christvs

Hi guys!

I will be flying a fun daytrip AMS-BCN-MAD-LCY-AMS on the 26th of April! Looking forward to it, since I love to fly. I am booked on the Iberia Air Shuttle BCN-MAD in economy (an award booking made from my dad's Iberia Plus for me). Can anybody tell me exactly how this works, Iberia's website is a bit lacking info.

Does it work something like this:

1. I'll walk up to one of their check-in machines with (which?) my documents and just pick a flight and confirm a seat. Do I need to bring my dad's CC with me btw?

2. Their website is a bit fuzzy about this, but will I be able to enjoy their Air Shuttle lounge as an economy passenger?

Do they have free drinks and a snack on this flights?

I appreciate your input .

danielmadrid07

Are you sure you are booked on an Air Shuttle flight? Iberia has many normally scheduled flights MAD-BCN and vice versa, and these are the ones they usually sell when international tickets are purchased, as the Air Shuttle is a premium service with a fully unrestricted, open fare, and thus usually costs way more than the regular scheduled service and has very specific rules that go along with (no upgrading, etc) it so its usually not booked with other tickets.

The air shuttle is quite easy to use, its literally as the advertising says, just show up and fly. Usually all they do once you get to the specially designated air shuttle area (dont get confused with the normal check-in as Air Shuttle has a seperate section for everything) is give them your name and ID and they will put you on the very next flight available. If you are checking bags, you have to get on the very next flight they give you, so sitting in the VIP Lounge is usually not an option on this route.
But being as you are in Economy Class, the VIP lounge will not be an option to you unfortunately.

I usually take the Air Shuttle in Business and I know that in Business they offer a slightly upgraded variation of the standard Business service to compete with the recent AVE (high velocity train), Business usually now gets a warm snack designed by Sergi Arola (famous Spanish chef), light pasta dinner with bread rolls, and at breakfast, a pretty complete hot breakfast is served. Free booze ofcourse.
I think the Economy service on this route is also somewhat nicer than the standard and they serve snacks and unlimited drinks as well.

Iberia has been at their wit's end to try to reclaim many passengers on this route who are opting for the new AVE service which gets you to the centre of each city (as opposed to having to cab to the airport) in a pretty impressive amount of time, and they have reduced the Air Shuttle price (only in Economy Class however, bad move Iberia, why leave Business the same price if you are reducing economy class price dont you want to lure more Business customers??)

christvs

I'm 100% sure! I booked the award ticket with some otherwise useless miles (we don't fly that often) out of my dad's iberia plus. I specifically chose the air shuttle because of the flexibility. I'm going on this spotting day trip, so I'll just see when I'm ready to move onto MAD! One-way economy ticket was only 400 points, a regular ticket was 670 points, so it was the best deal too!

Ok, no biggy! I'm sure I'll have more than enough fun just exploring the new terminal.

Yeah, I heard about the new AVE. Weird stategy, not cutting business fares, they bring in the money after all! I'm curious why you don't use the new AVE? The love of flying, or is it the miles?

Thanks for your response btw!

danielmadrid07

Yeah, thats one of the best benefits of the Iberia Plus programme is the fact that you can basically obtain an Air Shuttle ticket anytime you want and fly whenever you want and its always the lesser amount of points unlike all of their other flights which never has the cheaper ¨Azul¨class available.
I still think 1800 points for Business Class on a domestic flight is too much considering its only 600 in Coach.

Well, being a PR/Marketing person I'm just itching to speak to Iberia exec's and find out what their rhyme and reasoning is behind a lot of what they do, and I have done this before, at Christmas I convinced them to look into their upgrade policy and voila, within weeks it was changed.

I think the whole Air Shuttle concept needs to be redesigned in order to be more competitive with AVE. I'm one of the few business people I know in Spain who uses Air Shuttle, mind you I am sure that in order to justify so many flights, they must have quite a bit of people still loyal, I just dont know anyone LOL.

I fly basically for the miles, there is always some sort of promotion with the Air Shuttle (currently its triple points) that draws me in, and when I am not picky with flexibility, the scheduled flights offer the same level of service and extra points and are usually dirt cheap.

alanw

Daniel, maybe you can convince them to switch to using miles like every other program on the planet and make their earning/burning competitive. It's a global market now, and the days of being able to take advantage of Spaniards who can't choose another carrier (or don't know better) are coming to an end!

Also BCN-LAX while you're at it.

danielmadrid07

Expanded routes to the US are a must in my book! Iberia needs to realise that in order to be fully competitive with other carriers with nonstop flights to other cities in Spain (AA, DL, and Continental all fly nonstop to BCN, DL flys to Málaga and Valencia nonstop seasonally) they are going to have to as the official Spanish airline, offer this service themselves, and while I know it would probably create havoc in the way they have everything cranked up to run like a well-oiled machine out of MAD, its simply inconvenient and not great marketing if you ask me, for them not to offer atleast the same amount of nonstop flights, as the official Spanish carrier, as these US carriers do.
Also, I think Iberia needs to stop relying so heavily on their code-share with AA in the States and offer non-stop flights to more cities, LAX included obviously. Other European carriers also have code-shares and it doesnt keep them from still offering their own nonstop services.

Koby

Iberia has decided a few years ago to completely pull out of BCN, so I don’t think they will start direct flights to the US again from here.
Flights to MAD (inlcuding the Puente Aéreo) is pretty much the only thing that's left.

Well... who needs Iberia anyway...?

alanw

True, now that Spanair aposta per Barcelona. If only they flew somewhere!

KenJohn

BCN gives priority boarding to business class pax on the shuttle flight and IB elite card holders. I was really surprised to see this a couple of weeks ago. Nothing at MAD.

I did LHR-MAD-BCN-MAD-LHR a month a go and printed out my BP on paper outbound and on my blackberry inbound. They just scan the blackberry like a BP.

alanw

Don't count on priority boarding for any airline in BCN - it comes and goes like the weather.

tshep

Hi all,

Some questions: -
1) Is this purely a walk-on thing or can I book a particular flight? Seatcounter.com shows zero availability on some flights (i.e. 13 May MAD-BCN IB720, IB740). I will be connecting on to SQ with check-in luggage.

2) Is it common not to get on the next available flight? Particularly interested in the flights around 7.30am from MAD-BCN.

3) In BCN, are the Iberia Air Shuttle counters close to SQ's, as opposed to the other end of the terminal? I am aware they are on a different level.

Thanks in advance.

alanw

1. It is purely walk-on. There are also regular scheduled flights operated througout the day by Spanish carriers in all three alliances plus an LCC. I would think if you're flying SQ you would want to connect from a *A flight and not screw with changing terminals.

2. Most of the time you get the next flight but from 7-9AM it can be dicey. Again, book a scheduled flight and avoid the problem. JK for example flies every half-hour or so in the mornings and advance purchase Y fares start at 14€. Quite a bit less than the 200+ on the shuttle.

3. You really don't want to do that. Book a flight on JK, check your bags through, and pick up your SQ boarding pass at the transfer desk right next to the JK and SQ gates in BCN.

danielmadrid07

You can purchase an Air Shuttle ticket online however it will just be an open ticket to use whenever you'd like (no dates/times), this often times saves me time in lieu of having to queue at the Air Shuttle ticket sales desk at the airport. Booking online lets you go straight to the check-in or auto check-in.

Of all the years I have been flying the Air Shuttle, I have always been able to get a seat on the next available flight to the point of it often times being a bit annoying if Im in no hurry and want to take a few minutes to make a call or get a snack in the VIP Lounge, if you are checking bags they require you to take the very next flight. Tickets on the Air Shuttle are sold at a considerably high premium, are not offered as part of other tickets to connecting flights, and thus do not have the high loads that a regular scheduled flight would.

Priority boarding is now a focus for Iberia, as I am seeing new signs at all the gates similiar to Delta's ¨BreezeWay Boarding¨ which allows for a seperate line to be formed for Business/OneWorld Elite customers to file in to board seperately from the masses. Nevertheless, priority boarding is a service which Iberia has always offered yet for some reason has never been big to tout it, I have always subtley walked to the side of the desk (past the crowds) and casually mention that I am in Business Class/Platinum and have always been offered priority boarding without problems.

Iberia also offers cheap scheduled BCN-MAD, MAD-BCN flights with prices starting at around 32 € and the in-flight service is the same as the slightly more upgraded Puente Aereo service (IE: better food in Business, etc)

I havent done SpanAir or Vueling on these legs but would be curious to see if they offer a higher than usual level of in flight services possibly to compete with Puente Aereo?

christvs

Thanks for the new info posted in this thread . I'm flying in to BCN at 11:40. I will be able to go to iberia's counters and check in for the 13:45 departure at that time, correct (I don't have checked luggage)?

It has been up in the air whether my trip would go through, but I'm confident that with the re-opened airspace all over Europe my trip will be a success. All of my flights landed on time for the past couple of days .

Acid

Hoping to get the Air Shuttle on Sunday evening Mar 10 BCN-MAD.
Wondering if I will get access to lounge at BCN -

Given its just after Iberia Strike - is it worth risking open ticket with air shuttle.