Iberia Express is a “low cost” subsidiary of the Spanish national carrier Iberia (“IB”).  Both carriers use the same Airbus narrow-body aircraft and from the outside the only visible difference is the extra word “Express” on the fuselage, but on board there are subtle differences which reflect the different cost bases of the two airlines. My journey was flown by Iberia Express between Gatwick and Madrid, and by Iberia from Madrid to Marrakech.

I booked flights from London Gatwick (“LGW”) to Marrakech (“RAK”) via Madrid (“MAD”) through IB’s website just a week prior to travel. It was school half term and flights were selling out fast and thus expensive. Two Business class returns cost me €1877.  Direct flights to RAK from LGW are possible, but at the time of booking BA had sold out and Easyjet were asking £1100!  I tried to use Avios to reduce the bill, but for some reason I couldn’t work out how to do that on IB’s site.

Check in at LGW South Terminal for our first sector to MAD was smooth, with just a short wait in line at the Business check-in. Bags were tagged through to RAK and we were given the boarding cards for our 2nd sector.  Despite having input our Qatar Airways loyalty card details when I made the booking, the system hadn’t captured them, so I asked the check-in agent to input them again for us. However she made a mistake by typing in “QA” instead of “QR”, so my flights weren’t properly accredited.  Business passengers are invited to use the Number 1 lounge, but because I wasn’t satisfied when I used it last year I decided to head for the British Airways lounge: BA and IB are OneWorld partners, so lounge facilities can be shared.  I like the BA lounge at LGW, but it is getting noticeably busier each time I go there (but it’s still an enjoyable place to be).

We boarded Airbus A320-200 EC-MEH, which operated flight IB3341 on 25 October, at 10:30, via an airbridge.  As with most European business classes these days, Iberia Express and Iberia offer the same seats and pitch as in Economy, but they leave the middle seat on each side of the 3-3 cabin empty, to give the feeling of space.  Oddly though, to save a tiny bit of money, Iberia Express places just one small pillow in the middle seat, for two pax to share. On Iberia each pax gets a pillow.  Legroom seemed very poor (it was impossible for me to stand up vertically without holding onto the seat in front, and this was made worse when the person in front of me reclined her seat for the whole flight: there isn’t even space to read a newspaper!  On our return flight non of the seats reclined, which, IMHO is a fair approach on short flights.

The aircraft cabin appeared “well worn”, with crumbs on the floor and dirty windows (inside and out). No drinks are offered before take-off.  Door closed early at 10:45, we pushed back at 10:53 and were airborne at 11:06.  At 11:30 I finally received the glass of Cava I’d ordered, just before I was served a rather unappetising ‘quiche and bacon’ and stale fruits. There was no choice of dishes.

In the forward lav the soap dispenser was empty, but on my later sectors I discovered tiny sachets of liquid soap in one of the drawers above the sink. Surely it’s cheaper and more eco-friendly for IB to top up the dispensers!  The other thing missing from this flight was in-seat power (neither a/c nor usb) which is a big negative in terms of Business Class facilities these days.  Overall I found the service to be below expectations: one of the 2 FAs working our cabin did not smile once on the entire journey. And the only time the flight crew spoke to the pax was 20 minutes away from MAD.  score 3/10

We landed at Madrid Barajas airport at 14:00 local, 15 minutes early and parked on a stand in Terminal 4 with an airbridge. When we disembarked a lady at the top of the airbridge spoke quietly and only in Spanish, asking for any international transit passengers, who she then directed down some stairs to a waiting bus.  (luckily I heard and recognised the words “transitos internacionales”.  After a bit of a wait the bus took us across to Terminal 4’s Satellite concourse, from where our next sector would depart in a couple of hours time.

That meant we had time to visit Iberia’s Velazquez Premium lounge. It’s a large bright space of 2,500 sq metres, with food buffets at both ends and a wine bar at one end, filled with comfortable (though not reclining) beige/grey, white or red leather chairs which look out onto the apron.  Power sockets by the seats and well-functioning wi-fi meant we could stay in touch with the world.  A few Illy coffee machines for self service were scattered around, there were also shower facilities and clean toilets. Overall this was a pleasant and clean place to spend our layover. 7.5/10

When our Iberia flight IB3342 was called we were bussed to the off-stand parked Airbus A319, registration EC-JDL, and we boarded at 15:45, which was actually the scheduled time of departure. Doors closed at 16:00 and we started our taxi at 16:06.  As with our earlier flight, there was no communication from the flight deck – more noticeable this time because of the late departure.  We took off from runway 36L at 16:19.  Seats and their meagre pitch were the same as earlier, again with the middle seats blocked out in each 3-3 row, but this time we were in row 1, which has more legroom.

