flyertalkrocks

My wife and I and our 8-month old flew LAX-MAD about a week ago and the seats were great but the service was astoundingly bad. It was by far the worst we've experienced as business class passengers.

We were standing at the LAX ticket counter a full 2 hours before departure but we very nearly missed our flight due to the total apathy exhibited by one "M. •••••••••" behind the counter. We booked our tickets before our son was born so we needed to buy a ticket (not a seat) for him even though he sits on our laps. There we stood for an hour and a half as she slouched over the counter with the phone on her ear and a bored look on her face, once in a while saying something into the receiver or pressing a key. As our departure grew nearer, we became more and more nervous about the time but questioning her about it barely drew a response even when it was obvious that disaster was imminent. Eventually we had no choice but to yell down the line of Iberia employees: "Help! Help! Please someone help us!" We were able to coax another employee over to our counter that way, who discussed the situation with M. ••••••••• and announced to us that we might not make our flight and there was nothing they could do about it since so little time was left. Not a single apology was uttered. Luckily we did barely make our flight but we surely would have been left behind if we had not been able to take the business class line through security.

Service onboard was typical... for coach. I'd only previously flown international business class with United and SAS but the service on those airlines was attentive and delightful. I asked for a drink about 15 minutes after sitting down, was told "no", then again an hour into the flight, was again told "no", then again an hour and a half in and my request was finally granted, although begrudgingly. When I answered "gin and tonic" the stewardess was astounded. Does that count as two drinks on Iberia? I was amazed that drinks for everyone else weren't brought around for a full 2 hours after boarding. Is that normal on Iberia?

The new lie-flat seats were wonderful, our baby behaved really well, and we're very happy to be in Spain. I don't mind the rain.

anabolism

I'm very sorry to hear you had so much trouble at the IB counter at LAX and almost missed your flight. If I'm reading your post correctly, the problem was that you purchased a ticket for yourself and your wife more than 8 months ago, and afterwards had a baby which required a new ticket. It's too late now of course, but for my understanding, would it have been possible for you to have amended your ticket or purchased one for your infant by phone during the 8 months before flying? Either way, the LAX staff should of course been able tp help, or at least cared that you not miss your flight.

Separately, you experienced poor service in flight. I've yet to fly IB long-haul, so I have no idea how common this is. Obviously, I hope this is not typical.

flyertalkrocks

I definitely should have booked that ticket for our child over the phone instead of at the airport. Does anyone know of any airline besides Iberia that charges a fee ($1000 one way in this case) to bring an infant on your lap?

Doc Savage

I think that is fairly common - it's usually a percentage of the adult fare.

I agree about the disinterested service on IB; they act like union employees who can't get fired no matter how lazy they are. No smiles, minimum effort. Luckily my flights were only a couple of hours each.

DiverDriver

I flew coach JFK-MAD-JFK award ticket about 40 days back. I didn't face any issues. Food was ok, cabin was ok, service was ok. Nothing struck me as remarkable, but then nothing was bad either. I got what i paid for .
oh, the IFE was nice with a good selection of current movies and episodes.
I would do it again.

BSCBNEWYORK

The attitude of staff at Iberia has to be amongst the worst in the world. They frankly dont deserve the jobs they have and rely heavily on union protection. They go out of their way not to help which is actually a cultural thing knowing full well they are raising your blood pressure.

I really hope that Willie Walsh continues to knock sense into these awful people who drag this company down.

flyertalkrocks

Oh so very true. And if you think commerce in Spain is bad, try government.

GRUflyer

I have been flying J on Iberia more often now, as their seats blow the likes of LH and AF away.

Excellent seats, and as I do minimal interection with the crew (just ask for a bottle of water) I have not had any serious incidents so far.

They have a good hub and lounges in MAD.

I fly GRU-MAD which is 10 hours each way, but I have dinner before the flight, and breakfast upon arrival. Even a Starbucks sandwich is better than airplane food guys...

BSCBNEWYORK

You mean like this

flyertalkrocks

Love it! Haven't seen that for a few years. It's funny cause it's true.

Cerebrito

I don't think that's entirely fair. While they do have their fair share of bad staff (as do a lot of legacy airlines), particularly with ground staff, they also do have some good cabin crew.

I have flown 100+ segments on Iberia last year and I would say on the whole the cabin crew are generally quite good.

JohnnyColombia

I'd agree, it's been a long long time since I had a bad Iberia crew. Years ago flying IB was like going to one of those restaurants where the waiters insult you on purpose and brand new planes somehow managed to look nicotine stained.

Now the crews (and the cabins) are much fresher, the service has been great on my last few TATLs

Sorry the OP had problems with ground crew at LAX

JohnAx

Well, counting anecdotes isn't particularly useful, but just an hour ago I had to insist on a supervisor to sort out a bag-tagging debacle while checking bags MUC-MAD (in biz). Our trip continues to CMN after a 14-hour overnight, and we specified "MADRID ONLY" for the bags when we got to the counter, but the agent was having an animated conversation with her colleage at the next counter and processing brainlessly. I yelled as I noticed "CMN" as the bags a bit too late. Then it became my problem, nothing can be done, I should have said something, etc. She did roust a supervisor, who promptly handled the problem. (Theoretically the bags will be re-tagged on the ramp, and even if they fail, the lost-bag people will probably be able to dig them up in MAD.) Definitely the kind of thing that strongly affects my travel decisions.

[update] Re-tagged bags certainly arrived on the belt in MAD (pleasant sight given the 1 AM delayed arrival) (and obtw the Airport Hotel in T4 is okay, especially at that hour). Saturday morning was a continuation MAD-CMN on IB and then home via DOH; the IB agent smilingly spent 20 minutes trying to tag the bags MAD-CMN-DOH-JFK but couldn't get them past DOH. I appreciated the effort, being sure that QR could easily retag them at CMN, and that was the case.

Monkville

I just returned from JFK to PMI yesterday and I've been pleased with both the Iberia seats, service, and food. I much prefer it over BA, where I'm lifetime gold.

I'm less happy with transfers at Madrid airport as it takes forever to get between gates, thread through the duty-free to the lounges, and the elevators to and from the shuttle train are tiny.

Given the size of the airport a lounge and dedicated shuttle service for top tier passengers would make this a world class airline and transfer facility.

HIDDY

I've had very good experiences with IB then again I was travelling in J not in Y like the OP.

Sounds to me as if it got off to a bad start on the ground which meant he boarded in a negative frame of mind. Persistently demanding to be served a drink especially so soon after boarding just gives me the impression they were expecting to receive a premium service in Y.