I bring you flight reviews and the best in unique travel experiences. I aim to entertain AND offer tips and tricks on how to travel like me. I've been to 70 countries and flown over 1000 flights, and I love a good adventure (ideally in a premium cabin, of course!)
Whenever possible, we use Eurowings for our (vacation) flights. For our vacation in the fall, we shifted the time period so that we don't fly with Corendon (for no money in the world, I'd rather go on vacation by bike), but with Eurowings. Consistently good and friendly service, the Lavazza coffee is worth the extra charge (not pre-brewed), legroom is okay at 1.90m.
Eurowings offers a decent product for a decent fair (they ain’t that cheap) … tall people like me (1.90 meters) can also take a regular seat without loosing that much comfort in terms of legroom … im quiet happy with them
What I see is someone being taking to probably by one of the most professional crews ever. Some are grumpy but not worse than those in American or United. Fine maintenance, superb safety records. Way better than Alaska for instance. Iberia is not a fancy airline, we know that, as any other in Europe. Seats are standard Reccaro ones and in a perfect condition. You are not served anything as almost the rest in Europe and America. With an interesting Inflight cafe options. Not good but things are like that. Business is great, Barajas Lounges decent and you even have wifi on board. It’s interesting because in the US even in first you are only given a bag of pretzels 😂 Someone making aviation videos should know aviation has been Ryanairized for years. But there are differences. Free baggage allowance, connections, mileage program. And yes coach sucks. Not only in Iberia. Ultra low cost seats?. Low cost start with a 28 pitch. Iberia starts with 30 inches seats. With all respects, your video seems to me biased and unfair. You just got onboard thinking you wouldn’t enjoy it. Even bashed Barajas a bit. Actually Skytrax disagrees with you. Iberia is best 14th best airline in the world. Not a huge fan of them in coach cabin, but no. Nothing disgraceful. Fully disagree with your view.
Remember if you're curious what I paid for and how I booked any given flight I make a video about, I always put it down in the description. In this case I think the fare was especially impressive considering all the extras. Also, I booked it the same day as travel!
I like your video. I have a young family and we will be travelling A220 business from CDG to VCE in September. We are looking forward to it after watching your video
Although Eurowings is a 100% subsidiary of Lufthansa it has subtle differences and I prefer it to LH. I fly between HAM and MUC a couple of times a year. On these flights EW offers business class too. They typically cost 50-60% of the LH fare, offer more legroom (there still are Economy seat rows with more legroom after Biz). You get the usual Business class services like separate check-in counters, fast lane at security and lounge access. And the food selection (you can choose from the menu items sold in Economy class) looks more appealing to me than what is served on LH. So far I've only encountered friendly staff on board. I agree that calling it a low-cost airline might be misleading. LH decided to only continue operating flights which originate or terminate at their hubs FRA and MUC. Most other European flights are now handled by EW (which obviously has different operating costs).
"But all of my devices are usb c now" Total BS, you can buy one cable usb A to usb C and charge there, that's not something bad, if you only have usb c-c cables that's not my problem, I use mostly usb a-c cables. It's even better bc basic devices like whatches come with a usb A charger.
3:06 Gabe it's the ability to sell more German products than it is about anything else.. They'll probably have received contractual fees to exclusively sell those items from the German supplier.
I agree ! I flew Eurowings on FRA-ACE and back in January, and what I also loved was they had a internal server on board, on wich you could connect by wifi and access a big library of magazines, and a live map, that's a feature every avgeek needs !
Yes, I agree with you that Eurowings have a great product. I fly with them regularly from EDI to DUS or CGN to visit German friends and always had a positive experience.
