I booked my flight through BA but I found myself flying Iberia, as it was a code share flight. BA and Iberia are both part of the Oneworld Alliance. I was booked on a Malaga-Heathrow flight. You should be aware if you are booked on certain BA/GB Airways flights you might be flying on an Alliance ... Read review
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
Advantages: Prices, staff, punctual Disadvantages: No free food/drink!
...code share flight. BA and Iberia are both part of the Oneworld Alliance. I was booked on a Malaga-Heathrow flight. You should be aware if you are booked on certain BA/GB Airways flights you might be flying on an Alliance partner airline instead. You will be told this at the time of booking. The airlines in the Alliance are: Iberia, Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, LAN and Qantas
I had heard A ... ...my bag despite the priority sticker on it!
The bottom line: I would be happy to fly Iberia again! I was pleasantly surprised after the rumours I had read. I do find it strange that a national flag carrier doesn’t provide free meals and drinks.
... more
I booked my flight through BA but I found myself flying Iberia, as it was a code share flight. BA and Iberia are both part of the Oneworld Alliance. I was booked on a Malaga-Heathrow flight. You should be aware if you are booked on certain BA/GB Airways flights you might be flying on an Alliance partner airline instead. You will be told this at the time of booking. The airlines in the Alliance are: Iberia, Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, LAN and Qantas
I had heard A LOT of bad press about Iberia, the fact it was unreliable, the food was appalling and the flight attendants were surly, didn’t speak English and did as little work as possible.
About Iberia: They are the Spanish national flag carrier; a very large airline and they fly all around the world. They have 215 planes; carry around 30 million passengers a year to 97 airports in 37 different countries. That’s around 984 flights a day!
Prices: It is possible to fly from Spain to the UK for around £40-80, all depending on the times you book and how far/little you book in advance.
Check-In: I was at the airport VERY early so there was no queue for check-in. For my flight there was 3 Economy desks and a Business Class desk. The check-in agent was very nice and spoke good English. My bag was weighed (maximum is 23kg and mine was 18.3kg, phew!)
Security: No problems, no queue. I ‘beeped’ as I went through which was odd seeing as at Heathrow I didn’t and I was wearing exactly the same clothes!
Malaga Airport: There is a wealth of shops here, a massive duty free selling all sorts of cosmetics etc 2 clothes shops, a music store, a newsagents and a bag shop. There are eating places and a Haagen-Dazs café!
Boarding: The announcements were a bit hard to hear so I kept checking the flight board. Boarding commenced around 20 minutes before departure. The flight was around half full and the friendly cabin crew greeted us. I found my seat…to my great surprise and happiness it was an aisle seat by an emergency exit! Must have been my lucky day but having contacts in the world of flying might have helped! The flight steward told me in a rather condescending manner ‘Don’t put your bag under the seat…you have to put it up here!’ Of course it made sense seeing as it was by the emergency exit but his manner seemed rather odd…this was proved later when he disappeared up to the business class section to work…maybe us passengers in cattle class were too beneath him!
The plane: The plane was an A320. There was a business class section at the front followed by 3 by 3 seats in economy. The seats were grey with nice yellow head cloths. The aircraft was clean and tidy. Standard seats have a 31-inch space between the rows apparently. The legroom looked ok but my seat had lots and lots, more than a seat in business class.
The safety demo: Little screens appeared from the ceiling at intervals through the cabin to show the video. It was in English and Spanish; I imagine different routes will have more languages added on. The crew stood in the aisle to demonstrate where the exits were but they didn’t show how to inflate a life jacket or use an oxygen mask but this was explained on the video.
Take-off: We took off a couple of minutes early. To my surprise, no flight attendant came over and explained how to open the door in the event of an emergency as they do on a lot of other airlines.
In flight service: The cabin crew bought round a food and drinks trolley shortly after we reached cruising altitude. This was called ‘Tu Menu’ and consisted of salads, sandwiches, drinks etc. It wasn’t exactly cheap but I have a feeling UK low cost carriers would still be charging more. My cappuccino was 1 Euro 50 which was tasty. The sandwiches were around 4 Euros but I didn’t purchase any food. There was also a duty free trolley.
The cabin crew: There were 4 of them, 2 stewardesses and 2 stewards. They wear a distinctive and unusual yellow and navy uniform. I think everyone will be happy when it is replaced later this year! They were generally pleasant and polite. After the food/drink/duty free, the 2 flight attendants in economy went to the galley at the back of the plane but often walked down the aisle frequently and they always seemed to carry a tray to collect any rubbish off the passengers.
In-flight entertainment: There are the television sets…they played random Spanish programmes. There were also radio channels. There did not appear to be any headphones though! There is also an ‘exciting’ bi-lingual magazine.
Landing: We landed about 10 minutes late as we had to circle to wait for a slot. The cabin crew were still wandering around the cabin and only sat in there seats about 1 minute before landing!
