#48 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
345 reviews
To get to Nice (the next city on my trip), I purchased a one-way ticket on Iberia via Madrid in economy. The only direct flight from Barcelona was via Vueling and they had a weird schedule that just didn't work for me.
Naturally, there was a general strike in France on January 19 that for some reason led Iberia to cancelling its last flight to Nice from Madrid on the 18th. Iberia rebooked me on the afternoon flight the next day (the morning flight to Nice on the 19th was also cancelled). The afternoon flight on the 19th operated just fine (and will be the next report).
I arrived at BCN about an hour before the scheduled boarding of my flight. Iberia's flights between BCN and MAD are a shuttle service much like DC-NYC flights. What I didn't realize was that it also came with its own check-in area. I didn't tell the taxi driver to drop me off there so I ended up in the main terminal trying to find my way to the right gates. Another useful thing about the shuttle is that it comes with fast track.
Eventually, I found the shuttle gates. The shuttle-specific lounge was conveniently located right next door.
I believe business class shuttle passengers have access to the Sala VIP Colomer. Alternatively, you can enter with Priority Pass, as I did.
There is a variety of seats in the Sala VIP Colomer. The large area to the right after walking in is pictured below. I didn't take any pictures of the other side because it was packed. As you can see, there is a variety of different seats and a smaller beverage station on the right.
I found a nifty corner seat that had a great view of my gate. I spent the duration of my stay in the lounge here.
Right behind the check-in desk is some sort of a conference "room" that you can ask to reserve.
The bathrooms were clean and spacious.
The main food and beverage area was to the left of check-in. There was a decent spread of beverages and small items in the buffet.
Plenty of different beverages available from beer to wine to sparkling water. Most importantly, there was a coffee machine.
After a while, my flight to Madrid pulled in.
My first time on Iberia would be on EC-HUH, a 23 years-old A321-200. Boarding began around 1:03pm CET. When I walked out of the lounge there was already a lengthy queue. I was in Boarding Group 3.
Iberia has the standard 3-3 economy configuration on its A321s. At this time, Spain was the last remaining EU country to still have a mask requirement onboard its flights. Given how many people were coughing and sniffling, I was quite glad this requirement was in place, at least for this flight.
The tray table was fairly standard. The seat also had a small "hook" that presumably you can hang your clothes on and power outlets underneath the seat. Legroom was fairly tight as expected.
No status, no seat selection,
As you can see, Iberia does offer Wi-Fi on its A321s. There is free messaging for business class and Iberia Plus passengers. Otherwise it's €5.99 for browsing or €2.49 for messaging. These seemed like reasonable rates for the whole flight. I did not purchase Wi-Fi to test the speed though.
I was seated in 31D. I originally had the row to myself until a passenger re-located herself to the window seat before takeoff. Oh well. I didn't mind so much because in tighter quarters I tend to prefer aisle seats for more space.
We pushed back at 1:50pm (20 minutes behind schedule) and took off 10 minutes later.
There weren't any service outside of the buy-onboard service. I didn't notice anyone partaking in that.
Due to the delay, the captain actually announced every single connecting flights' departure gates. A nice touch I suppose.
We touched down at 2:57pm and arrived at Gate J41 at 3:06. It would be another 10 minutes before I managed to deplane. It's been a while since I've been this far back!
Lounge: The Sala VIP Colomer was a perfectly fine lounge for a short stay. Importantly, there were plenty of seats and it was a quiet environment. Given that the shuttle service between BCN and MAD has its own fast-track and section of the terminal, I don't see much need for this lounge unless you're connecting.
Cabin & Seat: For narrow-body economy seats in Europe, there really doesn't seem to be much differentiation. Iberia has a similar-looking slimline seat to others. I appreciate the power outlet and Wi-Fi; not sure if that's the standard on European carriers nowadays.
Service: There was no service outside of the buy-onboard option.
Meal & Catering: There was buy-onboard service and nothing else. I would have appreciated a non-alcoholic beverage.
Bottom Line: This seemed like a normal short intra-European economy flight.
7 Comments
This is one of those very useful little tips that make all the difference
Based on that depiction, I think my shower qualifies as a conference room! XD
Ouch! She was fast!
Lufthansa, Air France, Iberia... all the old farts of the aviation world have become so dull and unimpressive. Unless you gather miles and visit lounges, I have the impression that they are falling behind many LCCs.
Thanks for sharing!!
Hence why I work hard to gather miles and fly up front :)
Thanks for sharing!
Having been to both BCN and MAD, it's actually hard for me to judge which is better. I think they were both reasonably efficient airports though I thought Madrid's facilities might have felt slightly more worn.
Thanks for sharing!
I'll defer to you on the differences in the seats. In general, I'll try to stick to my usual strategy of only flying intra-European J as a part of a larger redemption.
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