I heard back from the travel agent
The good news is, she’s almost managed to sort out our itineraries. YAYYY!!!
The bad news is, she’s having trouble with the Spain leg of the journey. She’s got a flight on a cancellation waitlist, but if that doesn’t work out, then my only option for getting to Spain (or rather, getting from Spain to America) would be to upgrade to a more expensive seat, and much as I love the idea of visiting Spain, I don’t really want to have to pay extra for it 🙁
Anyway, if the waitlist thingy doesn’t work out, I’ve suggested looking at other European cities as an alternative. So if you live somewhere in Europe that the OneWorld network flies into, and which you can fly direct to Chicago from, then watch this space! (and expect a begging email soon looking for accommodation…)