Sao Paulo to Berlin: BA or Iberia?
 

Hello all,

I need to fly from GRU to Berlin in September and have a choice of flying BA (whose J class product I believe has deteriorated significantly in recent years) or Iberia.

Can anyone please provide a comparison regarding J class seat comfort (I am tall, so not a big fan of the otherwise revered but short BA J bed) and service?

Also, how about tranferring in Madrid? ~ once again, not a big fan of LHR...

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I will not be visiting it for a couple more weeks, but it sounds like the new oneworld terminal at MAD will improve transfers significantly in terms of comfort and time spent on the ground; on their website IB quotes a minimum transfer time of 45 mins at MAD now (for oneworld connections).

Hi
This is just a personal opinion, but I think BA are much better than Iberia airlines in terms of comfort service and seats, as for the new facilities at Madrid , I can not comment as I have not been there yet , but I have heard good reports. Maybe you will get some more comments before you make your final decision . Happy flying ELO

Last week Iberia lost the luggage of Spain's own Olympic team. Take that as a sign...

thanks for that but not sure if that distinguishes them from many other airlines. One of the reasons I prefer to avoid LHR is that luggage frequently fails to arrive at the same destination and time as the traveller following transfers there, and in my experience, BA are pretty slow to rectify and/or compensate.

Thanks for your input ELO. Have you/anyone else experienced the new Iberia J class seat ~ I have seen it described as a "flat bed", which sounds promising...

Hi
I have not experienced the new Iberia J class seat , however as a side issue ,it would be interesting to see if anyone has any positive things to say about Iberia. ELO

There is an extensive thread in the other European forums about IB and its new business plus service. Briefly, the seat is good, service in the air ok, and ground service terrible--especially during irregular operations. I have flown IB twice trans-atlantic and would only do so on the overnight flights where one can sleep most of the way.

If you do a search on Iberia service, you will find that it is not highly rated on this site. I used the example of the formerly STATE airline losing the STATE's Olympic team's luggage just as an example. Feel free to form your own opinion, but most Spaniards don't expect much from IB. Then again, they don't pretend to offer much either.

One sign is the number of high paying business fares from Madrid to Latin America via MIA on AA, despite the existence of numerous nonstop IB flights and the inconvenience non-Americans face by connecting at a US airport.

All airlines occasionally lose luggage. BA is statistically better than most.

Compared to what? BA's J class is SO much better than even the new IB J class. Its better that AA, QF, LA also.