Airport lounge report: Iberia Dali business class lounge at Madrid Barajas Terminal 4

Guest post by Vishal Mehra
@vishal1mehra

During my trip from Barcelona to Lisbon via Madrid (read trip report here), I had intentionally chosen a long layover at Barajas airport as I wanted to both see the famous wavy ceilings which created quite a ripple (yes, the pun is intentional) when the airport opened in 2006, and I also wanted to explore the Iberia lounge at its home base.

As I got done with my little terminal tour and purchasing the customary refrigerator magnet from the duty free store, I proceeded to Iberia’s business class Dali lounge in Terminal 4.

Considering Madrid is the home base for Iberia, my expectations of the lounges in Madrid being superior and larger that those in Barcelona were fulfilled. The lounge was huge, as well as very impressive to say the least.

Divided into 2 areas, it had large areas of comfortable seating which was soothing for the eyes to see and invited me to sink my tired muscles into and relax. The central area shown above had a spacecraft design to it, with little chairs, and fountains inside it along with a wide selection of reading material, though again it was dominated by Spanish selections.

After relaxing for few minutes, I grabbed myself a beer and started exploring the lounge. There were reasonable options for food, including salads, pasta, sandwiches, wraps and sushi rolls. I would have ideally liked to see more hot food options as well but as this lounge serves the Schengen area flights with usually small layovers, it appears Iberia decided to serve more "to-go" options. There is a large choice area of alcoholic, non-alcoholic drinks and a café.

Besides your typical coffee machine, the lounge served various pastries, croissants, cornflakes, milk and tea options. The lounge also had a fancier coffee machine, though I must admit I did not try it all.

Something rather unique in this lounge was this dedicated wine bar which serves a wide variety of wines. This bar, I was informed, also hosts regular tasting sessions, but to my loss, there was no such session during my transit. I was still able to lay my hands on couple of reds.

The Dali lounge also features a dedicated quiet area in the back that had little beds for passengers opting to take a quick nap between their flights. Given the long days and hectic schedules of business passengers, who comprise the largest share of premium passengers, it would behove other airlines to incorporate a similar feature in their lounge offerings.

The business area had the obligatory few computers, internet access, a printer and a fax machine. Iberia though has to remove one very irritating feature. The wireless internet was accessible only through 30 minute cards which, though the front desk gave with a smile, is disruptive to a business passenger. By the time I went for my third card, the staff on duty graciously offered to give me an extra one to save me the trouble of coming back. I had to decline her offer as my flight to Lisbon was due to depart soon.

Though the TV lounge was largely unoccupied, barring one keen viewer. Again considering this lounge mostly serves intra-European flights, the lounge shows the extent to which Iberia has gone to make this lounge a pleasant experience for the many needs and interests of the passengers it would carry.

Overall, It was a very enjoyable experience at the lounge, and clearly one of the best that Iberia has to offer to its passengers. Iberia may be in deep financial mess it appears they have not spared any expense in making this lounge a comfortable experience for the premium traveller.

I must admit thoroughly relishing myself during these six odd total hours with Iberia minus few niggles. These six hours compromised of two lounge visits, in Madrid and Barcelona each (read Barcelona lounge report here), as well as two flights on Iberia’s A320, from Barcelona to Madrid and then from Madrid to Lisbon. All of this cost me 9000 avios and Rs. 5771. It's a price I would pay happily for so many firsts every single time.

- Vishal Mehra is a digital marketer at a global agency, smitten by travelling and commercial aviation. He tweets a lot and off late has taken to blogging as well. Visit his blog.

All images in this article are the copyright of Vishal Mehra and used with his permission. Unauthorised use and/or reproduction is prohibited.

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Trip report: Iberia domestic business class Barcelona Madrid Lisbon

by Vishal Mehra

Last week, I reviewed Iberia’s domestic Business Lounge in Barcelona.

Today, I focus on my first flight with Iberia from Barcelona to Lisbon, via Madrid. This was also my first flight in business class.

