American Airlines New York JFK to Madrid (JFK-MAD) Business Class: Flight Review
Route: New York JFK to Madrid (JFK-MAD)
Airplane: American Airlines 777-200ER
Cabin: Business class
Booking
This direct flight was booked as a cash ticket, part of a round-trip itinerary that’s one-part vacation and one-part tier point run. We were flying from Palm Springs, California to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. We find that February is often the cheapest month for us to travel. All of our flights on this itinerary are being credited to our British Airways Executive club accounts. The next few flights will take us from British Airways Executive Club Bronze status to British Airways Executive Club Silver status. Here is the entire Tenerife Trip Report.
John F Kennedy (JFK) Airport, New York, A Summary Overview
The layout of New York John F Kennedy terminal 8, where we departed from, is a very easy, spacious, and expansive layout. It’s a newer terminal with an American Airlines Admiral’s Lounge. In addition to the Admirals lounge, Terminal 8 also has three other premium lounges: the Greenwich Lounge, Chelsea Lounge, and Soho Lounge.
Terminal 8 at New York John F Kennedy has plenty of clean restrooms and dining options. However, there are no obvious or distinctly vegan options available, only that which you can find at any common airport convenience store. In our family, we refer to these markets as “nuts, mags, and more.” You won't starve but it’s nothing to write home about.
The public bathrooms in New York John F Kennedy Terminal 8 are well adorned with elaborate, colorful mosaics. Throughout the terminal they are well labeled. Despite this, I seem to be going through a phase where I accidently use the men’s room and serendipitously, I have never run into a man in the men’s room. I walk in and think, “this smells a lot like urine.” Upon leaving, I realize I’ve done it again. JFK’s terminal 8 men’s room is no exception. Although beautiful, it, like other men’s rooms, smells like urine.
I did have the opportunity to use the family restroom when they were cleaning the ladies room, as I did use the restroom more than once, and it was very nice, clean, spacious, and fresh smelling.
As we were connecting through New York John F Kennedy on this trip and therefore did not use security. Though, in past instances, the TSA PreCheck line has rarely had more than a few people in it.
Delays and Boarding American Airlines at New York John F Kennedy Terminal 8
We had a real adventure at New York John F Kennedy for our flight to Madrid (MAD). On the JFK to Madrid route American Airlines operates two different types of business class seats, depending on the aircraft assigned to the flight. Which one you get is anyone’s guess.
We got lucky and were assigned an airplane with the new Super Diamond reverse herringbone seats. But, we would have to wait for the experience. Even though this particular airplane had arrived from Tel Aviv at 6am, there was some mechanical problem with the battery systems, resulting in a 2.5 hour delay. During the delay there were about 4-5 delayed departure updates as they consistently pushed the departure time back to accommodate the mechanical problems and corresponding solutions.
At first this presented one problem for our complicated itinerary. Our layover in Madrid was evaporating. Usually, a 3 hour layover is sufficient for international travel, but not if your flight is delayed nearly 3 hours. Mainly, this is due to the customs process which can take minutes to hours pending the airport (especially at MAD), current events, time of year, time of day, et cetera.
Pretty early on, Joe recognized this and began to problem solve which included checking other JFK departures that could get us to Tenerife within the same day within the same fare class. There were plenty of flights with open seats, but they didn’t have Business Class seats. There were Business Class seats available on later flights, but not within the same day, and it was looking increasingly likely that we may be spending the night in Madrid.
We decided to leverage our lounge access and talk to the service agents there. Joe found a good alternative - an Iberia flight that night with 2 open Business Class seats and decided to try for it. The Iberia flight could get us to MAD in time to run and catch our flight to Tenerife South (TFS). Unfortunately, in the time it took to walk over to the Admirals Club, we discovered the seats were no longer available. This meant we’d have to stick with our original JFK to MAD flight, miss our original flight to TFS, and find an alternative option.