Hi! I think the pay for everything race has gone too far. All tickets should include one piece of luggage up to cabin suitcase size. No difference between under the seat or overhead bin crap. Free toilet visits of course and electronic checkin and boarding pass in all locations all over Europe. Extra luggage, checked luggage, drinks, food, seat reservations and priority boarding. Feel free to add Cory to the trip with that stuff as options. No flight within Europe is over 6 hours, (Canary Islands) I want a seat with normal legroom and width and no fancy stuff to a price that make me not think twice over a weekend in any European city. (Going more often that is) and I want prices to be a little more predictable and less of a lottery. That is all. Sure friendly staff is a big plus. But I mean. SAS, Norwegian or Ryanair seats on a 4 hour flight? Doesn’t matter to me. They’re all about the same. I like Norwegian the best. They have never failed me. But I would give Eurowings a try! 👍🏼
I so agree about the charging for different types of carry-on bags especially. It just leads to negative experiences for people. It’s very confusing for non-frequent flyers too. And a nightmare at the gate for agents to have to enforce. It just makes the whole experience kind of ugly, if you ask me!
Although I totally agree with you, but I gotta defend Iberia here😂😂😂😂 Iberia is underrated because of its cheap transatlantic flights using points, namely east coast USA and South America. I am more disgusted by Lufthansa because they literally downgraded every economy services, that is providing low cost services on a regular short haul flight or domestic flights while paying a full fare price. Your analogy of European airlines racing to the bottom is spot on 😂😂😂😂😂I hope Air France does not follow the trend. Still love my sandwiches and coffee on board economy for 75min of flying 😂😂
@@airedition You should avoid hot drinks on aeroplanes, as the equipment for them is difficult to clean and usually contains high levels of bacteria and possibly mould, which makes them very unhealthy to consume. You can research the topic relatively easily online.
Ryanair are famous for scheduling their flights close to or at the same time as their competition. It's their way of trying to get rid of their competitors. Glad to see, that as far as you are concerned it didn't work although seeing the Eurowings aircraft two thirds empty, perhaps it did with many others. I suspect, only seasoned travellers know to avoid Ryanair at all costs even though their fares are cheaper !
Hi Gabe, thanks for your great videos. I prefer them to most of the other aviation RU-vidr’s videos as your content is so refreshingly “normal“ and told in a very relaxing way. Of course i enjoy watching first class and business class content as well but these “everyday“ short and medium haul economy flights are a very nice change of pace and so relatable. Keep up the good Work! Ludwig from DUS
This airline is a worst ever. Flew with them. Purchased a micro suitcase to fit their one bag piece of luggage limits. Was charged 50 euro, even though it fit perfectly into the luggage check frame. They told me this is because it looks like a suitcase and not a backpack. So they're blatantly lying that they accept bags of cetrain size only. The look of your luggage is important for them too, even though they say nowhere on their website about it. They are absolute money extorting scumbags.
@@Okeee13I've just done that. They're quite rude and deny any wrongdoing, even photo evidence. I gonna spread it over all social media available to me, including photos of the luggage in the calibrator, screenshots of conversations with their support and other audiovisual evidence I have.
Dear Gabriel, so i see you're strolling aroung europe. Also nice video and i am waiting for another heavies-vlog around the Globe. You're my favourite and also wearing this nice Shirt again. Stay healthy and happy landings...kai from FRA
Hi Gabe thanks again for another great video. I commented on a previous video being an ex airline station manager. RU-vid is overrun with aviation videos which promise sensational content but often don't live up to expectations. Your videos appeal to a whole range of watchers from those who have worked in the industry and those who are just interested in aviation and are really classy and your style of presentation is very appealing. Keep up the good work
I usually find Lufthansa cheaper than Eurowings. So I go ahead and lose connection after connection and luggage with Lufthansa now. Sigh. Also, they often partner with other companies. And while I don't mind Air Baltic, I'm less sure about Avion Express Malta.
@@airedition my latest such flight was a Binter Canarias service which was swapped to a Galistair A320 at short notice (as in, the night before). The crew - all 6 of them as Binter insisted on having their own non-operational staff members to conduct the meal/snack service - were apologetic but the whole thing was really disorganised. It later turned out that this was in fact the first "collaboration" between the two carriers and their CEO had been onboard during the turnaround. Add to that an onboard stag do with members dressed in home-made Binter uniforms and being tasked with parts of the service, and the whole thing was really very weird. Not a bad flight by any means - and I would take that experience any day over Iberia - but I did miss the E2!
