Sorry for the overall lack of posts of late-- too much going on after our return from Barcelona, the preparations for the book swap (see below post) were followed almost immediately by preparations for our current house guest, and I received some fairly downbeat news to boot that I am still trying to process-- so blogging hasn't been a priority. But... people come to this here flog for a dose of snark and commentary, so enough excuses and onto the main entry.
After finally viewing the photos we took in Barcelona (which still need editing, color correction, etc.) I'm not entirely convinced they will merit their own linked photo album-- there's not a whole lot of them, and they seem to be almost entirely devoted to our meals and architecture, like some sort of parallel-universe Talking Heads album. For the nonce (and to get some sort of momentum going), I will attempt to do a few entries detailing some of the aspects of the trip while the pictures get cleaned up and ready. Today's post deals with our comically lousy journey to Spain.
As I mentioned in a previous entry I burned off some old frequent flier miles to get this trip to Barcelona and ended up paying $212 for the honor of these "free" tickets. Add to that the hassle of driving the 90+ minutes to Munich to get to the flight and the €35.00 (down from €50-- we had a coupon!) long-term parking fee, and all of a sudden this cheap flight was starting to add up. For this award travel, we were compelled to fly Iberia Airlines, the national airline of Spain and an international (flies to 46 countries) heavyweight. Because this was indeed an award trip I shouldn't complain much, but these yobs were so consistently incompetent and lacking in any quality I had to share:
- The flights were all late.
- No food was served on a nearly 3-hour flight unless you paid for it-- even water cost 3 Euros.
- You quickly learned from fellow passengers to stand in line for the connecting flight at the Madrid Airport for a full hour before boarding.
- The only option was to take a flight to Madrid-- which is actually 300+ miles past Barcelona, then hang fire in that airport for a couple hours before taking the flight back east (the direction we originally came from).
- Halfway through boarding the Madrid-Barcelona leg, it was announced as "open seating"-- in other words, a free-for-all. This announcement was in Spanish only.
- Veteran Iberia passengers seemed to be aware of the uncaring attitude of the flight attendants (who all disappeared into the rear of the plane as soon as it was airborne) by bringing aboard their clearly oversized suitcases that barely fit into the overhead bins.
- The planes' (aging Airbus A320 models) seating was configured in "economy" mode-- in other words we were crammed in like sardines, and even average-sized me (all of 5'8") was having a hard time getting comfortable.
- Our return trip's 10:00 flight was switched to 9:30, and then merged with the suddenly-canceled-that-morning 8:00 flight.
...and so on. To bring a long story to a close, Iberia has pages of negative reviews on this passenger-generated review website, and I can assure you that if our flights were any indication, they deserve every bit of scorn that's heaped upon them. If anybody is thinking about using Iberia-- and they are one of the cheaper airline options to Europe in what is now the most expensive summer for airfares in history-- please be aware of what you are getting into. To Iberia's credit, they did not lose our luggage and they did get us to our destinations... eventually.
After all that vitriol, I should also give a shout-out to Iberia's subsidiary who took us home for the final Madrid-Munich leg: For every bad thing I said about Iberia, I can say positive things about Air Nostrum. The seats were wide and provided ample leg room. The planes were clean and newer. Drinks and snacks were served. The flight attendants smiled and could speak English. If anybody is looking for competitively priced intra-Europe flights, I'd recommend these guys in a heartbeat.
More Spanish impressions in the days to follow!
3 comments:
Hmmm, I think twice, no three times before flying Iberia. Thanks for the feedback.
GG: If you accept Iberia as another discount airline like TUIfly, Ryanair or Easyjet, that's one thing-- but they like to act like they are on a par with their new owners British Air-- and they are not. If price is the sole overriding concern, I'd give Iberia a (very) qualified OK-- but be prepared for a day full of aggravation, and brown bag your food and drink. If you do choose to fly Iberia, then shop smart and try to book your flights exclusively with partner/ subsidiary Air Nostrum through the Iberia website for as much of your trip as you can (it will take some effort, but will be worth it). Some folks do not like the smaller regional jets-- the very narrow planes with only 4 or 5 seats across-- that Air Nostrum uses, but they are newer, safer and cleaner.
Thanks for the comment, and I really like your website-- great photos!
More about cheapo flights which aren't:
http://deutschlanduberelvis.com/blog/2011/05/feck.html
Please enjoy.
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