, 2025, as well as on October 2 and October 5, 2025. Iberia releases award flights 360 days in advance, and for the best results, it’s advisable to book either within a few weeks of travel or up to a year in advance.
Since booking for October 2nd and October 5th would mean waiting for the return trips to be listed and hoping for availability, I’ll focus on the September 29th flight instead. I discovered return availability from Madrid on October 3rd.
In this case, it would be a short trip to Spain. If it were me, I would book the September 29th flight and then keep checking daily for availability on return trips to maximize my time in Spain. Alternatively, you could explore flights from nearby major cities and consider using a positioning flight, flying home from Barcelona or Lisbon. You can also expand your search to include other major airports across Europe.
The total cost for this itinerary is 68,000 Avios and $298 in taxes and fees. If you were to book this flight in cash, it would cost $925 in economy and $4,660 in business. What a steal! Not only do you save $627, but you also get the incredible value of $4,660!
For those of you who currently hold the Chase Sapphire or Chase Business Ink Preferred cards, there’s a 30% transfer bonus to Iberia! This means you can book this trip for as little as $298 and 53,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points! With the bonus, 53,000 points become 68,900 points (53,000 * 1.30).
The following reward programs transfer to Iberia at a 1:1 ratio: Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, and Wells Fargo Autograph Rewards. Marriott Bonvoy transfers to Iberia at a 3:1 ratio, meaning you would need to transfer 204,000 Marriott points to meet the 68,000 Avios required, which isn’t worth it.
Since Iberia uses Avios, you can also transfer Avios from British Airways, which includes a few additional partners like Capital One. If you have Citi Rewards, you can transfer them to Qatar Avios, then to British Airways Avios, and finally to Iberia. Just keep in mind that to transfer Avios between accounts, the account must be open for 90 days.
Currently, with limited availability, if you don’t have enough points, you may not be able to secure these dates. However, off-peak business class award seats with Iberia frequently become available if you’re willing to book well in advance.
The next step is to determine your positioning flights. Since we’ve settled on Chicago, you’ll need to book roundtrip tickets from your home airport to Chicago, allowing ample time for any potential delays. I typically prefer to arrive the night before, giving me the option to either explore the city or head to the airport early to enjoy the business class lounge that comes with the tickets. For those who are more adventurous, I still recommend a minimum layover of six hours.
In this scenario, with the flight departing at 16:30, I would book a positioning flight that arrives in Chicago no later than 10:30 AM CT. For the return trip from Madrid to Chicago, I avoid booking an overnight flight. This way, if there are any delays from Madrid, it’s easier to make changes to my ticket. I usually allow for a four-hour buffer on the return journey.
Check out my credit cards page for affiliate links if you’re interested in using credit card sign-up bonuses to travel luxuriously on a budget—even with a 9-5 job, it’s possible! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Need ideas for visiting Spain check out my visits here. Cheers!