Some trips I book months in advance, some trips I book the day before. This is one of those trips that I have been looking forward to for months.
While it may not be reasonably possible to review every airline business class product in the world, my goal over the next year and a half is to provide a business class review for every member airline of oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance.
I’m fairly behind on reviewing SkyTeam carriers, so when I saw a great redemption opportunity on Flying Blue to fly both Aerolineas Argentinas and Air Europa, I could not turn it down. Flying Blue is the loyalty program for Air France/KLM.
If there is space (and Aerolinas Argentinas space is difficult to come by), Flying Blue will let you route from North America to Europe via South America (62,500 miles in business class). That’s like two longhaul flights for the price of one. You can even book the space online (though still not recommend).
The reason I asked about Cancun yesterday? I found business class award space on Aerolinas Argentinas and Air Europa from Cancun to Madrid via Buenos Aires. This will give me a chance to review the Aerolineas Argentinas A340-300 and the Air Europa 787-8.
My return will be from Madrid to Mexico City via Rome on Alitalia. Unfortunately, Alitalia is also extremely stingy on award space, but 48,000 miles for one-way business class is not a bad price at all. I am not sure how valuable the review will be, considering Alitalia may not survive the year, but I’m looking forward to experiencing the beleaguered Italian flag carrier for the first time. 13 hours will be a long flight!
CONCLUSION
I was away from my family last week, so this is a much quicker trip. With the exception of a night in Rome, I will not be leaving airports. Now we just have to hope I make it to Cancun!
Image: LV-CSE / Wikimedia Commons
Looking forward to reading the trip reports! There is not much on Aerolinas Argentinas and Air Europa, so it should for sure be an interesting read. Are you planning on staying at an airport hotel in Rome, or do you have enough time to make it into the city?
Will visit a friend south of Rome. Need a night to recover after all this flying.
LAX-(IAH)-CUN-EZE-MAD ??
(1) i’m surprised that’s a legal routing at all,
and
(2) you’re really taking a scenic detour considering CUN-EZE-MAD is 212% of the great circle distance.
I’m surprised too, but I’m not complaining.
Lol. You better make sure you get a good selfie on alitalia. Served as evidence you took the flight, once upon a time….
How do you book CUN-EZE-MAD?
It has to be available. If it is, it will show up on the Flying Blue website when searching for awards. No stopover in Buenos Aires…