Barcelona El Prat - Madrid Barajas
Flight IB2713. Airbus A320. Seat 5F. Business Class
Departure - 18:50, on-time

For intra-Europe and many north African flight, most European airlines don't have a separate cabin for business class passengers. Instead, they use a mobile curtain that is moved after each flight in order to separate both according to the number of passengers flying business class in each flight. This allows airlines to be more flexible, since an Economy class seat can be converted into a business class seat just by moving the curtain.

My Iberia business class seat was essentially an upgraded economy seat with increased seat pitch (34 inches, instead of 31 in economy) and an empty middle seat for increased comfort.

As I settled into my seat I was offered water and something to munch on, while the cabin was getting ready for departure to Madrid. Our departure was smooth, and looking down at Barcelona I saw the beauty of the city once more albeit with an aerial view, bathed in sunshine.

Soon after reaching cruising height, a purser came over and asked for my choice of drink. As this was a short one hour flight, and it was early evening, there was no specific meal service. I must have waited for fifteen minutes for my apple juice to arrive before drifting off for a short nap.

I woke up while we were on our landing approach to Madrid Barajas and I never got my drink, and considering we were on approach, I did not bother reminding the crew of their slip-up. Humans tend to forget things and considering it was my first ever outing in semi business class, I was in good enough humour to forgive as well, but Iberia should take note of such slip-ups, which while minor, have large impact on passenger impression when they occur in the premium cabin.

Looking through the magazine I chanced upon Iberia giving out Pizza at 36000 feet to its passengers, which I thought was pretty unique.

We landed in Madrid on time, disembarkation was quick and I went to explore the airport's famous wavy-roof terminal and the flagship Iberia lounge.

Madrid Barajas – Lisbon Portela International
Flight IB3118. Airbus A320. Seat 1A. Business Class
Departure 2245, on-time
Seat 1A

I was excited about sitting in seat 1A, that magical number in airline seating wanted by enthusiasts, which was automatically allotted to me by Iberia. Business class was the same upgraded economy class with increased leg room, but this time there was just two rows of business class seats, and two out of the eight available seats remained unoccupied, including the aisle seat in my row i.e. 1C, giving me a full three-seater to myself.

Flipping through Iberia’s magazine, I came across this print ad featuring the Taj Mahal and promoting Incredible India. Bought a big smile to my face.

The pre-departure service consisted of a drink and nuts. I chose to go for a tried and tested cerveza, or beer (in English). Service on this flight was better, may be because it was a Schengen flight and I was surprised to find a full-blown dinner served during this short one hour hop to Lisbon. The fish and salad did not appeal to my taste buds, and I moved quickly to dessert.

As soon as I finished dinner we were descending to Lisbon and the beautiful city came in the view with bright lights and hills around it. The landing again was a smooth affair and within five minutes we were at the disembarkation point.

The only negative aspect of this flight was the exit through stairs and buses ferrying passengers to the main terminal. May be it was a short-coming of the airport, considering it was past 11pm at night, but then a full service airline like Iberia should work closely with airport authorities to ensure no dilution in their service offerings.

- Vishal Mehra is a digital marketer at a global agency, smitten by travelling and commercial aviation. He tweets a lot and off late has taken to blogging as well. Follow him on Twitter and visit his blog.

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What are "Hot and High" operations? Why airlines prefer four engined jets.

by Vinay Bhaskara

Image Credit - International Airlines Group (IAG)

One of the most interesting challenges in aviation arises from operations in severe conditions, extreme cold, short runways, and more commonly, operations from so-called “hot and high” airports; airfields with high temperatures that are situated at a high altitude.

This curious phenomenon is actually the impetus behind several seemingly incongruous strategic decisions by airlines. It is the reason that Iberia has not yet abandoned its gas-guzzling fleet of Airbus A340s, and the reason that Aeromexico’s Asian flights originate in Mexico City but make a technical stop along the way in Tijuana.

The problem occurs primarily due to constraints on take-offs and landings, which harken back to the basic physics of aerodynamics. Aircraft generate lift by using power from the engine to flow air over the wings. More specifically on takeoff, the engine burns fuel to heat up the air and flow a large mass of air through the engines; generating thrust, which allows the aircraft to speed up down the runway and climb away from the airfield.

