Iberia, Madrid to Florence, Luggage Question

I flew Iberia from Madrid to Dublin a few years ago. I don't recall them weighing my carry-on Rick Steves roller bag. However, if the airline has a weight restriction, I suggest honoring that unless you're willing to risk extra charges.

I’ve flown to Italy twice on Iberia in the last 3 years . First time with a carryon and it was not weighed. Second trip, I checked my bag because I didn’t want to hassle with it at Madrid airport. The airport is large and, depending on arrival and departure gates, it can be a 50 minute trek. Not pleasant when you’ve got your bag.

This does not only apply to iberia but all airlines when you are traveling July August or other peak travel times; they may check your bag at the gate if you had checked in online and your bag complies with their regulations in size and dimension. It is more the dimension than the weight of your bag.

Sometimes the flights are full and the overhead bin space runs out before you board with all the other passengers ahead you that do not follow or listen to directions and put stuff in the overbin that could go under the seat in front of them specifically the personal item.

I flew Iberia twice last month between Madrid and Portugal. I traveled with one larger 22" carry-on bag and a smaller "personal item" (camera bag that can fit under my seat). I've carried these bags onto numerous jets and even prop planes in Europe without complaint . Not this time. My bags were never weighed, but they wanted to gate check the bigger bag on both flights. (Even though my bag fits vertically in the overhead bin of an A139 or a 737.) On the first flight, they insisted EVERYONE gate check their larger bags - with non-computerized tags good only to the next airport. I let them check it because my destination was Lisbon anyway, but I did worry about my bag possibly getting lost (not being computer-tracked). I put my camera bag up in the overhead bin anyway so it didn't really save them any space, but I had a little extra leg room in my incredibly tiny coach seat.

I had only a two hour layover in Madrid on the way home - an overseas flight back to the US. They only targeted a few of us for gate check on flight, forcing us to stuff our bags into the "cage" to check bag dimensions. The guy in front of me (US passport, maybe headed back to the US like I was) was forced to gate check his bag - and he had to pick it up in Madrid, which would have meant going out to baggage claim then back through security. Who knows if he made his connection, maybe he had more than two hours.

I got a different agent than the guy in front of me, and he too insisted I stuff my bag in the cage to check the size. I removed my toiletries bag to make the bag slightly smaller. It still didn't quite fit, just barely got inside the edge - but this agent told me that was close enough and let me board. I doubt I would have made my connection home otherwise, if the first agent had handled this instead.

I haven't been treated by an airline like this in Europe ever except for easyJet, but I expected that from a budget airline. This is "One World" airline? I hope never to fly Iberia again.

Anyway...most definitely expect your bags to be gate checked by Iberia, whether they weigh your bags or not. If you are in coach, expect the smallest seat you've ever sat in on an airplane.

Friends of mine who fly often with carry ons noted that if you have a wheeled bag, it is much more likely that the gate crew will require you to check it. It's not a question of whether your bag will fit in the overhead - it's that when too many passengers bring maximum-size carry ons, there is not enough room for all of them in the overheads along with everyone's other carry on stuff - large "personal" items, coats, hats, duty free shopping. And with lots of carry ons, boarding takes longer.

There's little likelihood of a bag getting lost. All the bags checked at the gate are loaded and unloaded at the gates, like strollers, and don't go through the checked baggage system.

We just came back from Italy, departing from Milan and had a similar experience to Andrew.

My wife and I both traveled with 21” roller bags and a smaller carry-on bags that would fit under the seat in front of us. No issues with taking both bags on board for the outbound legs of our trip which originated in Orlando and ended at Milan Linate with stops at JFK and London Heathrow. The first two flights were operated by American and the last flight was operated by British Airways.

Our issues started on the return trip from Milan Linate to Orlando with stops in Madrid and Miami. The first two flights were operated by Iberia and the last flight operated by American.

We arrived as normal for our Milan-Madrid flight and waited in the gate area for boarding to start. At Milan-Linate they make you take a bus from the terminal out to the plane which is parked on the tarmac. We were lined up to be one of the first persons on-board. My wife had her boarding pass scanned and passed through with her two bags. I was next. They scanned my boarding pass and as I walked through, one of the gate agents stopped me and told me that I would have to gate check my 21” roller, despite the fact that it fit perfectly in their “cage”. At this time, my wife walked over to see what was going on and then Iberia staff decided that she would need to gate check her bag as well. At this point we were not very happy and argued mildly with the gate agents who wouldn’t budge. They placed these hand-written tags on the bags and told us they had to check our bags all the way through to Orlando. My wife and I were sure that neither of these bags would make it back to Orlando with these flimsy hand-written tags.

Before boarding, we took pictures of the bags (not sure this would have been of any help had the bags been lost) and begrudgingly boarded the flight. My wife and I surveyed the plane when we boarded (we were now the last two people to board) and saw that there was plenty of room left in the overhead bins for our two bags. It wasn’t until we were seated on the plane that I realized that my VAT refund forms that needed to be stamped by Customs in Madrid (they don’t stamp at Milan Linate as there are few if any non-EU flights originating from there) were in the front pocket of my 21” roller. Now I was really mad as I wasn’t going to see my bags until we were in Miami in order to go through US Customs, wouldn’t get the EU customs stamp and would lose out on about €185 in VAT refunds.

Much to our surprise, our bags did actually make it to Miami with the hand-written paper tag and as we were about to re-check them for the final leg to Orlando, an American Airlines staffer asked us why we were checking the 21” rollers as they would certainly fit in the overhead. Thus we carried our bags with us for our last leg in order to avoid claiming bags in Orlando.

I would suggest being very careful with Iberia. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to who they made check their bags.