globalste

I’ve started flying an awful lot of BA/Iberia code-shares recently and thought I would start a thread with the idea of it forming part of a guide of some sort. Everything here is what I can remember based on my experience or those of the board recently, so anyone who can further contribute their experiences will only serve to make the thread better.


Booking
When flying a sector which involves an Iberia Domestic flight, the number of flights available increases significantly when you book on Iberia.com

When booking on BA.com, the flight outbound and inbound will usually be more expensive if booking Iberia Metal, however it will usually be cheaper if you start your outbound to Madrid when booking BA metal.

Booking flights from/to London City tends to be more expensive on BA.com and when trying to book an LCY-MAD-XX-MAD-LCY/LHR flight, you will be charged full-fare economy or Club Europe. However, LCY flights on Iberia.com seem to be available at discount economy prices. I believe this is an error and it has been posted on the errors with BA.com thread and as an email to BA.com


Seating
There are 3 main aircraft that Iberia use on its short haul network. A319, A320, and A321. A business class cabin is available on both European and Domestic routes.

• Business Class is 34” pitch, Economy is a stingy 31” pitch, all aircraft now use the Recaro seats so the seat itself is not that deep and you find yourself sliding off it. The recline is dreadful, about 2” maximum. Business Class has the middle seat left free and 34" pitch.
• Business Class on the A319 runs up until Row 7, after that it is a 31” pitch. Emergency Exit is Row 10, this has a huge 38” pitch. Row 9 has no recline. Aisle seat is better than window at the emergency exit as the window has a off-centre armrest bolted to the window and nothing on the seat.
• Business Class on the A320 runs up until Row8, after that it is a 31” pitch. Emergency Exits are rows 11 and 12 with the larger pitch, row 11 has no recline nor does row 10.
• Business Class seating on the A321 runs up until Row 8. Everything after is 31” pitch except door exits have a lot of legroom like on BA

Longer European routes (Business Club) have a different product, which is arguably a better seat than BA WT+ with a 50” pitch and footrests.

Advanced seat selection for Iberia flights
Business class customers may select their seats from the time of booking. For more information on seat allocations and current seat selection fees for economy class, see http://www.iberia.com/gb/seat-reservation/


Lounges
See Iberia lounges and access general information thread here for general lounges information and access questions / answers. You may also peruse the pictorial Iberia lounge database thread which covers the majority of lounges available to IB passengers across the airline's route network.

Luggage
Carry on baggage:
You can take one carry-on bag and one personal item. The maximum size of the carry one item is 56cm x 45cm x 25cm (including handles/wheels/other protuberances. Whilst there is no specific weight limit, these pieces should fit in the size-check device located at the airports and you must be able to lift them into the overhead locker by yourself. Business Plus customers may take 2 carry-on bags

For more information, see http://www.iberia.com/gb/baggage/?language=en


Onboard service
Economy is a buy-on-board service, you do not even get water. Cabin staff will fire a shot across the bow if you bring any alcohol on board, something to do with "not being able to monitor the consumption of the passengers"

Business varies depending on the destination, Business Club on board food and service is more like Business Plus . Otherwise Business Class is just the Recaro seats with the middle seat left vacant. Food is of a decent standard and you also get food on domestic, although it will be served in record time!

PeteTheBrit

The OLCI is unusable with code shared Flights with code IB7.000 - IB7.999

I'm not sure i would agree with everything you've said about Iberia flights here, but it is otherwise very useful information. In particular i would question the service provided, and the planes. BA staff on LHR-MAD tend not to be very nice, and the planes interiors are very tired.

flyupnorth

A recent piece of genius advice was to use www.finnair.com to select IB seats in advance.

globalste

Cheers for the feedback Pete, have edited. What do you mean by the planes?

Flyupnorth - good info! Also added

jmphoto

Slightly OT, but I was just looking at some flights to BCN in June. Any idea why on Iberia.com I can book a return leg on IB7470 which is in fact BA473, but that flight isn't available for booking on ba.com?

I looked on expertflyer and as far as I can tell it only operates as IB7470.

PeteTheBrit

I wasn't very clear was I!

On the LHR-MAD and LHR-BCN routes, the BA planes seem old and tired. As they're frequently busy, the staff always seem in something of a bad mood. Last Sunday in particular!
Conversely, if you speak Spanish with the IB staff they're always helpful and the planes seem to be cleaner and newer.

Regional IB is great and reminds me of flying before service was "enhanced" to what we see today.

I am on a bit of downer with BA right now as i'm still missing luggage after four days with no arrival time in sight, so feel free to ignore me.

The best advice i can give if flying to Spain and connecting to a regional flight is stick with only Iberia operated flights as you cannot OLCI, and so cannot reserve seats.

globalste

Are you connecting somewhere outbound/on Iberia outbound? Sometimes valid flights are missing because its not a codeshare. As it is BA metal, have you tried clicking the link that says "more flights" on ba.com?

bioyuki

I ran into the same awkwardness and there were fare differences as well. I found IB 7470 on ITA's fare matrix and it was cheaper than booking BA 473. Called BA and booked IB 7470 as it was cheaper.

Hannibal Lecter

And what's with Points and miles for Iberia coded flights operated by Vueling?

ThatT1Feeling

Have just tried to enter API into ba.com for an upcoming IB flight ex-MAD.

ba.com has thrown the following error message when entering API accurately:

Error

* Unrecognised code for item. Eg. VGML is a recognised SSR code, ZZZZ isnt.

First time I have realised that meal choice is part of Advanced Passenger Information!!

ThatT1Feeling

Brand new non-convertible seating A320 on the LHR-MAD afternoon flight yesterday...! Half empty and staff were great....

ThatT1Feeling

Absolute genius - tried and succeeded! Thanks..

ginger50

I believe that this gem first came from HIDDY.

I have just bought a return LHR - MAD - VGO.

All on BA tickets, LHR - MAD is BA metal the rest are IB. I was able to reserve a seat (exit row) on the BA flight but the IB flights would not show seat selection on BA.COM. I went to the IB sight, no seat selection available. I called the Silver line and they could not select seats on the IB sectors. I went to Finnair and was able to select seats (exit rows excluded) on all the IB sectors. I returned to the IB site and saw that they were showing the seats I had selected via Finnair on my reservation.

Lets see what happens.... more next week!

OPebble

Are you basing your comments on the BA 757's which I agree were past their best, but are now no longer around? Last week I flew LHR <> MAD on brand new A320s so don't understand your comments!

LeisureFirst

Last time I flew on IB, my bag cames out first even though the priority tag had been ripped off by the baggage handlers along with the whole suitcase handle etc.

I have not had a problem selecting seats in MMB on ba.com for an IB-operated codeshare LHR-MAD. Are you talking about domestic Spanish flights?

I love the 757s due to masses of extra legroom in row 26 -the best seats on the shorthaul fleet apart from 27 A/K on a 767, which I did once get MAD-LHR on BA.

I would never fly in M on an IB-operated flight if I could possible avoid it because of the cramped seating and the inability (AFAIK) for a Sapphire to pre-select an exit row. C class is quite nice though - better than Club Europe.