However, hot and high operating conditions change this simple calculus in several ways. Firstly, if the airport is located in a region of high altitude, the air pressure is lower and the air is less dense. This means that, at any given speed (all else being equal), a smaller mass of air is flowing through the engines; so a higher airspeed is required to develop enough thrust to take off with a given payload versus at a sea-level airport. The easiest way for an aircraft to make up for this deficit is to roll further down the runway before taking off; thus high-altitude airports tend to have some of the longest runways in the world (e.g. Denver International Airport, with an altitude of more than 1,655 meters, has a 16,000 foot runway designed to handle larger aircraft with high payloads). Even after taking off, aircraft will struggle to climb away from the airfield due to the lower density of the air (again relating to a dearth of thrust).

A similar problem plagues airports with high temperatures. Once again heating air decreases its density, which causes the same mass of air limitations driven by high altitudes. However, high temperatures present an additional challenge in that jet engines have a maximum temperature that they can heat gas up until (The exhaust gas temperature or EGT). On hotter days, there is less difference between the air temperature and the EGTs, meaning the engine adds less heat through the air than in cooler conditions, once again affecting thrust. Thus, airports in high temperature regions also tend to require longer runways (examples include airports in the Southwestern United States, the middle east, North Africa, and the Indian sub-continent). The current standard estimates that the adverse effects of high temperatures kick in en-mass when temperatures rise above 30 degrees Celsius.

It is when these two conditions are combined, that a particularly dangerous cocktail arises; the hot and high airport. When temperatures are high at high altitudes, engine thrust performance deteriorates heavily because the air density is even lower. It is little wonder that such conditions are amongst the most challenging in the world for airlines to operate to and from, even more so when their central hub is located at such an airport. Perhaps the most famous hot and high airports in the world are Mexico City and Johannesburg, home to Aeromexico and South African Airways respectively, as well as several airports in Africa and South America (the core markets for Iberia’s long haul operations).

Bangalore, the home to this site, is another challenging airport for hot and high operations. Located at an altitude of 3,000 ft and thanks to indiscriminate development which has denuded the green cover, the former temperate paradise, frequently tops 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It is not uncommon to see smaller Code-C aircraft (Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s) have take-off runs exceeding 3,000 meters (approx. 10,000 ft) during the peak hot hours from around noon to 4pm.

This explains why Iberia and South African Airways have held onto their fleets of 4-engined Airbus A340 aircraft longer than other airlines; quad-jets perform better in hot and high conditions. The reason is mainly due to a worst case scenario; loss of power in one engine.

It really comes down to the fact that if a quad-jet loses one engine, it still has 75% of its maximum thrust, while twin-jets like the Boeing 777s and A330s in the same situation will have only 50% of their engine power available in a failure scenario. Thus the quad-jets can carry more payload given runway length constraints at many of these airports (this used to be a major problem at Mariscal Sucre Airport in Quito).

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Lounge Report: Iberia domestic lounge at Barcelona El Prat airport

Guest post by Vishal Mehra

Flying Iberia was supposed to be a flight of many firsts for me so when I was given an option between Vueling and Iberia, I chose Iberia gleefully to be my 32nd airline.

This was part of my recent trip to Barcelona and an open jaw return from Lisbon, on Emirates. I have made some observations about Emirates and it's varying consistency. You can read them here.

This was my first time flying Iberia, my first time flying to Madrid, my first time flying to Lisbon and of course, my first ever ride in Business Class.

I had few British Airways Avios Points to spare and as British Airways (BA) and Iberia (IB) are part of IAG, their miles are interchangeable on each other flights. So after speaking with a BA representative on phone and finding the same availability on their site, I was able to book BCN-MAD-LIS online, and in the process saving myself some phone booking fees as well. Just for reference sake, the same flights in Business Class were coming out at Rs 16,000, with economy at Rs 6,300 approximately.

Iberia domestic lounge at Barcelona El Prat airport

I also chose to have a slightly longer layover at Madrid Barajas Airport, almost three hours, as it was my first time at that airport and I wanted some extra time to check out the terminal's famous wavy ceilings and of course the flagship Iberia Sala Lounge.

