I found myself in need of a cheap flight to Mallorca in June, but most airlines were charging in excess of £150, which was way out of my 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….

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 destinations, while reaching more than 80 additional ones through code-sharing arrangements 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)

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 5 flights available that day. If booking with Iberia to Palma there are no direct flights, hence why so cheap! I opted for a 2 hour stopover in Barcelona leaving at 7am, getting into Palma at 1.30pm, and returning at 11.20am, getting home for 3.30pm all for £80 each. Flights can be cheaper depending on how far in advance you book. The flight to Barcelona is roughly 2 hours, and then an additional 30 mins to Palma. So for an extra 2/3 hours I'm saving £80, well worth it! I booked up promptly, (no problems here, the standard booking form you would expect with full payment on a debit/credit card) and printed out my E ticket.

Iberia offer online check in 24 hours prior to flying, saving you from huge queues at the check in desk, and allowing you to reserve your seat. However, as we were on a connecting flight (flights starting with 7) this would not allow us to check in. Damn! An early wake up call it was! On arrival at Heathrow terminal 2 I was a little confused as there was no Iberia check in desk. Appearing bemused, I asked a BA air steward where we might find the desk, and the helpful gentleman explained that it was a BA flight number, and that BA and Iberia are both part of the Oneworld Alliance, partnering each other. Great! We would actually get some food and drink for free! So I headed to the BA desk (there were several, and it was very confusing) with my e-ticket, to find a queue of 10 people already. We were checked in within 10 minutes. The staff were particularly friendly, making polite conversation - unexpected as it was 5am! The attendant reserved our seats for the BA flight and the connecting flight, also ensuring that we would not have to collect our luggage, then re-check in. Overall I was very impressed.

Upon disembarking in Barcelona going out, we trotted down the gateway into the arrivals terminal with a refreshing breeze of aircon. A huge queue emerged and only 1 person checking passports. I really don't know why they bother to show up because as we walked thorough, the guy didn't bother to look up from reading his magazine! I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing! We made a left and carried on walking through the gates trying to locate where our connecting flight would be as the gate was not printed on the ticket. This is a negative point to the whole Iberia experience - lack of communication about what or where we're supposed to go!

Our plane was a MD 87 (a very compact plane) with the recognisable orange/red logo. Inside was a little tatty, the seats worn. Seats were positioned in rows of 2, with around 8 seats devoted to business class (the only difference being wider seats by what I could see) I was also impressed by the decent amount of legroom. As the flight was only ½ hour, there was no in-flight entertainment. This was not a problem for me; I read a book, whilst the other half played his precious PSP. If you forget to provide your own entertainment, Iberia provide several newspapers…..albeit in Spanish! The cabin crew come round with a trolly full of papers before take off, and made the necessary checks before the safety demonstration. They looked very bored, but then with this short internal flights they probably have to do this several times a day! Once in the air you never saw them unless attending to a specific person. Both take off and landing was as smooth as I have experienced, with the Captain updating the flights progress several time. We landed on time, the flight taking a total of 35 minutes. The only problem was we sat waiting on the plane for a further 15 minutes as the door was jammed! However as we used a national, rather than international flight, we were able to bi-pass immigration and head straight to the luggage carosel where our bags were waiting.

Iberia applies a certain luggage allowance, either by weight or by pieces, depending on the origin and destination of your flight, in particular if you have a connecting flight. This allowance will the same for outbound and return travel and will be determined by the country of origin of the journey. If this weight is exceeded, a financial penalty must be paid depending on the destination you are travelling to and the number of kilos in excess of the allowance. As a general rule, the allowance for adults, will depend on the passenger class for your ticket.

For our flight, Iberia allowed a maximum of 20kgs of luggage, and 1 piece of hand luggage up to 5kgs (this was not weighed) As I mentioned earlier, we received our luggage from the carousel without waiting, there luggage was in good condition, and there had been no tampering

When booking with Iberia, I was initially worried due to the bad press I had previously heard. And upon arriving at Heathrow, to find no check in area for Iberia panic set in! However, check in was swift, the flight was pleasant; all in all, I got what I paid for. The only criticism of Iberia is lack of communication. Customers like myself aren't always aware where to go, or what to do, particularly in non-English speaking countries! So however boring it may be to keep repeating information, it is essential in order to keep the passengers coming back!