I’ve been following to you for a long time now, and as a Spanish and certain aviation enthusiast, I also consider that there’s some hatred in your review. I’ve seen other good reviews about Iberia. And you consider MAD T4 just a “decent” design. Ok I see some disdain from the north to the south just for that fact.
Two things to respond to there. 1) I'm not sure what you mean by hatred in my review. Do you mean I'm already inclined to dislike Iberia so my review is unfair? I like to think I enter every flight with an open mind and a positive outlook. Yes I may be a little snarky with Iberia because of past mediocre experiences, but hatred? The bad vibes were all from what I experienced onboard that flight; I felt I should reflect that in the review. I think that's fair. And sure, I can imagine some flights with Iberia are good (assuming you're not in that particular terrible seat). But just look at the other comments; so many other people have had similar experiences to me. It seems to me that good experiences on Iberia are very much the exception. 2) As for north-south disdain that is completely unfair and I resent the accusation. Design is not just about looks. In fact it should be about much more than looks, as we've seen many times when airports go for soaring ceilings over considerations of actual passenger flow. Barajas is not the worst but it's far from the best. In many cases the passenger flow is not optimal, requiring long, convoluted walks; and when you get to the parts beyond the beautiful soaring ceilings, it is far less attractive too. Like I said, not the worst, but really not the best either.
Ok, thx for thoughtful and respectful answer. Sony points; I consider Flight Radar such a cool app. ARN has been to me one of fav airports; we can always appreciate cultural distinctive features when traveling. Apart from that, what you said “Does Iberia hates its passengers?” It’s a big statement, one of the most I’ve ever seen in so many flight reviews I’ve seen. If the Flag carrier of a EU country who tourism is a big important part of economy, who belongs a group like IAG, received that review, then that’s sth to be considered in my opinion.
Did you notice the strobe and beacon lights? I had no idea Embraer updated them before they stopped production of the E190/195 lol I just realized. Great vid Gabe!
My last experience with Iberia was horrible. We flew from Madrid to Santiago de Chile. Shortly after takeoff, we had to divert to LIS due to a medical emergency. That happens (the pax was alright) and is not Iberia’s fault. However, how they handled the disruption was horrible. Even before landing (around 00.45g I asked a friend thru whatsapp what the airport’s curfew was and to me, it was clear: we would not make it our before 6 and that would mean a crew timeout. When I told the crew (after the ill pax was off board of course) they just laughed at me. They announced they are waiting for new info when we can start again. Turned out we were waiting for info forever - we were on the tarmac for more than 3 hrs. They straight out refused the elderly pax some water. WATER, not champagne. We felt being held hostage. Finally, at about 04:30 we were let off the aircraft because - surprise - the crew timed out. Who could have known? The crew just looked at me and said “it’s your fault”. Lol We were then waiting for the bags to be offloaded. Crew bags came out after a while. Our bags did not arrive before 8 - just a little after the check in deadline for an alternative Latam flight I could have taken to decrease the delay. Finally out, I approached the handling agent and they handed out meal vouchers and told us to wait for new info at 10. A hotel was refused since we had to “wait for new information”. At 10, everyone gathered. No info of course. I then asked the ground staff if I could go to my hotel now. “You cannot, you have to stay here”. I reassured that he wouldn’t allow me to leave, which he confirmed. I then wanted to get the polcie involved and the groundforce agent wanted to talk himself out of the situation by telling me they are not the responsible handling agent at LIS (lol). Fortunately, the other pax were nice so I headed to a hotel I booked myself to get some rest. Finally, around 1500 the check in opened and by 1800 we finally boarded. On top of that, the bag my colleague checked in at LIS got lost and has not been seen ever since (January this year). Iberia offered a lousy 150€ for the nightmare and at least covered my hotel and food expenses. Since this messed up my onward journey I had to get rebooked all the way home. Iberia wasn’t able to. Fortunately, LATAM who only operated a domestic flight in Chile rebooked me all the way to Europe for my return on their ticket stock. Shoutout to their ground crew in Santiago. The Iberia one in Madrid often doesn’t speak English and it’s hard to communicate with them. My previous record with Iberia isn’t any better: one one, my seat was dirty like I’ve never seen a seat before, another time the crew didn’t even perform a pre landing cabin safety check so when we touched down, some pax had their tray tables down and seats reclined. I have serious concerns about whether they could properly evacuate an aircraft in case of an emergency. I avoid Iberia by all means.
