Iberia Airlines

and on top of everything it's hell expensive.

just been to malaga and back on a trip home.

On the way there the plane for the connection (it was via Madrid, making a 2 hr trip into a 7hr one...) was "swapped" twice due to "technical difficulties" (BEFORE it got off the ground!) then the actual plane we boarded was at least 20 years old judging by the EXPO '92 sticker that was stuck onthe side of my armrest. We were informed by the pilot that this plane was "not perfect" but airworthy! Anyway, the bumpiest filght ever followed (suppose they can't be blamed for the weather...). Baggage was lost on this leg of the flight. i recieved it 3 days later. Amazingly the technical-difficulty-swap occurred on the return flight as well, meaning that i arrived in Munich 4 hrs late.

OH, and the staff were rude and dressed like 80s extras from some really bad Wesley Snipes movie...

atrocious!

we just did a trip to Malaga and flew Condor direct, uneventful flight...took off... landed...picked up luggage...all pretty much on time

Don't forget the cockpit camera - you got the pilot's view of the landing. Awesome.

I flew with Iberia for the first and LAST time to Costa Rica in 2004 for a friend's wedding.

We booked the flight "direct" from Madrid to San Josa, Costa Rica.

So, we get to the airport in Madrid: turns out there's a stopover in Miami.

Me: "What?!? But we booked a direct flight to San Jose.!!!"
Shit-for-brains behind the counter: "Yes, but it's not 'non-stop.' "

I wonder how the non-direct flight would have been

i had this once to the u.s. on the computer it said "non-stop", but i thought 16 hrs. to Houston? no chance. so i called the travel agencies & inquired about this & they said, no that's correct, it's non-stop and i said quite firmly, there is no way in hell that a flight from frankfurt takes 16 hours and she paused & said "you're right".

she called me back and it turns out the flight number did not change, which is why it said "non-stop", but there was a stop-over at Dulles Int'l Airport in D.C. this info, unfortunately, you could not get from an online booking. it was only my "cleverness" which helped me figure this out. so i booked something else

This may not just be limited to Iberia, and is possibly true for many other airlines, but...

several years ago when I was backpacking through Europe, I met up with my dad in Porto. He had booked a flight to Frankfurt and I had intended to catch a train through Spain with my Eurail ticket to Munich. However, I was coming down with what would be a pretty nasty cold. Anyway, I saw him off at the airport and then had a thought - maybe if the flight wasn't full, I could get a cheap seat at the last minute and catch the train from Frankfurt which would be much faster.

So I went up to the counter and asked them.

Me: The flight to Frankfurt leaving in an hour, is it full?
Them: No, it is about half full.
Me: Can I buy a last minute seat?
Them: Sure. That will be €600.
Me: Really? You're going to be flying with a load of empty seats anyway, is that the best you can do? Don't you sell last minute seats discounted?
Them: No - in fact if you want to book so late, you have to pay extra.
Me: But your plane is half empty. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. OK then, I'll take the train.

I didn't understand it then and I don't now. Isn't it better even to get a few € for it than have it empty? I would have thought that most airlines would have some kind of policy on selling last minute seats cheaper.

In fact, if you go to most airports, they have stands where they're selling last minute flights cheap - I thought it poor policy that Iberia weren't a part of that.

I've actually found Iberia pretty ok except ... and this is a big except ... the last time I flew with them they didn't give out fluids e.g. tea or water.

That was a couple of years ago on an internal flight between Barcelona and Granada. In the summer.

Eventually I crawled to the back of the plane and begged for some tea (so I could take a prescribed tablet). It cost 3 or 4 Euro, no big deal, but then neither was the tea - barely a cup full.

I don't think deterring your passengers from avoiding dehydration is great customer service. And I'm sure I've heard somewhere that dehydration can contribute to thrombotic events which surely airlines wish to avoid.

If I ever fly Iberia again (and I'll avoid doing so) I'll be sure to take lots of bottled water with me ... oh

My husband flew to USA (Munich-Madrid-Miami) using Iberia, Business Class.