We were flying on a J fare (business class) ticket which is one of the nicest options. There are several important benefits to this fare type (check out our article on the reasons why business class tickets can sometimes present more value than coach tickets). One of those unannounced benefits is when agents are willing to protect you on a later flight. This means, the agent we spoke to was able to make sure we had two business class seats on two different flights, just in case we arrived too late to make our original connection. In this case, we did miss our connection, and we were automatically rebooked on the later option. The only caveat was, the flight was to correct island but different airport: Our new tickets took us Tenerife North (TFN) rather than Tenerife South (TFS). TFS is about 20 minutes from our hotel, the Iberostar Sabila Hotel which TFN is about 60 minutes from our hotel. The 40 extra minutes of driving were much better than an unplanned night in Madrid.
Back to boarding. We boarded in group one and made it on board 2.5 hours after our original departure time. 4 lounge visits, 2 small beers, and about 100 pages in my Ursula K LeGuin book later, we were finally off.
Seat and service on American Airlines business class from JFK to Madrid
This American Airlines 777 Business Class configuration has a massive overhead storage bins. Everyone in the forward cabin could easily store everything in the bins. This means there is no need to keep anything at your seat.
There’s a reason we try to fly business class for flights longer than 6 hours - the seats are comfortable, there’s a blanket and pillow, and (drum roll) lay flat seats. That’s right, the seats recline to 180 degrees. It really is amazing and makes it very comfortable to get a good amount of sleep.
On this flight, the food and drink service was wonderful. During pre-departure, I find the flight attendants move very fast. You have to pay attention if you want your pre-departure beverage and hot towel. I missed out on my beverage, so I asked Jeff, the flight crew member assigned to my side of the aisle, and he very kindly brought over a drink.
Meals on American Airlines business class from JFK to Madrid
For our meals we pre ordered the VGML meal. This is the code for vegan meals on airlines. I found our first meal to be just ok. It consisted of mixed fruit (as usual), a bread roll of your choosing (pretzel bun was my choice and always will be), and an arugula salad with eggplant, a caper berry, and grilled smashed tomato. My eggplant was too cold and not cooked enough for my taste, but Joe’s was done well, and he thought the salad was a nice start.
The next course was grits with corn, some undistinguishable grain, tender farro, and cubed butternut. This part of the meal was much better. I love some perfectly cooked farro and cubed, cooked vegetables. With my dinner, I enjoyed a nice Cabernet Sauvignon. Dessert was mixed fruit and a chocolate chip cookie.
After dinner, I finished my movie, Vesper, and brushed my teeth. Then, I attempted to sleep. It was fitful, I never sleep that well during travel, and it got strangely hot for an American Airlines flight. While we have often experienced warmer cabins in business class Asian airlines like Singapore and EVA, we did not expect it on this flight. On this aircraft there are no individually controlled air vents in business class. I eventually found something resembling rest, but Joe fell asleep immediately after meal service, he always does.
I quite enjoyed breakfast service. Waking up just in time, I enjoyed a glass of orange juice and a bowl of warm oatmeal. You can always ask ahead of time to be woken up for breakfast service. The oatmeal had chia seeds in it, and came with brown sugar, berries, coconut shreds, and coconut yogurt - yum! The service also came with a ‘bagel’ and margarine.
The oatmeal was quite satisfying. While we order a vegan meal, and the trays are labeled vegan, we’ve found that it’s not uncommon to get regular butter or dairy yogurt with a VGML. So, we’re always aware and checking labels. In any case, it was a very nice treat to get a portion of coconut yogurt though.
Amenity kit on American Airlines business class from JFK to Madrid
Upon boarding, each seat in business class had a pillow, blanket, headphones, and an amenity kit. This amenity kit had all the requisite accouterments including earplugs, chapstick, lotion, toothbrush and toothpaste, and eye mask. I always use earplugs and an eye mask because they help me find sleep faster and deeper.
Business class bathrooms on American Airlines from JFK to Madrid
The bathrooms were unremarkable and lacked extra amenities you often see on flights on Asian airlines like Singapore or EVA. It was clean and large enough. One thing to note about business class, there is almost always a slightly bigger bathroom located somewhere in the cabin. I found it on the starboard side of this aircraft. It was quite spacious compared to the other bathroom and would have made a nice space to change into pajamas for a longer flight. In this case, I boarded with my soft pants already on (Vuori is my brand of choice).
