Viva Iberia (Iberia)

Member Name: AGONYAUNT

Product:	Iberia
Date:	12/10/09 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: None

Iberia is the Spanish airline and has a great network of connection to South America and also an extensive set of routes within Spain.
I have used Iberia to fly from London to both Barcelona and Madrid, from Madrid to Barcelona or the other way round, from Barcelona to Sevilla and from London to Buenos Aires via Madrid.

Nationally Iberia offers a shuttle service between Madrid and Barcelona, this means that you buy a ticket and you go to the airport and if there are seats you board. The frequency is of one light every 90 minutes or so, and in my experience, there has never been a situation when I had to wait for the next flight. For those who need to work in both cities, like I did in 2008 for some time, this is a great service.

On the internal flights, whether they are the shuttle or between cities, you only get a snack and soft drinks.

On the route from London, you used to get a sandwich, last time I flew was in 2008, I am not sure if thishas changed, because few airlines have recently restricted food service on board. The tariff was normally cheaper than BA. Bear also in mind than on the flights between UK and Spain BA and Iberia operate a code sharing policy. This means that you can buy a ticket for a BA flight with Iberia, which normally was a bit cheaper. You can also exchange miles of BA for Iberia flights, without incurring the surcharge costs of BA.

The international flight was for tourism. It was the cheapest option my agent found me, although the stop over in Madrid added in total 4 to 6 hours to my journey (6 on the way out and 4 on the way back) compared to the BA option.

I found the plane very large and when I flew in March, which for Argentina I guess should be high season, the plane was 3/4 full on the way out and 3/5 full on the way back (I flew back on a Wednesday)
We had 1 meal and one breakfast. I can never sleep on the planes, but there was enough room to walk around the corridors to strecth my legs.

Many people have commented about the bad service of Iberia. I must say that being familiar with Spanish culture I know what to expect. I cannot say it is bad, but is is a more direct and informal style than BA for example.

I remember that when landing with Iberia the staff did not seem to care too much if passengers switched on their mobiles.

Iberia also run a frequent slyer programme and their rewards areq quite generous and I found better than BA when you consider the ridicolous charges they have on supposed free miles.

If you find a cheaper ticket with Iberia than another company, I recommend you fly Iberia

Summary: 4/5