Iberia

Bought return ticket from BA from London Heathrow to Accra. Flew out on BA and enjoyed normal good service. Return leg from Accra to London was on Iberia with transit via Madrid BA's OneWorld partners. I was initially happy to use Iberia - I relished the chance to pass through Madrid i.e. to sample new language culture etc. Big mistake. There was no inflight entertainment on the over 5-hour flight to Madrid (ditto on the 2-hour Madrid to London leg). Only breakfast was served for the entire duration. Leg room was very poor. On the Madrid-London flight you could only get food if you purchased it. Felt especially for mothers with young children. Would have been thoughtful if Iberia advised passengers to bring their own entertainment and food/drink on board. On the plus side really enjoyed my interactions with Spanish airport workers and co-passengers who were friendly and helpful. The return journey had all the hallmarks of a "no frills" budget airline. However the ticket was purchased at a premium (almost £1200 for the return journey in Economy class). Unless things change with Iberia they would dilute the BA brand and it is only a matter of time before customers go elsewhere. I certainly wont be flying on Iberia in the near future!

Buenos Aires-London via Madrid. Have flown this route regularly over the years with Iberia and other airlines. This flight was a massive improvement on Iberia's previous standards. Food was tasty cabin crew friendly and helpful plane clean and had obviously been refitted with new seats and entertainment system. The latter was amazing not only compared to Iberia's previously non-existent IFE but is well up there with best in the industry (ie Emirates). Lots of choice great touch screen and sound quality. Don't know if this is the result of the BA merger but its a big improvement. Keep it up Iberia and people might even start choosing you when you're not the cheapest!

JFK-MAD return Nov 2013. IB now charges $40 to select seats which I did not. Seats assigned at airport. Allowed check in online from New York but not from Madrid. Outbound A340 window seat foot space limited by equipment but good 32" pitch no IFE. Inbound new A330 tighter seats so they compensate with good PTV. I flew IB two years before and A340 aircraft was falling apart doors and seat trays held together by duct tape. Edible food and complimentary wine. Inbound boarding at MAD gate agent asked to check my carry on due to full plane. My small bag was among first out the carousel at JFK.

Flew from TLV via MAD to LIM. TLV-MAD was an extremely old plane. No entertainment at all for 5 hours. No leg room at all. I am only 176 cm and could not sit comfortably. Luckily no one was next to me so had a seat empty. MAD-LIM-MAD. 2 different aircraft's. These are 11-12 hour flights. No personal TV (the LIM-MAD was a new plane and no personal screen). Tried to check in online. I could have purchased the tickets on a code share with LAN and paid a bit more and would have been much happier.

FRA-MAD-FRA in Economy operated by Iberia Express. Plane was new and modern crew friendly (though zero service unless you pay for a glass of tea) but legroom was terrible. Perhaps with the exception of a certain low budget airline I haven't been on a plane where I (1.92m) was unable to sit just because I could not squeeze my legs in. Fortunately the first flight was half empty and on return I chose an aisle seat. For the legroom issue I will not fly them again.

IB 6274 25 Dec Chicago to Madrid. I found everything much better than many reviews claimed. I was expecting everything to be bad but was pleasantly surprised. It was a newer Airbus and I found the leg room good since I'm 6ft and was worried. Now I must say the leg room in the cheap seats going to Spain from Chicago was less than the trip back. Plane was clean and smelled nice. I fly American frequently and would trade Iberia for American any day.

Mexico to Madrid 12 hours of unacceptable service seats uncomfortable no monitor on the seats - 12 hours without watching a movie we could do nothing! Staff were impolite my wife is vegetarian and we asked for something else to eat and the answer was "You had to order it 24 hours before the flight" unbelievable!

Very bad experience on flight IB6844 Buenos Aires-Madrid on Dec 31st. Iberia had me travel 12hrs at night with my baby in my arms even though I had booked a bassinet 3 months ahead. According to the staff this was due to a change of equipment. They did not warn me at anytime before embarking. They did not offer anything (not even an extra pillow) and made no effort to improve our comfort under the excuse that the flight was overbooked. When I suggested they disembark me and reschedule me on a flight in which I could have a bassinet they made no effort to check on which flight I could actually travel and threatened me to call authorities if I did not make my mind immediately despite their inability to provide basic information. I carried on with this flight to avoid ending up stranded for several days. This was just surreal and a very unpleasant experience. On the bright side passengers around me were comforting and helpful.

Madrid to Rio de Janeiro 27th December 2013 IB6025. Truly awful: the long haul equivalent of Ryanair. Flew from Heathrow via Madrid to Rio de Janeiro. Meal preferences not recorded (despite checking 3 times) so nothing to eat. Old fashioned plane fixtures and fittings to match. No inflight entertainment (audio or visual) as both malfunctioning and despite being asked to be seated away from children I was surrounded by 6 including 2 newborns right next to me who cried more or less the whole journey. With nothing to watch the flight was rowdy. I am a very frequent flier at least once a week if not more - and this was truly one of the worst flying experiences that I've ever had.

ORD-MAD-TFN-MAD-ORD. In a word: horrific All flights (every one of them) left late and did not attempt to make up the time in flight. Boarding was chaotic. It would make sense to load the flight from the back to the front but not with Iberia. Seemingly random assignment of 'groups' resulting in lots of lost time while folks at the front of the plane get their stuff in the overhead bins holding up everyone else trying to get to the back of the plane. Staff was sulky and unhelpful. Service was poor. Security lapse by Iberia staff at the gate caused a twenty minute delay which resulted in a short connection time in Madrid. Though we made it to the gate with twenty minutes to spare (because we ran the whole way) we were not allowed to board. Lost a work day because of it. I would rather walk than take Iberia again.