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MAD in J - IB or BA

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Old Jan 6, 2012, 10:47 am
  #1  
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MAD in J - IB or BA

Prices are about the same, which is the better product?
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 10:49 am
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IB. Better food (other than breakfast) better wine and cleaner planes.
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 10:51 am
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Hmm it will be breakfast on the way out.

I'm guessing the lounge doesnt beat the Flounge, but it will be early so that doesn't really matter. Is it the same lounge at MAD?
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 11:11 am
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Hi,

IB MAD flights leave from T3 and so as a BA gold holder you can use the BA galleries first lounge in T3 ( maybe better service than GF in T5) or lounge hop in T3 to try the CX lounges.

In MAD IB fly from the main terminal ( the Dali lounge) whereas BA fly from T4S and use the Velaquez ( sp lounge)- the food might be slightly better in the Velaquez lounge but the Dali lounge is very good.

Regards

TBS
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 11:29 am
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Originally Posted by Jimbob247
Hmm it will be breakfast on the way out.

I'm guessing the lounge doesnt beat the Flounge, but it will be early so that doesn't really matter. Is it the same lounge at MAD?
Why not book BA out and IB back as LHR-MAD is a codeshare route.
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 12:27 pm
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My last experience of a morning flight in J (curtain way back) LHR-MAD on IB was very poor service and took ages to get served anything. Nice plane though.
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 12:56 pm
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IB and BA short haul flights come in three varieties:

- Excellent, crew couldn't do enough
- Indifferent
- Poor - crew shove the trays out then sit in the galley reading OK / Hola for the remainder of the flight

Agree with previous comments, the IB short haul food (other than breakfast, as already observed) is much better than the risible stuff served by BA.
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 1:01 pm
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Almost always IB for shorthaul J in my opinion. Generally better food, menus, newspapers, more efficient service.

Behind the curtain on the same route I would always go for BA..
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 1:12 pm
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Originally Posted by ThatT1Feeling
Behind the curtain on the same route I would always go for BA..
Very true. IB's short haul Y is horrific with tiny legroom, hardbacked seats and even water chargeable.
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 2:21 pm
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I have travelled between MAD & LHR every month for the last 10 years and have, as occasion demanded, swapped between IB & BA. IMHO BA wins hands down every time. Also at MAD the T4S lounge (Sala Velasquez) used by BA (and other non-Schegen airlines) is a haven of peace compared to the Dali lounge which gets awfully busy with IB J's.

I disagree about the IB J food - it really is horrible. Not saying that BA is that much better but I am afriad I prefer BA.

Now that BA MAD has moved to LHR T5 the terrible bussing from gate 24 is no longer with us. ^
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 3:02 pm
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Always annoyed me in MAD that the baggage from BA flights takes so long to arrive, not the case for IB flights.
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 3:13 pm
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Originally Posted by sl1ppy
Always annoyed me in MAD that the baggage from BA flights takes so long to arrive, not the case for IB flights.
Hi,

Although to be fair I think it is more a factor of being in T4S rather than a particular airline as the luggage has to be sent to the main terminal baggage reclaim.

I flew LAN FRA-MAD in 2010 and arrived at T4S, wet to T4 and had to wait ages for the bags to come off especially as we were late leaving FRA and I just wanted to get to the hotel ( however having a fully flat seat and full AVOD for the 2 hour flight was neat)

Regards

TBS
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Old Jan 7, 2012, 2:13 pm
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I would go with BA. I still think IB is far behind BA in terms of both the hard and soft product. My recent flight between LHR and MAD flying BA one-way and IB return were like night and day.
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Old Jan 9, 2012, 3:11 am
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Should I be able to choose my own seat on booking for IB?

I can't, or at least I can't work out how to.
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Old Jan 9, 2012, 3:17 am
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finnair.com is your friend. More details in the IB forum.
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