#42 out of 81 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
298 reviews
Hola Amigos,
Welcome to this FR on a Pre-COVID flight on Iberia between Madrid and Zurich (not that much has changed service-wise).
A good friend of mine invited me to her home in Zurich, and since I still had some days for holidays, I looked over IB's app and found a very reasonable fare ( plus I wanted the Avios)…
So here it goes…
I took the Metro to Terminal 4, where IB's hub is. As usual, a convenient and confortable ride
On the way to the airport, IB mailed me about checking my bag for free, and that I could do it on one of the Business Class counters…I didn't hessitate.
The whole deal was nice and quick, now if IB didn't charge for the seat selection, it would have been an almost perfect check in experience. Now off to security…
It wasn't too crowded, and I was off to the AENA Plaza Mayor Lounge in no time. Again, not too crowded…and I managed to have some chow and a G&T before my flight. If only the view was a bit leess underwhelming, it would be just perfect. At least I had a straight view to my future ride!
I got a SMS telling me it was time to board and so I went to our small One World A319.
T4 has awesome architecture, but sometimes I feel it has a lot of wasted space…
A view to the big guys across the field
It turns out this was the very same plane that took me to to Vienna a couple of months before.
It still had the old recaro seats, that were a pinch better than the current ones, albeit with a very tight legroom.
The cabin still sported IB's old logo. It's a shame they let it go. Cleaning, as you may see…was mediocre
I planned to pick up some slack with work while flying, but it was physically impossible
now we were good to go
Our little A319 was packed to the gills and now, we left the Airbus-centric hub behind, towards RWY 36R
En route, we crossed T4S with the big folk
And small folk too
MAD is designed for the convenient taxi for T4 and T4S flights (this is not the case for the other terminals and airlines) and so we were off to Switzerland in no time!
IB's European service is null. No IFE, BOB and…they are basically a bus that flies you across the continent.
The cabin looked dated…unfortunately it was not updated for something better…
I can't stop being amazed by how dry Iberia is and its contrast with the rest of the continent.
No snow over the Pyrinees
Now into France, flying just south of Lyon
We entered Switzerland over Geneva
Then, Bern came to view
And we moved towards the German border
Basel (?)
I then lost my bearings…but we made a north to south approach to RWY14
Yep, we are in Switzerland
Gruezi Zurii
Another Airbus stronghold
We made it to Pier B/F, nothing extraorinary on the way to baggage claim…which did take some time to come out
Once outside, my friend was waiting for me…concluding this trip and FR
Iberia is meh. Nothing extraordinary. I reckon the best thing about them is the convenience of T4, compared to the older terminal complex at MAD. I didn't even interact with the crew, so there's nothing to comment on that front. No IFE and BOB (which I didn't care for as I ate at the lounge) as I told you. En fin...
MAD was great as usual, so was ZRH.
Thanks for reading, saludos!
2 Comments
Indeed IB can be quite "meh" in short-haul Y. The addition of USB ports (and AC outlets further up front) on A320 and A321s have improved the experience a bit...though it seems the A319s have been forgotten as they still have old cabins--presumably because IB plan to retire them soon-ish.
MAD T4 is lovely as usual.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comments Kévin, the USBs have been a great addition indeed, although I haven't been able to make them work so far. :/
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