When lunch was served we had a menu and a choice between beef and pasta. The beef looked really good, but as is so often the case on an aeroplane, it was horribly overcooked and felt like leather in the mouth. It came with lumpy mashed potatoes and a grilled pepper, a leaf side-salad, dry cheese, yogurt and a single chocolate.  A Faustino VII white Rioja was quite pleasant (though I’d ordered red) and the FAs were professional and jolly.  We landed at RAK at 17:03, some 13 minutes late and parked off-stand then we strolled across the apron to the notorious Marrakech arrivals building in warm sunshine.  5/10

For our journey home a few days later we boarded IB3341 via a bus – RAK does have some airbridge-served gates, but it appears IB doesn’t pay to use them. The aircraft operating was an Airbus A320, registered EC-KOH and it appeared newer and a lot cleaner than the one we flew in on (and it had a/c and usb power in the seats).  Amongst the newspapers offered before take-off was that day’s international FT, but it didn’t come with a pre-takeoff drink.  Doors closed 3 minutes early at 13:07 and we pushed back at 13:10.  Take-off was at 13:20 from runway 28.  After take-off we were offered a menu (which you don’t get on Iberia Express) and drinks. I had a fairly pleasant, if a little dry, chicken dish, and some pleasant Spanish wines.  The flight deck first addressed us at ‘top of descent’, 30 minutes from MAD.  So this appears to be IB’s standard operating procedure; I prefer it when I hear more from the pilots, right from boarding, inflight, then before landing, and maybe a final word before parking.  We landed at MAD 15 minutes early, at 15:48.  (Morocco is one hour behind Spain in summertime, and as of October 2018, on the same time in the winter).

Our plane parked in Terminal 4 Satellite, and our next sector to London was departing from Terminal 4. But this time there was no transfer bus; we had to ‘enter Spain’ and take a small shuttle train to T4, then ‘leave Spain’ again to gain access to the departures terminal.  (and on the way to the flight’s gate we had to show passports again, because we were leaving the Schengen zone).  That all left me a little bewildered, but my biggest challenge was trying to find the IB “Dali” Premium Lounge.  Even some IB staff I asked didn’t know where it was, with one even suggesting I needed to take the train back to the Satellite terminal!

FYI it’s upstairs close to where you would enter after security, if you were starting your journey in MAD. It’s very poorly signposted, and what few signs there are state “Iberia Sala VIP”, but everyone else managed to find it OK, so it was rather busy.

The lounge has a couple of food buffets and a ‘wine bar’ which wasn’t tended, so fresh bottles weren’t being opened when wines ran out.  Seating was plentiful but there seemed to be more of a focus on the seating needs of a business traveller rather than those of a tired leisure flyer (ie they weren’t as comfy as the chairs in the Velazquez lounge in the Satellite). 5/10

Ambient lighting was quite good, though the lounge isn’t right next to the huge terminal windows, and hence apron views are a little obstructed.  In fact the lounge overlooks the J concourse departure gates.  Bear in mind though, that if you’re flying to the UK there’s a fair hike down to the H concourse where non Schengen flights leave from.  Post Brexit I’m guessing UK flights will use the Satellite terminal, along with the other truly international flights.

When we got to our gate we saw a very long queue for economy and more than 30 in the line for business, despite there being only 8 seats in that cabin – a consequence of upper tier frequent flyers being able to use the premium lines.  We boarded Iberia Express flight IB3718, operated by Airbus A320 EC-LYE, at 18:30 and we sat down in row 1 and watched a long line of Economy passengers, laden down with loads of hand luggage, move slowly to their seats.  I was amazed to see 2 kids on micro scooters scooting their way into the cabin and along the aisle; I thought they would have been put in the hold.  After a while the aircraft dispatcher started taking bags off people, to go in the hold, when the overhead lockers became full.  IMHO there should be more control over what comes into the cabin in the first place; the people last in line might have something very important in their bags which get prized off them and thrown in the hold, whereas the people who boarded early might have had 3 bags of tat each. Or scooters.

It was noticeable that the plane hadn’t been cleaned between flights (and I later found out they hadn’t even loaded any fresh drinks), which is pretty poor going at the airlines’s home base!  But that’s part of the lower cost model of Iberia Express.  And the other thing I noticed was that none of the seats reclined.

Doors closed 10 minutes late at 19:00, but in accordance with what I guessed is their standard operating procedure, there was nothing from the flight deck to explain or apologise for the delay.  And Iberia Express promotes itself as Europe’s most punctual low cost airline. I call that lazy and disrespectful.  We started pushing back at 19:01, but stopped after just a couple of metres. An FA made an announcement in Spanish and then in English, but she was completely unintelligible. 3 minutes later the pushback restarted and we took off at 19:18.

After take-off orange juice was offered. I asked if I could have a glass of cava with OJ and was told “yes of course” but 30 minutes later I was told there wasn’t any cava on board (fresh bar items had not been loaded in MAD).  Business class without any sparkling wine?!  So I asked for a glass of Rioja. I was offered peanuts, but I was served almonds.  A hot meal was served, but I declined it because it didn’t sound very appetising (to me).

We landed at LGW at 20:05 on runway 26L and we were on stand at 20:13 (with an airbridge).  I had partially blocked ears for the last 40 minutes of the flight because depressurisation had started right from ‘top of descent’.  And once again the flight crew didn’t talk to us about the descent.

Business class travel within Europe these days is pretty poor on all of the major carriers; you usually have the same seats and pitch as in Economy, but they leave the centre seat free, to give you lateral space.  Iberia’s product was little different to others I’ve tried in the past year. But Iberia Express flights are very clearly on an even lower level (no menus, no meal choice, no sparkling wine, shared pillows etc).  That may well be perfectly acceptable on short flights, but the thing is the passenger is not made of aware of the lower cost product in advance. And my €1800 ticket for two certainly didn’t forewarn me I would be getting an inferior product for half of my journey. 5/10