Widebodies and short routes – Two sides of the IAG Coin

Two sides of the IAG Coin – Widebodies and Short Routes

• Let’s do a challenge
• Off to Heathrow
• Points to be Made vs Economy Class and Beyond – Two idiots race across Heathrow
• Heathrow Terminal 5 and The British Airways Galleries South Lounge
• IB3167 London Heathrow to Madrid
• Crowne Plaza Madrid Airport
• Exploring Madrid for the morning
• Back to Barajas and the Iberia Lounges
• BA461 Madrid to London Heathrow
• To the trains!
• Two sides of the IAG coin

Two airlines owned by one group – International Consolidated Airlines Group. Yet, as “full service carriers” yet both on the same side of a very different coins.

Yes, there are efficiencies that are being made (for example, headphones in Iberia C are the same as Club World and the infamous grey sick bag) – but each airline showed their own personalities and warmth With Iberia, the crew were warm, happy to top up drink, and happy to make money on the duty-free cart, whilst the British Airways, there seemed to be a focus on customer service and making the plane work hard.

Both however have kept their own identities – no matter how much IAG tries to re-brand all its airlines with an Eurowhite body, and coloured swoops on the tail.

Both flights come with a solid “try them out” recommendation from me – least of all for the novelty of trying out a narrow body on such a short distance (and if you want further wide-body fun, LATAM also operate a Boeing 787 between Madrid and Frankfurt, normally with cheap Business and Economy Class fares)

But in single lines…

British Airways Galleries South Lounge – Slowly improving.

Iberia Business Class – More than passable for a short-haul flight, and one product I’d like to try when flying long haul.

Crowne Plaza Madrid Airport – A more than passable airport hotel

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Iberia Schengen Lounge – Adequate for short-haul, with lots of different spaces.. But full-on lounge dragons in the area.

Iberia Non-Schengen Lounge  – Much better catering here, and as well equipped as the Schengen lounge. But its placement smack bang in the middle of the duty-free shop…?

British Airways Cub Europe in BA First – Improvements all around. But it does show off the issues of Eurobusiness seating

And that’s it for this trip report. I hope you found it a bit different from the usual ones I write here. In addition, I’d like to thank Tim at Points to be Made for suggesting this mad idea, helping film the video and edit it.

Coming next

In a couple of weeks, I begin a long trip… combining two trips into one – my regular trip to Chicago, as well as Aircraft Interiors Expo and The Passenger Experience week.  Please therefore join me in More Business and More Pleasure – A Divided Trip report with American Airlines and British Airways. 

Until we meet again in the trip report pages – safe travels!