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Over the past decade, Iberia Airlines has had financial problems and has deteriorated quite a bit. It is now part of the One World Alliance with primary partners of American Airlines and British Airways for travel to and from the Americas.
Online and with smartphone apps you will have great difficulty getting boarding passes and checking in online. I have had an Iberia Airlines flyer account for quite a while, but it does not seem to remember my passport number and other details. After I re-enter them, it still does not let me check in.
When you buy a ticket from Iberia, you will end up on any of its partners' flights. Iberia airplanes have a bit of legroom; American Airlines and British Airways do not. American Airlines has old equipment, things like CRT screens about every six rows so everyone watches the same programs. My seat reclined no more than 3-4".
Four days ago, my son and grandson flew Iberia then two legs on American. Their bags were checked through to their Baltimore destination and arrived with them. Originally Iberia wanted to check the bags to JFK where they were to be retrieved for customs, then re-checked to Baltimore. My son talked them out of it.
Yesterday, my bags were checked through to BWI without comment by Iberia in Santiago, but were off loaded at JFK where they are still spinning on some carousel as American Airlines looks for them. There were a lot of signs at JFK saying to pick up your bags for customs, but my distinctive backpack was not on either carousel. There were no American Airlines personnel to help (it was an AA flight from Madrid and an AA connection in the U.S.), so I asked the only uniformed person in the region, a U.S. Customs agent, what I should do. I showed him my baggage tag showing the bag was checked through to Baltimore. He knew nothing. Iberia and American do not give the same information, information that changes to stay synchronized with changing security policy. I had a rather lengthy interview at Madrid with a security person about where I had been, how much fun I had, where I was going, why I was going there, etc. The El Al model is being adopted in many places -- "the interview."
The point of this tale is that it appears that security measures now require that the passenger and luggage clear customs at the same place. The One World system is not seamless, and is riddled with ignorant personnel who simply have not been trained on making the entire system work. Airlines operate with the absolute minimum personnel cost possible, so are quite useless in helping. There is no one around to help.
In general the air transportation system is no longer a service business anymore than a gas station is a service station. It is a profit driven group of corporate entities that are out to make money regardless of customer service. The situation is aggravated by security concerns; the small print in airline magazines now admits that a traveler should probably allow three hours connection time in many places (Heathrow, Chicago, JFK, etc.).
A subset of the concept "buyer beware" is "traveler beware." It all will become more inconvenient, I suspect.
Online and with smartphone apps you will have great difficulty getting boarding passes and checking in online. I have had an Iberia Airlines flyer account for quite a while, but it does not seem to remember my passport number and other details. After I re-enter them, it still does not let me check in.
When you buy a ticket from Iberia, you will end up on any of its partners' flights. Iberia airplanes have a bit of legroom; American Airlines and British Airways do not. American Airlines has old equipment, things like CRT screens about every six rows so everyone watches the same programs. My seat reclined no more than 3-4".
Four days ago, my son and grandson flew Iberia then two legs on American. Their bags were checked through to their Baltimore destination and arrived with them. Originally Iberia wanted to check the bags to JFK where they were to be retrieved for customs, then re-checked to Baltimore. My son talked them out of it.
Yesterday, my bags were checked through to BWI without comment by Iberia in Santiago, but were off loaded at JFK where they are still spinning on some carousel as American Airlines looks for them. There were a lot of signs at JFK saying to pick up your bags for customs, but my distinctive backpack was not on either carousel. There were no American Airlines personnel to help (it was an AA flight from Madrid and an AA connection in the U.S.), so I asked the only uniformed person in the region, a U.S. Customs agent, what I should do. I showed him my baggage tag showing the bag was checked through to Baltimore. He knew nothing. Iberia and American do not give the same information, information that changes to stay synchronized with changing security policy. I had a rather lengthy interview at Madrid with a security person about where I had been, how much fun I had, where I was going, why I was going there, etc. The El Al model is being adopted in many places -- "the interview."
The point of this tale is that it appears that security measures now require that the passenger and luggage clear customs at the same place. The One World system is not seamless, and is riddled with ignorant personnel who simply have not been trained on making the entire system work. Airlines operate with the absolute minimum personnel cost possible, so are quite useless in helping. There is no one around to help.
In general the air transportation system is no longer a service business anymore than a gas station is a service station. It is a profit driven group of corporate entities that are out to make money regardless of customer service. The situation is aggravated by security concerns; the small print in airline magazines now admits that a traveler should probably allow three hours connection time in many places (Heathrow, Chicago, JFK, etc.).
A subset of the concept "buyer beware" is "traveler beware." It all will become more inconvenient, I suspect.
