There's gotta be a oneworld way - Chicago with British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines

There’s gotta be a oneworld way – Chicago with British Airways, Iberia and American Airline

In this epic:

Welcome dear readers! Time for a full-on long haul trip report, this time conducting my fall/winter audit on how the economy class product is faring on the transatlantic routes.

You’ve seen the snapshots – so it’s time to deep dive into the trip report with my usual commentary, banter, whining and general observations that some might miss when aboard the posh seats with uniform service.

I’m sure you know my grammar policy by now. But if you don’t head here.

OTAs: I really hate them…

In the run-up to this trip, I was playing around with travel agents, and trying to find the perfect itinerary. Because let’s face it, we all know I hate boring itineraries that get me from A to B. What’s life without the risk of lost luggage, tight connections and mad dashes?

Chicago as we all know is a regular stop for me: I have stuff to do there, as well as catch up with friends.

So I turn to the OTA’s to see what’s going on – and keeping my alliances intact, I’m flying on oneworld carriers.

Or a oneworld way 😉

I turned to Kayak as a BA sale hit, hoping for some reasonable fares… and a really interesting one popped up on TravelBag, which would had routed me through Madrid twice.

A tasty fare to say the least. Sadly, TravelBag had other ideas, and initially sold the advertised the fare to me… before pulling it under my feet

No soup for me.

But I wrote about that and why I’d never use TravelBag again.

Thankfully, British Airways came to the rescue, when fares for some reason became reasonable through their site. Add in the 10% off for BMI Credit Card holders, and the case for buying direct became a good one.

As for the route – that was of interest as the fare allowed for some interesting routings – with diversions through Madrid on the way out, Dublin on the way back, and terminating in London City Airport.

At the time, I was 1) getting annoyed sorting the this ticket out and 2) thought it would be a good idea.

So here’s the final route map

London Heathrow to Madrid – British Airways
Madrid to Chicago – Iberia
Chicago to Dublin – American Airlines
Dublin to London City – British Airways

In terms of hotels, hotel stock in the O’Hare region was tighter than normal – with prices inflated. Combined with the joy of Brexit and crappy exchange rates, I wasn’t looking forward to this at all.

Thankfully – this is where points come into play. In 2012, there was a wonderful Club Carlson promotion where they were offering idiot amount of points. So much so, I had 62k of Club Carlson points.

I’ve been using these points for emergency stays, so I had enough for one more night at this hotel – which saved $150. That’ll do nicely.

As for the main hotel – I would be at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. It’s a good thing I have a good corporate rate there, and that I share the room. It makes life an awful lot easier…

So, there we go. Almost planned. Almost organised. Except I left booking the coach until the last-minute.

Nothing changes there.

So the oneworld way. Can oneworld work as an alliance, and everything “just work” or will things fall apart in a classic Kevin way that traditionally happens?

Find out in There’s Gotta be a OneWorld Way.

Next: That way to Heathrow!

Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.

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There’s gotta be a oneworld way – Chicago with British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines