I just arrived home from Madrid yesterday after a long exhausting journey with Iberia. I've flown several times with the company and never experienced such poor and rude service. My husband and I were bumped from our flight that was reserved since September. Arriving in the airport 4 hours in advance is obviously not enough time nor is going directly to an office to confirm the reservation. yes.. it was nice to receive a lovely compensation package and boarding cards 24hours in advance from the airlines for all troubled passengers but that only came after I lost my temper on the customer service folks. Yes they spoke English quite well but only seemed to want to help in Spanish. Boy.. am I glad that I can defend myself. The rep even commented that I had a "mouth of fire" for an American. Ugh!... Was that comment necessary? Anyway, although I'm bilingual would you believe that the US custom's declarations were not available in English? Not a single copy!!!Flight staff was rude!!! And I could go one forever. Anyone care to comment on recent experiences?

Debbie

Iberia has LOST its touch? Did they EVER HAVE a "touch"?

granada94..... whew... wow... I'm so sorry to hear of your unpleasant flight experience with the staff and being "bumped". But wasn't the food great?!?!?!?

Conversely, as I recall, on my last Delta flight from Madrid to Atlanta they ONLY had US customs declarations forms in English and NONE in Spanish. I imagined all those Spaniards flying to the US for the first time and having to struggle with English on that form as well as at the check-through point where the agents ONLY speak English.

As for the flight staff being rude, well.... Hmmm.. how to say it.... Well... "It's all relative", eh? It's my impression that Spanish (and French) flight staff are much more "All Business" and less the smiling, motherly/fatherly/I'm-your-best-friend-during-this-flight-because-we're-trained-to -act-this-way-but-inside-I-could-really-care-less-about-you types that we have on the US-based airliners. I actually find their (the Spanish/French) all-business-like-attitude refreshing. But I wasn't there where you were, of course. Maybe they were really nasty!! Hope not.

I think you'll find MANY MANY postings just like yours about Iberia here in this forum. I remember reading at least 5 over the years about their poor service, late-leaving and hence late-arriving flights, etcetera. But I do love their food, bread, and wine.

Hope your time in Spain was MUCH better than your flight home.

Saludos, MadridMan

Debbie

I am sad to say that I agree with you. I flew business class with Iberia two weeks ago Chicago to Madrid and I was very disappointed with their service. Two years ago, they were great. Business class was a regular service: the wines were just the cheapest Spanish white and red wines(ie: the cheap Vina del Sol), a cart with the food, just one movie to watch and the inflight customer service below average.

They do not honor their alliance with AA, you are stucked, you are on your own.

I am glad to know that I am not alone about Iberia. I hope they will wake up before they lament it.

The first time I flew Iberia JFK to/from Madrid was back in 1962: At the time I decided that most of Iberia's employees were Political appointees, relatives of Franco's 'bigwigs.' Service was terrible! Señoritas and Señoritos (flight attendants) acted like they were doing you a favor, tearing themselves away from charlando among themselves to serve fare paying passengers.

Our next few trips to Spain we flew Continental, United and TWA. In 1992 we took Iberia again because they had a great deal on their 'Visit Spain' pass. Service on Domestic flights eithin Spain was fine; TransAtlantic service was atrocious.

In the mid-90's, our KLM flight LIS-AMS was cancelled and we were routed on Iberia LIS-BCN and BCN-AMS for our return flight on NorthWest/KLM AMS-DTW. The intra-Europe service on Iberia was fine!

Apparently, Iberia employees bid for the Madrid-New York route based on seniority, and once they get it they are in 'tall cotton,' as the saying goes. They don't get anything extra for giving good service, so they do the least they can get away with.

No, Iberia airlines hasn't lost its touch. On its MAD-JFK routes it has never been a Tourist Class Passenger-friendly airline. That's the way I see it.

From my point of view the best option to fly to the US from Madrid is Continental. Good service and a great and clean aircraft.

Hi!

First of all, I must assume that flying home from Madrid to the US ougth to be exhausting anyway .

I've read that Debbie's flown several times with Iberia and it seems that the last one was a complete disaster; in that case, what I'd do is to send an official complaint to the company so that they may be aware of it. However, isn't it rational to think that blaming the company for just one time is a little radical?

They did speak English to you but they only seemed to want to help you in Spanish:

a) I don't get it. What does that mean?

b) If you're bilingual, what's the point then?

About the "paperwork" available only in Spanish I do agree with MadridMan. I've flown with companies from all over the EU and I've dealt with Dutch, Swedish, German and French; from my point of view, a beautiful experience.

I've never experienced rudeness with Iberia; perhaps because I tend to use a big smile, patience and comprehension, expressions like thank you so much and please or just because I'm a lucky man, who knows...

The fact that Iberia is not a tourist air company is very well known at least here in Europe. Iberia and British Airways became a "Holding" some years ago. Iberia covers EU-South America amd BA covers EU-North America. For other "tourist class" flights there are companies linked to Iberia such as: Air Nostrum or Air Europa, etc.

By hte way, I appreciate that comment from Eddie about the staff being appointed by Franco in the 60s. Indeed, Franco appointed everything in Spain from 1939 to 1975 .

Thanks for reading this!

My last flight w/ Iberia out of Chicago was great, probably because there was probably only 35 people on it! If my fight arrives somehwhat on time, and in one piece, I'm cool w/ that.

A few years ago SpanAir flew non-stops from Dulles to Barajas. The service was fenominal (coach felt like first class) and the tickets were regalados (I mean cheap!). I was sad to see the service ended -- I think the drop off in travel after 9/11 may have been a cause.

maybe it really does depend which route you fly? ive never had a problem with Iberia on the Chicago-Madrid route, and would actually prefer them over a lot of other major airlines. it feels like i'm already in spain the second i step on the plane
kelly

I flew Iberia from Amsterdam to Barcelona this past week for the first time. Although the flight went fine, I woudl say that the staff wasn't particularly friendly and the plane itself wasn't kept up very well.

I don't think I'll ever fly a long flight with them as the short one was far from enjoyable.