The VIII International Parrot Convention, organized by Loro Parque and Loro Parque Fundación, will take place in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, from 22nd to 25th September 2014.
This conference takes place every 4 years and is one of the best conferences that is geared for conservationists and eco-tourism. Several of the speakers represent parrot research projects from all over the world. See the full program.
The cheapest way to get to Tenerife is by using miles from a OneWorld airline member such as American Airlines or British Airways on Iberia. The Tenerife Norte airport (TFN) is closer to the conference location of Puerto del la Cruz although the southern airport (TFS) can also be used with a longer commute by bus or taxi.
Iberia flights to Tenerife Norte
Availability is limited so you want to get in quick! You should arrive well before 19:00 on Monday when the conference has the inauguration speech. Here is availability for Monday, 22 Sept.
To use American miles or British Airways Avios, you need the Iberia site to show availability in Blue class. These flights can be added on to any other OneWorld redemption, for example LAX-DFW-MAD on American or Iberia, then connection to Tenerife. I’d be shooting for the morning flight as the one that gets in at 17:35 on a Monday is cutting it too close. Actually, we are flying in the day before and have had our tickets booked for months!
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If you want to play it safe and arrive the day before, here is availability for Sunday, 21 Sept.
As you can see, only the first flight has availability in Blue class. If you miss out, you can book using Iberia Avios (transferred in from British Airways or SPG) at a higher level.
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To get back to Madrid and subsequently your homeward flight, start with one of these flights on the 26th (after the conference) which show availability in Blue class.
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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Using the example of Dallas as a nice central AA hub, we see good availability on British Airways on the 20th which can be used with one of the Iberia flights above. Beware that using British Airways can come with a hefty fuel surcharge of $312! Since the AA website doesn’t show Iberia’s availability, you could experiment with the Iberia site to try to make a good connection or simply call American Airlines to find the space. If you travel on the 19th instead of the 20th on American Airlines, the taxes are only $5. The savings of $307 would more than pay for a night at a hotel in Madrid or Tenerife! You will need 60,000 miles for the round-trip in economy all the way from the USA to Tenerife which could be easily obtained by getting a Citibank credit card or two!
From Australia you are looking at 90,000 round trip in economy and the fuel surcharges/taxes could go as high as $500-ish if you can’t avoid British Airways.
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If you are new to the world of miles and points, the above may be a bit confusing so please feel free to ask questions in the comments if you need further clarification.