Palma de Mallorca has no nonstop service from the West Coast, so every itinerary in business class from Los Angeles to Palma de Mallorca routes through a European gateway — and after dozens of these trips, I've come to view that connection as the defining variable of the journey rather than an inconvenience. Delta's transatlantic joint venture with Iberia makes Madrid the smartest hub: you fly Delta One Suites (the sliding-door product now standard on Delta's A330-900s and A350s) across the Atlantic, then transfer to an Iberia flight for the short hop to PMI. British Airways offers an alternative path through London Heathrow, pairing its excellent Club Suite — full-height doors, direct aisle access, forward-facing throughout — on the 777 or A350 with a seasonal summer BA mainline service from Heathrow down to Palma. Total elapsed time typically lands near 12 hours including the connection, and factual reality worth noting: no US or Spanish carrier currently flies LAX-PMI nonstop, making a one-stop European connection unavoidable.
The insider detail most travelers miss is that the intra-Europe leg — whether on Iberia from Madrid or BA from London — is almost always a recliner-style seat, not a lie-flat product, since these are short regional hops. Don't expect Iberia's A350 business class hard product on that final segment; instead, front-load your rest on the long-haul crossing and treat the connection as a fast transfer. At Madrid's T4, Iberia's business class arrivals process is notably efficient for a same-terminal connection, which makes the Delta-Iberia routing my preferred option over Heathrow's more congested T5 transfer during peak summer months.
Seasonality matters enormously here: April, May, September, and October consistently bring softer business class availability and better positioning fares, since June through August sees Mallorca-bound demand spike from European leisure travelers, tightening premium cabin space on the connecting flights even when transatlantic seats remain open. Given how thinly these connections are scheduled and how quickly Iberia's short-haul business class sells down in shoulder season, setting up fare alerts on this specific LAX-PMI corridor is the only reliable way to catch the pricing windows before they close.
