JessicaB

I would just say that if you expect travelling to be anything like it was before, you will probably be disappointed. The whole experience makes you feel like they are doing you a massive favor just allowing you to buy a ticket and fly. And airlines have had such a terrible time, I think they will continue to cost-cut and blame it on Covid for years to come.

metallo

My itinerary was originally AA. When a schedule change made the original itinerary impossible, BA was offered as an alternative, but I found that apparently even just transiting LHR subjects you to a 5 day quarantine in Italy, so that wasn't going to work for our trip, and other AA flights that may have worked were already sold out in J.

The other OW options potentially would have been AY through HEL or QR through DOH, but the timing of those flights was terrible -- longer flights and layovers, plus we would have had to change our destination airport in Italy. Getting to much of Europe definitely isn't easy right now on OW with reduced flights and with transiting LHR being a PITA.

I definitely appreciate knowing this information in advance -- in the U.S., at least, the FAA prohibits consuming one's own alcohol on the flight. I understand it could be easily done when no one is looking, but it's just annoying that one would potentially have to resort to that after purchasing TATL J tickets, even with COVID. Relatively speaking, IB's policies actually make AA look like a world class airline with American's free flowing drinks and TATL catering at the moment.

JessicaB

I still think that having one single washroom for the entire business class cabin on a night flight is the worst part of Iberia. 31 people all want to freshen up when they wake up, and the crew insist that nobody can use the forward toilet (due to Covid).

Add to that the fact that the Velasquez lounge is still closed in 4S so if that's where your next flight departs, you have no lounge either.

metallo

I thought that lounge recently reopened... or am I thinking of a different lounge?

I agree... a one lav situation for that many J passengers is ludicrous. Fortunately, ORD-MAD isn't full in J on my flight, but I'm not sure how IB handles non-revs and upgrades, so perhaps it could fill up.

feysul

I am flying today J from ORD>MAD. I will report my experience with respect to drinks on this flight when I land.

JessicaB

There was a rumor it was going to reopen but someone confirmed it was still closed a couple of days ago.

IADCAflyer

The worst part of Iberia was the fact that there are no individually controlled air vents from the overhead consoles on the A330s.. It gets very hot very quickly.

I don't think its the airlines necessarily (part of it is). A large part of it is the complete uncertainty and reflexive changes to rules for cities that you are traveling to and through, as well as the inconsistency of the rules.

For my JFK-MAD-DBV flight, I had to 1) get an advanced approval to transit Spain (even though my flights were 100% outside the Schengen area), 2) had to get an advanced approval to transit Croatia, but 3) didn't have to do a damned thing to enter Montenegro. Spain didn't seem to care if you had a vaccine or not or a negative COVID test if you were simply flying through MAD and remaining outside the Schengen zone. Croatia insisted on a vaccine certification or a negative test within 72/47 hours of arrival. My companion who was coming from a different city had to insist that he met the terms of the Croatian regulations based on the time zone where he took his COVID test.

My return is DBV-LHR-JFK and luckily both the UK and the USA allow for three calendar days of testing between test and commencement of travel and luckily both Croatia and Montenegro are amber list countries.

metallo

When did you transit Madrid? With the current requirements, I wasn't expecting to be required to produce any documentation, although we will both have our CDC vaccine cards, and we're also planning to have negative rapid COVID-19 antigen test results taken in the U.S. the day before departure just to be safe. If anything else is required for transiting Spain and arriving in Italy, it will come as a surprise to me!

Will look forward to your report... thanks in advance.

IADCAflyer

On Thursday.

NDFan

That is not correct: it re-opened sometime in June. I flew MAD-MEX on June 27 and used the lounge in T4S. I was there around noon and hot food options were limited but not surprising at that time of day. Not sure if they roll out better options later in the day.

When I checked in online the day before I was offered an upgrade from PE to J for €189 which I thought was very reasonable for a 10½ hour flight.
There was no pre-lunch drink/nuts/olive service as in the past, but the main meal was substantial and the FAs happily topped up my wine glass when requested.



I have no idea if alcoholic drinks could be requested at other times during the flight as I don't drink between meals!
Second meal was also quite good and accompanied by wine and other drinks.

IADCAflyer

Let me follow up - since you asked really more than one question.

There is a health form that you must fill out through the Spanish ministry of health (url https://www.spth.gob.es/). You must provide a copy of a negative PCR or antigen test (within 72 / 48 hours of testing) OR proof of vaccine OR letter certifying you have fully recovered from COVID. You must also provide certain passenger bio info (whether you are staying in Spain, transiting, flight number, passport info, etc.).

Once all of this is done, the ministry of health will spit out to you via email and directly an authorization complete with QR code permitting you access to Spain. At JFK, I was asked to show a copy of this cert to the Iberia agent. I saw one other passenger checking in who had NOT done this. The agent would not check the passenger in until he got that QR code.

tobsw

Velázquez lounge is open, but closes at 5.30 pm.


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Regarding drinks, the IB website has changed and they don't show the ridiculous 1 drink per meal. Now they show:

As one of the health and safety measures we have implemented in the wake of COVID-19, we have adapted our on-board service by temporarily removing or altering certain products to minimise contact between customers and crew. As a result of these changes, drinks will only be served with meals.

JessicaB

I stand corrected. There was definitely a post recently saying the Velasquez was closed, but I guess the person tried after 5.30pm. And if the 1 drink per meal has changed, then that's also good news. We just need to be able to use all the washrooms in J and not be restricted to using one. I presume that hasn't changed.

metallo

Thanks for your responses. I was just transiting Spain (which I've now done), and the whole thing was really easy... filled out the form online, no requirement for anything to be uploaded, received QR code, displayed code at airport check-in in the U.S. and again just after landing in Spain. No other checks or documentation required.

Yes... my experience this week was that I was proactively offered a second glass of wine halfway through the meal. I asked for a third, after most of the meal had been collected, and I still had dessert sitting in front of me, and it was offered without any issue. There were no PDBs, and I fell asleep, so I don't know whether anyone was served a drink after the meal.

I don't need 10 drinks on a TATL flight like this, but 2 or 3 are reasonable (not just one)... it's great that they've apparently fixed this policy.

Our intra-EU flight out of MAD was from T4, and the lounge there was open. We actually went to the Priority Pass lounge, which was right by our mid-40s gate, and the attendant said, "Oh, you're flying Business? You should use the Iberia lounge upstairs." We politely declined since we only had about 15 minutes and just used the PP lounge by our gate.

It seems like Iberia's "premium services" are beginning to come back, now that their J drink policy has been updated, and lounges are opening again.

It hasn't changed. Several J pax were turned away from going beyond the curtains in the front of J on my flight this week. The J cabin was full (I guess IB sold a ton of day of departure upgrades or something, as the cabin was less than half full at T-24h). There were quite a few times people hovering around the lav for extended periods waiting for it to be free.

Service was good overall. I'm not sure if it's because we are both OW Emerald, but one FA came over to take our dinner selection before takeoff and didn't ask for anyone else's choice until later. However...

There was also an odd episode with the FA coming over to me to ask whether my companion was taking photos of him... he said the thought the iPhone was pointed in his direction, but he said, "Unless you were just taking a selfie." I told him that, yes, we were taking a selfie (we took several photos, some selfies, some of other things, never intentionally the FAs, so I'm not sure which particular photo he was talking about). My companion had never been criticized for taking photos on any other airline before and was a bit shaken by this at first. It definitely wasn't a friendly welcome for someone's first mainline IB flight, especially in J.

AirbusA350

Anyone know about this? Has that been cut because it contracts coronavirus by offering a special meal? Lol