Conclusion
Although we got off to a late start, the flight itself made for a very comfortable way to travel from New York to Madrid. Everyone we interacted with from American Airlines (the lounge staff to gate agents to flight crew) were helpful, kind, and courteous. For business class meals, the food was just ok. It was certainly not even near the the best business class meals we’ve had, but it kept us full. That being said, the wine and spirits list was very nice. While I wish the cabin had been kept at a cooler temperature, I was able to get some sleep and arrive in Madrid much more rested than I every would have from an economy class flight.
More Information...
Are there other airlines that fly from JFK to Madrid?
Yes, there are many airlines that can take you on this route from New York John F Kennedy International Airport to Madrid Barajas Airport. However, if you want to fly direct, only Iberia Airlines, Air Europa, American Airlines, and Delta Airlines fly direct. There are other popular airlines flying routes that require a stop. These airlines servicing MAD include British Airways, Air France, Tap Air Portugal, Virgin Atlantic, and Royal Air Maroc. Likewise you can find different airlines that have alternative routes from nearby airports.
If you have any worry about anything going wrong with your flights because of weather, we believe it is important to know how many flights each airline has on your route every day. While the cheapest flight might get you there in a pinch, the cheapest flight isn't always the most comfortable way to travel. Especially if you are a nervous traveler. Flights from New York Kennedy Airport to Madrid can often be disrupted by bad weather and its important to know what other flights will be able to get you to your destination in Madrid. The most popular airlines are going to have the best flights to get you to Madrid in case something goes wrong.
Which airline has the cheapest flights from New York John F Kennedy International Airport to Madrid Barajas Airport?
Where you find the cheapest flights from Kennedy Airport to Madrid Airport depends on your travel dates and class of service. For economy tickets, the top airlines we would suggest for this route would be Iberia, Airlines Air Europa, American Airlines, and Delta Airlines.
Each of these airlines have direct flights between Kennedy Intl Airport and Madrid Barajas. We suggest that you book flights directly through the airlines. While some websites might show cheap flights, if anything goes wrong during your trip, simply getting a cheap flights will turn out to be a problem.
The cheapest flights we can find for nonstop flights between New York John F Kennedy International Airport and Madrid Barajas Airport are currently around $700. With travel ramping up for the summer season, it's going to be hard to find a flight deal better than this. If you are looking for a flight deal, consider traveling during the cheapest time of the year (which is usually February).
If you are searching for the cheapest one way flights, you are not going to find many cheap flights. Often your only option to find the best prices is to purchase last minute flights for the earliest departure time is the best way to find cheap flights in this situation. Round trip return flights will have an average price that is similar to the one way flight cost.
What is the flight distance between New York John F Kennedy International Airport and Madrid Barajas Airport?
The direct flight distance between New York John F Kennedy International Airport and Madrid Barajas Airport is 3967 miles. Flight information shows the duration of these Madrid flights just under 8 hours, depending on the weather conditions, speed of plane and other factors.
This long-haul transatlantic journey offers a good amount of time to relax and enjoy some snacks. For those with a longer flight, it's also a good idea to bring some books or movies to pass the time. American Airlines offers direct flights from New York JFK Airport and Madrid Barajas Airport which is your best option if you're looking for a direct flight. This route has multiple options throughout the day that should fit most schedules. With these airlines, you can expect a comfortable journey on Madrid flights with great amenities that make it worth every penny.
JFK to MAD flights
You also have the option of connecting flights from other airports in the US to get from JFK airport to Madrid Airport. This way, you can save some money but at the cost of more wait time for connections and potentially having to change airports between flights. The connecting flight route is a great option for those looking to save some money.
Overall, flying from New York JFK to Madrid Barajas Airport can be a great experience if you are prepared and choose the right airline. It's important to do your research in advance and understand what kind of Madrid flights will best fit your budget (lowest prices) and timeline. You can set a price alert with many services. With the right information, you can make sure your flight from JFK to Madrid is stress-free and enjoyable.
