How Bad Is Iberia Airlines?

I am booking my air to Barcelona from Chicago O'Hare and I have heard bad things about using Iberia Airlines. They seem to have the best schedule and fares but I am concerned about using them. Any comments on Iberia or any other airlines to Barcelona would be appreciated. Thanks

Packing Light,

I have flown Iberia many times and have never had an issue with them.

In fact the service was much better than any U.S. carrier flying overseas.

Just my opinion.

mcboo

There was that time last summer when that Chicago to Spain flight had to land here in London due to a smoke alarm. Turned out to be nothing. That's the only negative thing I've heard about them.

Thanks OP, I need to book about 15 people from Miami to Barcelona and was wondering the same thing.

Gert

After hearing from mcboo, I booked Iberia to Barcelona from Chicago O'hare. The fares and frequency of flights was better than other airlines. They were very accomodating when I spoke to them on the phone and my AAdvantage number (Iberia is an American Airlines Partner) was taken. By the way, if you don't have a number, which my wife did not have, you can get one immediately on the American Airlines website. The planes used to go oversears are Airbus 330 which are nice planes. The flight requires a plane change in Madrid which I understand is a reasonable airport and both planes are in International Terminal so my little over an hour between flights should be fine according to Iberia. If a problem there are many flights out of Madrid. I am hoping all goes well. Thanks.

There was that time last summer when that Chicago to Spain flight had to land here in London due to a smoke alarm. Turned out to be nothing. That's the only negative thing I've heard about them.

That's a negative thing? I'd think it was negative if they ignored a warning alarm. :(

Well, while it's true that any landing that doesn't involve flaming death and destruction is a good thing, emergency landings (and this was treated as such, as I saw the firetrucks racing to the airport) are rarely positive things :)

I think the smoke alarm going off and the plane making an emergency landing is a nonissue. It could happen on any airplane and any airline and I would hope the crew would react the same way.

I don't have any experience using this airline, but you are going to be 35,000+ feet in the air over ocean for hours... if you don't feel absolutely comfortable, fly with another airline. JMHO

Of course the OP should fly with an airline they feel comfortable with, but they should base that decision on some sort of rational thought process.

Airplanes are very complex pieces of machinery. They regularly have things go wrong and they have systems built in to deal with those problems. A reputable airline, such as Iberia clearly is, will deal appropriately with incidents that occur.

Any seasoned traveler will tell you that here are many instances that do occur. I have been in two 747's that have had engines fail in mid flight. Air travel remains one of the safest and most regulated forms of travel and Iberia is to the forefront as a very safe airline.

And I think my comment on the emergency landing here was taken wrong. If that's the worse thing that can be said, this isn't a bad thing.

I am scheduled to fly Iberia Airlines in September. So far, my dealings over the phone with their customer service have been very positive. I've found their reps to be very helpful and knowlegeable.

One of my friends will be flying/just flew on Iberia. I'll ask him for feedback upon his return from vacation.

Just flew Iberia this past June from Chicago to Venice and Barcelona to Chicago.

Used my AA frequent flyer miles for business class. Had a relatively new plane on our outbound leg that was reconfigured for their new Business Plus service. Very clean and new comfortable seats. Food was ok. We changed planes in Madrid and didn't have any trouble. The return flight from Barcelona was on one of their older airbuses that has not been reconfigured. Pretty heavily worn and very uncomfortable seats. Food was inedible. It seemed like we flew 2 completely different airlines each way. However with luck by the time you'll fly they will be done reconfiguring all aircraft used for international service. Safe travels!

My NCL Crown cruise around South America in December/January includes flights with Iberia and British Midland Airways.

Leeds to Heathrow with BMI

Heathrow to Madrid with Iberia

Madrid to Santiago de Chile with Iberia

and

Buenos Aires to Madrid with Iberia

Madrid to Heathrow with Iberia

Heathrow to Leeds with BMI

I have no problems flying with them whatsoever, each flight has about 3 hours inbetween at the airports which is ideal seeing as its winter and the weather is unpredictable at the best of times. The longhaul sectors are both overnight flights too, so hopefully jet lag will not be too much of a problem.

I am definately looking forward to my holiday and the flights too.

I was warned, all my friends who have flown with Iberia had warned me of their customer service, and while I understood what they were saying I figured I will just be extra carefull when dealing with them.

I now understand what my friends were trying to warn me about. Their customer service is the worst I have ever experienced. They have clearly made a mistake on one (only one) of our 9 booked passengers. All of us sailing on the Jewel on 6/18 - 6/25. The person on the phone was very thorough when I did the booking, went over the entire itinerary with me. The e-tickets were e-mailed to me (9 different e-mails) and all are correct except for one.

Today I finally printed out all the e-tickets and I realize that they have my cousin returning on the 22nd instead of the 28th like everyone else. They want $200 because they consider it a flight change. They will not even consider the fact that it just might by a typo by their agent. My cousin has been booked on the Jewel, I have her invoice and her reservation number, why would I book one passenger out of 9 on a different day? They don't care they want $200 to fix it.:(

As always, different people have different experiences.

When I rang Iberia to sort out the flights that had been booked for me the customer service guy talked through the entire booking with me, which is a complicated one as its two airlines, six planes and 4 airports, once we had sorted the flights and seats out on each plane he emailed everything through to me WHILE STILL ON THE PHONE. I read through the email and then read it back to him and we both had identical information and that was that. About 15 minutes later I got a second email, this time from the connecting flight airline, and again all the information was absolutely spot on.

If this wasn't done with your flights, either by you personally or by your TA, then really it should have been. That way no-one..the TA or airline...would make any mistakes on the tickets as the tickets are made up of the information on their record/confirmation.

To be honest I have always called the airline and gone through every detail of the flight(s) with them and had them either fax a copy or email it to me while still on the phone to them so that I can physically check the details are correct.

Granted you should not need to do so but for piece of mind and the fact that mistakes do happen in busy offices (or quiet ones), I find it to be something worthwhile doing.

I booked these flights on the phone with one of their agents. The 1-800 number is an office that closes at 9 PM. I unfortunately called at about 8:30 PM. The agent on the phone was very pleasant and very thorough. Both of us went through each person's name and passport numbers and of course date of travel. Come 9 PM we were done. I checked to make sure I got all the e-mails, just did not have a chance to go through all of them before my computer crashed that evening. The only wrong one was the last one.

It is clearly a mistake on their part, apparently there is a 24 hour period where you are aloud to let them know of their mistake or if you simply have a change of heart you can call them back and they will adjust your flight. Unfortunately for me I was never told this little piece of information. However, it has come to my attention that these phone calls are recorded. So I have asked them to please obtain a copy of said conversation.

I will let you know what happens.

Iberia came through. The process was not easy. It took several phone calls to several supervisors but in the end they were kind enough to admit that it was indeed an obvious mistake and finally gave me the benefit of the doubt. The re-issued my cousin's e-ticket and waived the $200 charge.

Iberia has serious customer service problems and I will be on gard throughout our journey. I promise to submit a full review upon our return.

I received an email from customer services at Iberia today stating that my flights have been altered and that they would like me to contact them. I rang them about an hour ago and they were very apologetic for the short notice of the changes and hoped they would be convenient for me.

I told them that everything was fine and that 3 months in advance notice was not what I called 'short notice' but they were still very apologetic, all the same.

Certainly cannot fault the treatment I have had thusfar from Iberia, especially as they are not the only airline dealing with my trip. They have organised everything for NCL with a second airline covering connecting flights with real efficiency.