Iberia. No problems, once airborne.
Written: Aug 26 '06 (Updated Aug 27 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: We got from London Heathrow to Madrid and back safely and on time.
Cons: British Airways codeshare - and I'm sure that BA would have been somewhat better!
The Bottom Line: Good, but they're the poor cousin of their BA Codeshare partners!
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| andymcf's Full Review: Iberia |
From my reasonably limited experience flying with Iberia, Spain's Flag-flying airline, which is limited to one return flight between London Heathrow (LHR) and Madrid Barajas (MAD), I actually have few complaints about this airline. I nearly wrote "no", but stuck with "few".
They are remarkably punctual. The seats are comfortable, and the cabin crew are friendly, professional and inherently Spanish. In that sense, they absolutely adore kids and Josh was very well looked after!
I booked our flights through British Airways. They (BA) are a very good, reliable airline and one can always rely on complimentary (which is just an unnecessarily long word for "free") food and drink on board their flights. They do, however, "codeshare", which is why we ended up flying with Iberia.
And if you ever get free refreshments on Iberia, then I'm a Dutchman. Or you're flying Business Class and paying a fortune to do so! And I'd most probably be flying with KLM. Geddit?
This all meant several things. We were unable, for instance, to check-in on-line before arrival at Heathrow, as we would have done with BA, or at an electronic kiosk once we'd got there. Ho Hum! We eventually got there and boarded the 'plane. A Boeing 757 outbound; Airbus A321 inbound. Each was comfortable. The B757, in particular, afforded spectacular views of baggage handlers gleefully chucking our luggage into the cargo hold, using somebody's Samsonite luggage as some kind of springboard, with gay abandon. That's not a homophobic statement; rather a lament that pathetic would-be terrorists now prevent me from carrying my beloved digital SLR in the cabin where I can be reasonably sure that it's safe and my own responsibility. And bad luggage handlers are certainly not peculiar to any particular airline. I digress.
The cabin crew were friendly and professional and the infamous 4-year-old Josh got an Iberia aeroplane lolly on take-off on both flights from a jolly flight attendant. Drinks and snacks were charged for - whereas they would have been free, had we been flying with BA - their codeshare airline.
Whilst airborne, the pilot maintained a straight and confident course - isn't the autopilot a terrific invention? He didn't quite manage to attain this on either take off or landing. Whereas I usually tend to enjoy the supposedly more dangerous parts of flight - both of which I have just mentioned - zig-zagging down the runway, at full thrust, in excess of those speeds which UK police officers practising their skills attain without punishment injects me with the fear of God Himself! I'm a straight-line-take-off kinda guy at heart. I can't begin to think why! I'm sure that the zig-zag take-off / landing technique were something more of a pilot idiosyncrasy, as opposed to company policy. I hope so, anyway!
Joking apart, this was a very, very punctual airline, and a comfortable one to boot. I may speak precious little Spanish and I may be a little concerned about the fact that their Spanish announcements came first and seemed to last about 10 - 15 minutes, whereas the English translation seemed to last a whole lot less. Perhaps English is a very compact language. Perhaps, however, they were hiding a lot of information from us. This may not have been a bad thing!
Who knows? This all happened at the heart of severely tightened airline security. We were allowed to travel with hand baggage into the UK. It was certainly not the case in the opposite direction.
Iberia? Yeah, they're absolutely fine, but you don't get any free food or drink - and you'd actually get both if you were flying with their codeshare BA, with whom I had actually booked. And both partners, let's face it, are equally susceptible to potential terrorist attacks from moronic suicide bombers whether they fly twixt Bush and Blair or not. There's my dumb head poking above the parapet, I guess!
I'm not going to stop flying, though. Not even with Iberia!
Andrew
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
andymcf
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Member: Andrew McFall
Location: Canterbury, Kent, England
Reviews written: 74
Trusted by: 132 members
About Me:
Maths teacher. Father of young Josh. See below!
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