We were just travelling from Madrid to Marrakech and thought I'd share the grossly incompetent service offered by Iberia to their premium customers.
At check in, we queued up in the Business check in queue, where a single check in agent took 8mins to process a group of 3 passengers travelling on a Schengen flight. There were 2 other agents that ended up chatting for 10mins and when we approached they gave us the hand and continued chatting away. Once we finally got to the checkin, the agent spoke next to no English and did not tag our bags as priority despite having oneworld Emerald status.
Later on, we got to the fast track and were told that only the single passenger with status were allowed to go through even all passengers were booked on the same ticket. I've never experienced this “rule” before anywhere else.
Is it me being spoiled with the typical service we receive in APAC (and dare I say, even the US), or are these people just signed off for Christmas already.
It's not everyday that you can find airport staff even less efficient than Australia, but at least we know how to provide proper customer service.
I can only comment on fast track. Unlike check-in, those monitoring fast track lanes don't have the luxury of knowing who is travelling with who. For them it is black and white - the line is for premium passengers only. Some airports such as Geneva have unattended premium lanes which require scanning of boarding passes to enter - there is no chance of a non-status passenger entering even if travelling with others. I think that approach is reasonable.
Continental Europe can be hit and miss and especially where English is less spoken. Bizarrely my personal experience has been a lot with easyjet between London and Madrid. Very efficient and with little problem unlike Iberia as you have found
Customer service in southern Europe is often brusque and what you experienced at Iberia is commonplace. It's their 'normal'. But coming from places like Australia and Asia - where service is typically more focused and polite and sometimes even quite friendly - it can take some getting used to Spanish service.
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on
Terrible customer service in Madrid
alansu
alansu
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 22 Jan 2015
Total posts 88
We were just travelling from Madrid to Marrakech and thought I'd share the grossly incompetent service offered by Iberia to their premium customers.
At check in, we queued up in the Business check in queue, where a single check in agent took 8mins to process a group of 3 passengers travelling on a Schengen flight. There were 2 other agents that ended up chatting for 10mins and when we approached they gave us the hand and continued chatting away. Once we finally got to the checkin, the agent spoke next to no English and did not tag our bags as priority despite having oneworld Emerald status.
Later on, we got to the fast track and were told that only the single passenger with status were allowed to go through even all passengers were booked on the same ticket. I've never experienced this “rule” before anywhere else.
Is it me being spoiled with the typical service we receive in APAC (and dare I say, even the US), or are these people just signed off for Christmas already.
It's not everyday that you can find airport staff even less efficient than Australia, but at least we know how to provide proper customer service.
ZQN Fan
ZQN Fan
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 27 Nov 2017
Total posts 46
I can only comment on fast track. Unlike check-in, those monitoring fast track lanes don't have the luxury of knowing who is travelling with who. For them it is black and white - the line is for premium passengers only. Some airports such as Geneva have unattended premium lanes which require scanning of boarding passes to enter - there is no chance of a non-status passenger entering even if travelling with others. I think that approach is reasonable.
The rest is just a reflection on Iberia.
djtech
djtech
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 02 Sep 2018
Total posts 375
The best word to describe Iberia in general is apathetic. They don't care AT ALL about anything.
Nickj338395
Nickj338395
Member since 21 Aug 2019
Total posts 14
Continental Europe can be hit and miss and especially where English is less spoken. Bizarrely my personal experience has been a lot with easyjet between London and Madrid. Very efficient and with little problem unlike Iberia as you have found
sunnybrae
sunnybrae
Etihad - Etihad Guest
Member since 21 Jul 2019
Total posts 80
Customer service in southern Europe is often brusque and what you experienced at Iberia is commonplace. It's their 'normal'. But coming from places like Australia and Asia - where service is typically more focused and polite and sometimes even quite friendly - it can take some getting used to Spanish service.