More Oneworld opportunities coming to Amsterdam

Not too long ago my biggest grudge against Amsterdam Airport Schiphol was the lack of Oneworld destinations. Recently Philadelphia was added to the route portfolio by US Airways, which most importantly opened up the first transatlantic Oneworld route for an era.

Between 1st July 2014-31st August 2014, Iberia will operate their regional A320 Iberia Express aircrafts on a 14x weekly basis with the following schedule:

IB3722 dep: MAD 0900hrs  – arr: AMS 1135hrs [Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays]
IB3724 dep: MAD 1550hrs  – arr: AMS 1825hrs [Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays]
IB3720 dep: MAD 1950hrs –  arr: AMS 2225hrs [Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays, Sundays]

IB3721 dep: AMS 0800hrs  – arr: MAD 1040hrs [Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Sundays]
IB3723 dep: AMS 1210hrs – arr MAD 1450hrs [Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays]
IB3725 dep: AMS1900hrs – arr MAD 2140hrs [Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays]

Then from 1st September 2014, it will become three times daily in each direction, so 21x weekly flights.

So why does it matter for people travelling to/from Netherlands? Well, Madrid is one of the largest transatlantic hubs in the world, serving several destinations in North America, but also South America. As long as you don't fly on British Airways, you can avoid hefty fuel surcharges charged on award tickets by redeeming your Avios points through Iberia on Iberia operated flights. Raffles over at Head for Points actually covered this topic in fine detail.

A genuine enhancement from International Airlines Group…albeit only a small minority of BAEC account holders will benefit. And rather aptly, today is 20th April (well it was when I started writing this post!), did I mention that you can enjoy 420 in Netherlands every day of the year? 😉