[openfly]

Just to be different to the rest of you….I love IB Business Plus long haul. I have to use it once a month MAD-JNB-MAD…cant fault the elegant crew, superb food and wine, ontime, masses of space, and my bag is also on the same flight. My personal view is that WW will use them to show where BA premium is going wrong. I know…I am far.ing against thunder!!

[jonathanmiller]

Hi openfly. I too am obliged to use IB Business Plus longhaul pretty frequently MAD – GUA (with a feeder IB from AGP) and back again, of course. For comparison, I also use AA, MAD-MIA -GUA, also AA LHR-MIA-GUA, and BA LHR – MIA (and on to GUA with AA). I wish I could encounter the IB crews and aircraft you use. I have yet to have anything but a gritted-teeth experience with IB. They are also more expensive than the competition.

Not thunder … but certainly difficult to share your view! Sorry!

[JulianLee]

LHR-MIA-S America is a very long way round. Suggest LHR-GRU as a starting point.

Maybe one meets the mythical friendly IB crew- BUT what if your bags aren’t so lucky?

[jonathanmiller]

Er – Julian – GUA is in Central America, not S. America and is a long way north of GRU. And all flights (of which I am aware) from GRU to GUA stage via Bogotá, San Salvador or San Juan (PR). Now that’s a really long way round. Am I missing something? Jonathan

[SimonRowberry]

Flew IB a couple of days ago, LHR-MAD-VLC in Business.

OK, not the greatest, but good value for money. I was in 1A on both flights, and the cabin crew were friendly and efficient. We left LHR 30 minutes late but made up time. The food was “ok” – a choice of two main courses, but small portions. However, after the T3 Terraces Lounge, I didn’t really need more than that.

The IB Lounge in T4 at MAD was pretty good – I liked the salad offerings, even if they were pre-packed. The hop to VLC was ok – I did notice that my luggage wasn’t priority tagged, but that probably wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.

So, all in all, it was an OK experience. But I’ve stll got to get home,,,,,

By the way – the Westin Valencia is, in my humble opinion, one of the best in the Starwood chain. An utterly excellent hotel.

Also, I stayed one night in a small boutique hotel in VLC called the Hospes Palau de la Mar. They upgraded me to the Presidential Suite. That aside, also an excellent hotel. They also had a menu in the restaurant for €70 with wine that was mind-blowingly good.

Regards and take care all,

Simon

[Sparepocket]

It remains to be seen whether IB’s “shine” rubs off on BA!

[batraveller2]

I think you mean whether BA drops to Iberia standards. I have my complaints about BA (especially Mixed fleet) but overall it is by far the best airline in my view!

[TiredOldHack]

@batraveller: I agree. Very fond of BA, and I really, really hope that BA lifts Iberia’s standards rather than lower its own to match.

[SimonRowberry]

You’ll all be pleased to know that IB maintained their reputation yesterday – VLC-MAD-LHR in Business. Viz:

Iberia Lounge at VLC is now closed. A sign on the door (and a map) directed you to a reciprocal lounge. However, the map marked the closed IB Lounge as the reciprocal lounge, and vice versa, which wasted a good ten minutes walking around the airport trying to figure out where the hell I was. Good old IB attention to detail.

The VLC-MAD flight opened boarding, and then only five passengers were allowed through at first (me included). We then waited at the top of the airbridge for a further 10 minutes before a rope barrier was removed and we could physically board. Once boarding was completed, we sat at the gate for about 30 mins after the scheduled departure time. 5 mins before we eventually left, we received an apology stating that the delay was because of an error in the required paperwork. Good old Iberia attention to detail.

My connection now left insufficient time to use the Lounge at MAD, because the boards stated that I had 11 minutes before boarding started. In practice, I had over 30 minutes, and could’ve used the IB Lounge. Good old IB attention to detail.

On both flights, the English announcements (flight deck and cabin crew) were made in heavily accented English, delivered so fast that they were unintelligible. And the food was awful – an inedible sandwich on the domestic flights, and then, on the LHR flight, a cod salad served on the same plate as chilli chicken. Mmmm, tasty. Again attention to detail.

My outbound flights were, as I posted, OK. My return experience was not good and seems to reflect what others have said.

Oh yes, the Cabin Crew’s attitude yesterday (both flights) varied between indifference and utter rudeness.

Hasta la vista, Iberia.

Simon

[Sparepocket]

I wonder if IB and BA will now share the same catering facilities on ex-Spain flights.
How will the Spanish sort out their economy if they struggle to run an airline efficiently?

[Potakas]

BA runs efficiently?

[Sparepocket]

Ha ha..good point!
Having said that, BA does appear to run better than Iberia although IB don’t seem to have the same degree of problems with industrial action.

[Potakas]

Be aware that BA was holding 13.5% stake in Iberia and that now holds the 55% of IAG.

[ivornomates]

After 14 hrs of delay.I have Iberia put people on planes to get rid of them. In Bilbao I saw them put people on a plane telling them it was going to Barcelona when it was actually going to Madrid. A riot then followed and me and a number of other passengers ended up being barred from with them.

The riot kicked off when the obnoxious little S**t who was in charge told everyone to go away and come back tomorrow as he was going home now and this what not his problem.

A women gave him such a smack on the jaw he went down like a bag of spuds and then it became a free for all.

The police were useless and to my amazement when I went back the next day I was given a letter saying they would fly me today and I would never be allowed to fly with them again.

All the passengers who were delayed got a letter saying the same regardless if they had joined in or not. I just ripped mine up and threw back at them once I had my boarding card.

Needless to say I have never and will never fly with them again.

[SimonRowberry]

Prolite,

You obviously have had a much worse experience with them that I had.

Mind you, I felt like decking the LOT staff at Warsaw Airport the other week when they lost my case and then no-one would tell me how I could contact their lost luggage people (the office was closed. Of course).

The staff were, to a man and woman, unhelpful and off hand. Some verged on the obnoxious. Oh to have had a riot then……

Simon

[Author]

Posts