Wow it has been a long time since ive been on these boards, probably at least a year! But you all were so much help when I studied in spain in 02-03, and again when I visited in 06 that now im back again begging for more help! :-)

Im taking my dad and uncle back with me this time. Im flying Austin-Chicago on American Airlines then connecting to Iberia Chicago-Madrid. Booked the entire thing through American. Dad and Uncle are meeting up with me for the Chicago-Madrid flight. So my question is this.... is there a way to pre-select seats??? American says they cant do that on an Iberia flight and Iberia says they dont do that either. Is my luggage checked all the way through or am I going to need to recheck in Chicago????

Anybody have any experiences flying American-Iberia connections?

Kelly

I have taken the ORD-MAD flight a few times, out of Minneapolis. I remember having limited success by calling Iberia a few days before flight time and inquiring as whether my preference for an aisle seat was honored.(It was) I believe they do work off your expressed preferences. Call Iberia a few days ahead. As an American gate agent once told me when I was having problems with my Iberia flight at O'Hare, "it isn't REALLY One World." That trip was one for the books!

You can check your bags all the way through with no problem.

On the plus side, you can order little bottles of cava off the drink trolley!

I can help you with part of this question! Your luggage will be checked all the way through in Austin. Make sure when they tag your luggage it says ORD and MAD (with corresponding flight numbers) on the sticker. You do not have to do anything in Chicago on your way to Madrid, except go to your new gate. You will most likely stay in the same terminal as some of American's international flights leave from the same terminal as its domestic flights (Terminal 3) at O'Hare. If you do have to change terminals on the way to Madrid, you will get on a monorail/train (just look for signs telling you where to go -- train is very easy to find and very quick) to the International Terminal (Terminal 5). Just check the television monitors to make sure you're in the right place.

Are you taking the same route home? If yes, you will fly Madrid to Chicago, land in the international terminal, and go through customs there. This means you will go through passport control (get your passport stamped), wait for your suitcase to arrive on the carousel, and then go past the customs officials with your paper that says "Something to Declare" or "Nothing to Declare." Once you get past the customs people, you should see a desk so that you can recheck your suitcase quickly. This should be before you walk out the doors to the public waiting area. Your flight on American to Austin from Chicago will definitely be in a different terminal (3), so you will have to take the abovementioned train to that terminal.

As for the seat assignments, I can't really help you with that. I fly a lot with American, and I have my seat preference saved in their online system; I can often look at a seating chart and choose an available seat if I don't like the one they automatically chose for me based on my preference. However, on really crowded flights, especially if I've bought my ticket close to the departure date, I won't get my seat preference.

Perhaps if your dad and uncle go early to the airport in Chicago and ask at the Iberia desk, they will get a nice agent who will put you all together. I don't know if the American agent in Austin will/can do the same for you for the Iberia flight from ORD to MAD, but you could ask that person, too.

Good luck and have a great trip!

For what it's worth, I fly the Northwest/KLM alliance quite a bit and it is the same thing. KLM won't preassign seats and Northwest can't help.

Thanks guys! Im originally from Chicago, and each of the 3 times ive flown before, ive just gone direct Chicago-Madrid on Iberia, with no major issues, cant remember for the life of me though how seats were assigned. Im pretty familiar with ORD and unless things have change, Iberia departures still leave out of terminal 3. Living in Austin now though im flying American up to Chicago to connect with that flight---- with an 8 hour layover. I have no high hopes of my luggage arriving on time with that kind of time for things to sit around in Ohare!

Hmm ive been investigating a bit more and now have read on the Iberia webpage that you must present the credit card used to purchase the ticket, upon checking in. This is a slight problem for me as my ticket was booked on my dad's credit card- which will obviously be with him in Chicago, while im checking in with American/Iberia in Austin...... thoughts on that one? I guess technically I will be checking in with an American agent since Iberia doesnt fly out of Austin.... im probably thinking about this way too much.

My thoughts (and I could be totally off-base with this) are that since you are checking in with American in Austin, and you are checking all the way through to Madrid, you will not have any problems. You may have to present yourself at the gate in Chicago to get a seating assignment on your ORD-MAD flight on Iberia, but you are not checking in twice.

I cannot remember the last time I had to show a credit card that was used to purchase a ticket when I checked in for a flight. The only time I have used a credit card recently is at the self-check-in kiosks for American -- or any other airline -- to avoid the long lines at the ticket counters. And, that credit card doesn't have to be the one that you used to buy the ticket; it's just scanned and used as identification so that the correct boarding pass is printed.

If you're really freaking out, you could call/email American and/or Iberia, but I really think you will be fine.

Im thinking also, im going to have SOO much time in ORD, 8 hours. If need be, whether to check in with the credit card issue, or to get a seat assignment I would probably just go out of the terminal, up to the iberia check in counter whenever it opens and deal with it there, possibly even meeting up with my dad and uncle as they check in. That actually might be the easiset thing to do seating wise unless the agent in Austin can actually assign me a seat. Phew. I think too much.