Iberia/BA Club Europe

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Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 3,539

On February 7th I'm flying to Lanzarote, via Madrid and Tenerife. I'm flying:

IB A321 LHR-MAD
IB A340-300 MAD-TFN
Binter Canarias ATR 72 TFN-ACE

Homeward:

IB A321 ACE-MAD
BA 735 MAD-LGW

I just have a few questions:

1. Are Iberia relatively punctual? My connection in TFN is only 1 hour and I'm not sure who would be responsible if i missed the Binter flight...? (It was booked on Opodo as one single booking)

2. What is BA Club Europe like on the 737-500's? Will the seating etc make a special difference from Economy, or is it all just as worn and tired as the rest of the cabin? I'm thinking of making the £50 upgrade from Economy for me and my girlfriend, as a little Valentines Day treat seeing as we fly home on the 14th.

Many thanks in advance, I'll appreciate any answers!

Original post

Member for

19 years 11 months

Posts: 170

Used Iberia many times, cannot remember any particular delays except for bad weather. However, do you expect a big increase in quality for a 50 pound upgrade? I would expect at least 2 to 3 times economy price so this must be some symbolic extra service where you get the same seats but a 50 quid meal! Like KLM for example, Euroselect invented for brain donors who want 700pounds worth of food in economy seats.:rolleyes:

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

I noticed at Christmas on the KLM 737-400s and 737-800s that their Business Class cabin was no different to the economy cabin. The seats were in a 3-3 configuration and they had a curtain to separate them from the economy lot! I guess it was little surprise that the AMS-LHR flight on Christmas Eve didn't have any passengers in Business Class! But for £50, that's not bad value and you do presumably get some sort of lounge access for your money, do you?

As for the flights, when I was searching for flights with Expedia earlier this month, they would suggest all available flights, but told me that it was up to me to ensure that I allowed at least 2 hours between connecting flights. I guess if anything goes wrong and you've allowed less than this, then you're a bit b*ggered!

Log on to www.flightstats.com, pop your flight number in and see how this particular flight scores for it's punctuality. I'm sure it won't be as bad as my China Eastern flight last weekend, with an on-time score of 2%! That got us into Heathrow exactly 2 hours late. :mad:

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 3,539

Cheers guys, as far as I know the 737's have 2-3 seating in Club Europe, which would suggest slightly wider seats. I think they also provide 34" legroom, which is definitely enough room for your legs, I wouldn't expect to be able to lie flat on MAD-LGW! It would also mean lounge access in MAD's new terminal, and with a 2h20min connection (provided IB arrive on time from ACE) then a lounge with free food/drink would be excellent. And it'd certainly make a much better Valentines Day than sitting in a hard chair of a normal departure lounge for over 2 hours.

Does anyone else have any opinions or information?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,709

Iberia is a disgrace for Spain but it has two positive things: safe and usually in time. But you have to take note of two things. T4 in Madrid is a bit chaotic and A340 has to arrive from former transcontinental flights.

TFN is small and doesn´t have problems to get quick connections. However an hour is a bit limited since you have to make two different checkings. Binter doesn´t bellong to Iberia anylonger. No enough time.

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 1,614

Hi Dan,
I think the Club Europe seats are actually 3-3 on the 737, but BA block off the middle seat - I sat in one of the Club World convertible seats in the summer as the 737s have about 10 (?) rows of these then the rest normal to allow for differing business class loads.