This is the first part of my three-part report of the trip, focusing on the lounge experience at Barcelona’s El Prat International Airport. Keep in mind, that my first flight was Barcelona to Madrid, thus I’m able to document only the relevant domestic lounge for Iberia.

Reaching the airport two hours in advance, so I could check out the Business Class Lounge, had its advantages. There were no passengers in the premium check-in lane and I must admit feeling a little bit giddy with my first ever foray into it. The lady at the counter was nice enough to suggest that my mobile boarding pass may not be comfortable for everyone at the airport and offered me the old-school paper boarding passes. My baggage got tagged as priority for the first time ever and I could not avoid a smile seeing that.

No view towards the apron or airside

The priority security line was quick and I was through in five minutes for my long walk to the "Puente Aereo" area, which literally means Air Bridge in Spanish. As the Madrid-Barcelona route is the second busiest route in Europe, there's a separate section of the airport, which handles these shuttle flights. To cater to the high corporate demand, the lounge is nearby these gates.

As I entered the lounge, my first impression was the lounge being relatively small but airy.

This was going to be my first flight in business class but I possess reasonable experience about Lounges, thanks to some kind airport/airline folks in the past, and credit card rewards.

The lounge had very few occupants. I decided to park myself at the far end of the lounge, looking out to roads connecting with the airport. Unfortunately this lounge had no direct view of the apron or the airplanes parked.

The lounge however had a reasonable collection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. They had a reasonable availability of juices, along with chocolate drinks and water on one end of shelf. Opposite that, the fridge contained aerated soft beverages, milk, water and beer

The lounge also had a small bar area with choices of wines, spirits but the star attraction for me was of course local Spanish cava (Spanish sparkling wine). The bottle was dipped in ice cold water for that perfect crisp taste.

However, this lounge lacked severely in food options. The shelf next to the bar had few cabinets of breads, croissants and pastries, along with some ready-to-go munch options and I especially took

liking to these potato chips or crisps.

There was a nice little coffee and tea machine available as well, with a variety of flavour options, for those who were looking for a hot drink.

Unsurprisingly there was very little to read in English. All the newspapers were non-English, ditto for magazines. The only option in English was Iberia’s own magazine, which I decided to skip for that time.

With 15 minutes to go until boarding, I decided to pour myself a glass of cava. Free Wi-Fi in the lounge enabled me to check on my emails and get some quick pending work done. Barcelona airport also offers free Wi-Fi to travellers, but it’s limited to 15 minutes in a day, per device. After that it’s chargeable.

Few minutes later sure enough my flight was called out and I proceeded to the nearby gate to embark on my first A320 for the evening.

Coffee bar

Stay tuned for the remaining reports of this journey.

- Vishal Mehra is a digital marketer at a global agency, smitten by travelling and commercial aviation. He tweets a lot and off late has taken to blogging as well. Follow him on Twitter and visit his blog.

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Oneworld celebrates 10th anniversary, airlines unveil special livery

The One World alliance is celebrating it's tenth anniversary, and its member airlines have unveiled a special livery on their fleets. Hope you will enjoy the images. Click on the images to see the high resolution versions.

American Airlines Boeing 777

British Airways Boeing 747

Japan Airlines Boeing 777

Finnair Airbus A340

Royal Jordanian Airlines Airbus A319

Iberia Airbus A320

LAN Chile Boeing 767

Malev Boeing 737
Cathay Pacific Airbus A340
QANTAS Boeing 747

Oneworld has also announced 10% reduction in airfares, a new Circle Atlantic fare, and a free business class tickets contest.

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Slump in share price threatens British Airways Iberia merger

The proposed merger of British Airways and Iberia are threatened, and may be heading for the rocks, after the UK carrier warned it was not prepared to merge with its Spanish counterpart on the basis of current market valuations for the airlines.

Thanks to good performance by Iberia shares, poor performance by British Airways shares, and the sharp decline of the British Pound against the Euro, the market value of Iberia on Thursday exceeded that of British Airways for the first time since the carriers began merger negotiations in July 2008, to form Europe's third largest airline behind Air France-KLM and Lufthansa-Swiss-Austrian-Brussels.