After the flight: There are two immigration checkpoints, one for EU nationals and one for non-EU nationals. There was no queue at the EU checkpoint but I was one of the first off the plane. It took nearly 30 minutes to retrieve my bag despite the priority sticker on it!
The bottom line: I would be happy to fly Iberia again! I was pleasantly surprised after the rumours I had read. I do find it strange that a national flag carrier doesn’t provide free meals and drinks.
Advantages: Service, the fleet, catering generally Disadvantages: Punctuality, lack of drinking water
...One World alliance (of which Iberia is a part) which means you can book through one airline (say BA) and end up flying with another.
FLIGHT TIMES & TIMINGS
The flight schedule was changed after the confirmation of my holiday booking, making the return journey much less convenient than originally envisaged, involving as it did a 6-hour wait (too long to wait / to short to use) in Mexico City. This effectively added a day to the trip, purely for ... ...in the light of the Iberia change, I cannot entirely lay this at Iberia's door. Alternative start times could have been organised which would have been more convenient. [Note to self: recheck all connections & options!]
Outbound: the timings were 0725 from Heathrow, arriving 1045 Madrid for a 1240 departure to Mexico, arrival Mexico DF 1755
Return: the timings 2035 from Mexico DF, arriving 1430 Madrid for a 1630 departure, arriving London Heathrow ...
hiker 15.04.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Iberia - IBE
Advantages: cheap, cheerful Disadvantages: Lack of communication with passengers
...budget. Then I came across Iberia airlines…hmm….they've had some bad press in the past and doubts ran through my mind, but it was the cheapest, and so I followed my wallet….
*** The company ***
Iberia have been operating commercial flights since 1927, they have flown more than 600 million passengers, making Iberia not only Spain's leading airline but also market leader on routes between Europe and Latin America. Iberia operates in over onehundred ... ...with other airlines. This places Iberia in the front rank of European airlines, with 32.4 million passengers carried in 2005 and a net profit of 395.8 million euros. (£250million)
*** Booking ***
I booked through Iberia's own website www.iberia.es.The process was extremely easy, I was able to select which flights I wanted from the several that were available, and was able to see the prices for the various times of day. I believe there were roughly ...
funphobic2 15.08.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Iberia - IBE
Advantages: I think I perfer to use a charter flight than going on this flight again. Disadvantages: Not told I was on a co-shared flight.
...British Airways the carrier for Iberia Airlines. I was not told this was a co-shared flight or that I would be not flying with Iberia. On the 16th May 2003 I flew from Tenerife South to London Gatwick, on a co-shared flight with Iberia Airways (with whom I had brought my ticket though) after my long awaited holiday following the back surgery that I had had earlier this year. I had had a great time and was not expecting my flight home to be a problem. ... ...looking forward to flying with Iberia Airways; great a chance to practise my Spanish, but at the airport I was surprised to see that I was actually on a British Airways flight. I have used British Airways for long haul flights; very successfully I might add in the past, I thought I would be alright using British Airways scheduled flight which being shared with Iberia Airways again for my latest trip to Tenerife, based on past experience. (They were ...
wulise 29.05.2003 (21.07.2003)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Iberia - IBE
Advantages: I survived. They were cheap. Disadvantages: Complete and utter lack of customer service skills
...you once and for all: Iberia are just as bad as they say.
I booked because they offered me a return to Ibiza for about 200 Euros, which was 150 Euros (~100 GBP) less than their nearest competitor. I’m a student / intern and I don’t turn down that sort of saving. The flights involved changing in Barcelona on both days, but I figured I could cope. It also, however, meant my luggage changing planes, and while I was sure I could make it from plane A ... ...second one at that point. Iberia are one of a few airlines that have detailed passenger lists on board, and before we landed they went through it, telling those of us transferring in Barca where we needed to get to, to save precious minutes of shopping time being spent searching the monitors for details. I liked that.
*** END OF WARNING: Words of praise over ***
Running through Barca (with a quick stop at the Godiva shop) I made it to my next flight ...
zoe_page 22.08.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Iberia - IBE
Advantages: Good airline Disadvantages: But some rude staff
I have flown Iberia since my younger days along time ago, and I have experienced great things with this wonderful company, including delays, cancellations, oh, and the occasional ‘on-time’…
AIRCRAFT
Iberia has a modern fleet of new aircraft from both Airbus in Europe and Boeing in America. Iberia also has an aged fleet of 747s and ground handling vehicles. But some 747s are now being withdrawn from service.
There is substantial ... ...than BA.
CLASSES
Iberia has a wide range of configurations for its aircraft – there are different ‘classes’ on board each plane. The majority of domestic and continental flights will have Economy, and internal flights will have Business Domestic.
European flights will have the all-new Business European which can be found on all A320s, 319s, 321s and also on B757s, 737s and MD88s, inherited from ex-competitor Aviaco, bought by ...
robertetheridge 07.12.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Iberia - IBE