The service was lousy, food was bad but it was still better that US Airways. However, they are supposed to be constantly late and my husband missed his connecting flight from Madrid back to Munich due to the Miami-Madrid flight taking off late, allegedly waiting on passengers from a delayed flight. When they landed in Madrid, the connecting flight was still at the gate but they were not allowed to board! It was just late by 5 mins. They were asked to wait for the next available flight which was 8 hours later! Most passengers were well pissed off. The staff manning the counter in Madrid was very rude to them and actually closed the counter and walked off when the passengers were telling her off.

We filed a complain and got an email 6 months later, saying that they will look into it. What a joke!

My husband said that he will NEVER take Iberia again.

those "last minute" stands at german airports are rubbish, they have nothing to do with the English term "last minute" cause their offer tends to be holidays weeks or months in advance, not immediate bargain offers! it's not what it used to be.
as for airlines offering reduced fares for standby, this seems to have all but disappeared. airlines now charge a premium for last minute bookings.

Last time I flew with them from Munich to Bilbao, the plane looked ancient, and they wouldn't let anyone sit in the rows with emergency exits. Just before takeoff, a technician came on and taped two of them shut .
It was awful!

I once flew with Iberia from Berlin to Madrid en route to Cape Town via Johannesburg. I found the seats to be too close to one another especially considering that I was stuck on the plane for at least 12 hours between Madrid and Cape Town. Couldn't stretch out my legs at all. Besides this I really couldn't complain. The cabin attendants were friendly, smelled good and took good care of us. Food was ok. Landing and take off were perfect at every stop. I suffer from fear of flying and would fly Iberia again. I would however never, ever fly Malev, North-West Airlines or Turkish Airlines again, but that's a different story.

Their food is good, though...

I have had the misfortune of flying with iberia on more than one occassion, the air host(esses) are lazy shites. Basically give you no more attention than giving you one meal and one breakfast (on long haul) then you have to get any drinks you want by collecting it yourself, then there is only one of them(the rest are nowhere to be seen) my friend once said she caught them all smoking in the back. Plus you get no complimentary drinks on short hall (skanky!!)
I missed a connecting flight due to the delays at heathrow and they just dumped us in a hotel without giving us any info at all about baggage collection (if I had to collect it and recheck it in) happens that the iberia staff wouldnt let me have my luggage because "it would take to long to collect" this was during the time when you couldnt have any liquids in hand luggage so for three days I had the same clothes and stank but no one at iberia gave a shite. Lucky I speak spanish cos no one speaks a word of english, and when you ask them if they do they tut and roll their eyes. Its the worst air company ever.
Best is British Airways and Delta in my opinion

How do these guys stay in business?
I tried to book a flight Madrid - New York - Washington D.C. on business flexible and the website kept on giving me "lowest fare" instead of "flexible". After yelling at the site for a few minutes I called their call center and got a very cheap quote until the call-center guy realized that the whole trip was economy. He could not give me a business flexible quote on it because their ticket system cannot combine a business and economy (NY - DC) booking under one reservation number. Hel-LO??? The alternative would be to book both legs separately and rush to the ticket desk in NY for reticketing and then catch the DC flight. I told the guy I would possibly call back but don't hold your breath.
So the flight Madrid - NY on business flexible is €4,600. Lufthansa does Madrid-Munich-Washington for €2,800 business flexible, but it is so Columbus-esque, flying east to go west.

I've found Iberia's short-haul flights ok, but was foolish enough to fly long-haul with them last week (Buenos Aires to Madrid). Never again. Service was non-existent, staff were absent for most of the flight, except for the one guarding the toilet and shouting at people to go and sit back down when there wasn't even any turbulence. I had to pretend to be ill just to get a drink of water (on a 11.5 hour flight). My headrest was broken so I couldn't lean back or sleep. The film couldn't be shown as the sound didn't work.

Don't do it.