Thank you for your r/r/c. I'm a former air stewardess, now working as a Project Manager in a Civil S...
Thank you for your r/r/c. I'm a former air stewardess, now working as a Project Manager in a Civil Service department. Studying part-time with the Open University for an English and Politics degree.
Member since:01.11.2002
Reviews:89
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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.
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Not been on Iberia since they started charging for food which in my humble opinion is a disgrace for a long established full service airline. Informative review though.
UKRushbrook 07.12.2006 22:44
Very informative. I am also surprised that there was no free food. Do not know whether things have changed in the last year or two though.
DebzJ 08.04.2005 22:51
No free food! :-O good op, very informative. debz x
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Advantages: Good food, reliable, new planes, helpful staff, online booking. Disadvantages: Some delays sometimes experienced and some staff can be a little rude.
danieletheridge 18.12.2000 (28.04.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Iberia - IBE
Feb 13th, 2005
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