Wow, sounds like a real nightmare. I think how an airline handles irregular situations like this often really shows their true attitude on a company culture level. Seems to me you should have gotten the full €600 EU261 compensation for this and Iberia got out of it by giving you just a quarter of what you were owed (not to mention the costs of rebooking). Did you ever look into that? Thank you for posting this in any case.
@@airedition unfortunately, the initial cause was extraordinary. If my final destination would have been SCL, I had sued them but since the frequency of the connections is low, my lawyer advised me against proceeding further. The rebooking was free of charge for me thanks to LATAM.
Great video Gabe! I decided to watch this video as Im flying SAS from JFK to CPH in December and wanted to see how they are. Your video covers everything. Thank you
I usually concur with your reviews based on my own personal experience, however, I need to differ on this one. Iberia is a very reliable airline with the best on track performance in Europe....I'd venture to say one of the best for long haul operations. Their fleet is pretty well maintained, aircrafts are kept rather clean and prices are aligned with comp set. What you should not be expecting is friendly service, that just will not happen (I'm generalising here). I wouldn't say it's lack of care, it's just a remnant from old times when Iberia was run by the state. However, should you need anything crews will be responsive, just don't expect any wow moments. Incidentally, their long haul economy seats feel roomier than other airlines and their IFE (when available) is pretty decent. As for Barajas T4, I honestly think it's one of the nicest terminals in Europe: contemporary feeling, curved lines, soft colour palette, tons of natural light coming in which is sooooo much appreciated when one's jet lagged, very high ceilings which create a sense of personal space, lots of moving stairs, very good variety of places to eat, solid lounge offer, excellent shopping and it never gives the feeling of being packed unlike a Amsterdam, Frankfurt o Heathrow. I wouldn't hesitate to use and recommend Iberia, again, just keep your expectations low in terms of crew friendliness and you may even get a pleasant surprise as it's happened to me on more than one occasion. Incidentally, I was once in a rather complicated familiar situation which involved requiring assistance from Iberia. I figured out their CEOs email address and sent him a plea for help. It was Mr Luis Gallego at the time (talking about 2017 or 2018). Out of a sudden our problem was solved in less than 24 hours. I don't know if Mr Gallego ever got to see my email but someone did and acted on it. If this is not customer care when it's truly needed then I don't know what is. I will be forever grateful for this.
That's an interesting take, thanks for sharing. However I would suggest passengers should not have to do a hail mary and email the CEO for help with booking problems haha! Glad it worked out for you though.
@@airedition Thanks Gabriel, it was a strike called by a union at an airport in Europe at a time the city was packed. People had to go by train to other cities in the country to get out as there were just a few flights allowed per day. So I was just one out of thousands of fliers needing assistance which my old parents really needed. Stay well and keep those reviews coming, really love your work.
On Cathay right now and i must say i regret it. I should have spent the extra money on another airline such as emirates,singapore or qatar. The service sucks and the food is awful.
I also realy don’t understand how you can react on every comment you got to be the best aviation youtuber. Btw if you want i think a great addition to your video’s would be a seatmap❤
I try! Thanks for the comment. I will look into adding seatmaps (would love to include more graphics in general, it just gets more time consuming and/or expensive!)
