Originally Posted by ndwint

Hi. Malaga is my home airport and I always fly with Iberia or BA.
First thing I want to advise you about is that I am concerned for you that you don't know exactly what you have booked.
Iberia only fly NON STOP to Madrid, Melilla and Valencia from Malaga.
If your destination is indeed ALC then you will actually be taking an Iberia Express flight up to Madrid Terminal 4 first and then connecting to ALC probably on Air Nostrum (Iberia subsidiary) at the K gates.
The IB flight to Madrid is always on an A320 or A321 and usually departs from gate D42 which is the first gate on the left as you enter the D gates area from the central area.

So, what are your options for when you arrive from HEL?
You will arrive into a D gate and you can easily be outside the arrivals area enjoying the fresh air and sunshine within 5 minutes of stepping off the plane.
Arrivals is on the lower level and departures is upper level.
Both levels have cafes outside.
When going back inside for departures, the security line is right there, followed by the duty free shop and into the central area again.
You should be able to do this in 5-20 mins depending on the security lane queues.

Alternatively stay in the D gates area as at the entrance to this area upstairs is the AENA lounge which you can access with your BA Silver status.
It is a very pleasant place to sit with many types of seating and during the afternoons an interesting choice of hot and cold food.
Hot dishes tend to be in a "tapas" style reflecting Spanish cuisine.
Again getting from the lounge to gate D42 is approx. 1 minute.

As you are hand luggage, something to warn you about at the gate. Iberia Express like to start the boarding process while people are still leaving the inbound plane.
You will be "loaded" up onto the jet bridge until the cabin crew allow boarding the plane. Be mindful of the group boarding process at the gate as IB do stick to Group 1, 2 3 etc.