When the merger talks between the two began at the end of July, the respective market capitalisations indicated a share exchange ratio of 65 per cent for BA and 35 per cent for Iberia. The ratio has plunged to only 49.6 per cent for BA and 50.4 per cent for Iberia.

During a visit to Hyderabad, BA CEO, Willie Walsh said

The present valuation was unacceptable. Our shareholders would not accept it; The Iberia share price had "performed well in recent times", I would argue it is overpriced. We will look at this in the negotiations. That work is still to be done. I am not at all concerned about not doing a deal with Iberia. I would walk away if it does not make sense.

Bangalore Aviation readers will recall that valuation disagreement, was a dominating reason for the recent collapse of merger talks between British Airways and QANTAS.

The rising deficits in BA's pension scheme is also a cause of concern for Iberia, and it is due to receive a report by financial consultants, Mercer, by the end of the month.

Iberia executives are realistic, and acknowledge that the recent shifts in market valuation are not reflective of the true values, of the two airlines, but simplest corporate governance demands them to take fullest advantage of the situation, and get a good deal.

The talk from Willie Walsh may be tough, but British Airways is in a tight spot. It is rapidly falling behind in the airline consolidation race; a crucial strategy during these bleakest of times. Their anti-trust waiver requests with American Airlines, are far from through, and if the merger with Iberia fails, I do not see many available options for them.

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Risks to British Airways after Qantas talks failure

Bloomberg has an interesting analysis of the risks to British Airways after the failure of its merger talks with Qantas, and why BA must pursue its long dragging discussions with Iberia to success. Click here to read the article.

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British Airways and Qantas in merger talks

While airlines have seen one of their biggest expenses, fuel, come down in price, they are still struggling to find demand as the world's major economies contract, and tis the season of industry consolidation.

British Airways on Tuesday said it's holding merger talks with Australian national carrier and fellow OneWorld alliance partner, Qantas Airways, in a deal that could combine two of the world's best-known international carriers.

British Airways, in a brief statement, said

In response to recent media speculation, British Airways Plc confirms that it is exploring a potential merger with Qantas Airways Limited via a dual-listed company structure.

The discussions between British Airways and Iberia are continuing.

There is no guarantee that any transaction will be forthcoming and a further announcement will be made in due course, if appropriate.

British Airways shares shot up 12.1% in London. Qantas shares ended 4.3% lower in Sydney.
Iberia shares added 5.3% in Madrid.

British Airway possessed a 25% stake in the early 1990s which it sold in 2004. The British Airways talks with Iberia have languished because of Iberia's concerns about the U.K. airline's pension liabilities.

British Airways has been a very busy airline lately. In addition to the Qantas and Iberia negotiations, it is seeking antitrust immunity, from U.S. and European regulators, on its proposed partnership with American Airlines for which it is seeking. A proposal vehemently opposed by arch rival Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin has a presence in Australia in the form of low cost carrier, Virgin Blue. It will be interesting to see how the rivalry will carry over down under.

Like in the United States, Australia limits foreign ownership of domestic carriers. But the BBC was reporting that that may change:

It [the merger statement] follows indications from the Australian government earlier in the day that it may be prepared to relax the rules on foreign ownership.

Under current Australian law, Qantas must be at least 51% Australian-owned.

Any individual foreign airline can only own up to 25% of it and only a total of 35% may be owned by foreign airlines.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese proposed earlier on Tuesday that the rules be changed so that while 51% must still be Australian-owned, the remaining 49% may be owned by a single foreign airline.

The Australian government recently released a key industry blueprint that would cap foreign ownership at 49% in a bid to keep Singapore Airlines out of the lucrative U.S-to-Australia route.

The possible BA-Qantas link-up occurs as the industry consolidates. Delta has recently merged with Northwest, and on Monday, Ryanair Holdings launched a fresh offer for fellow Irish carrier Aer Lingus, which was rejected by the Aer Lingus board.

The Air France-KLM combine have shown the aviation industry how to combine functions while maintaining separate brands.

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