Iberia is planning on opening a new lounge at Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD), and it’ll be the carrier’s most exclusive lounge to date (thanks to Alexfly for flagging this). It’s always nice to see airlines introducing new premium facilities, so kudos to Iberia!
In this post:
Exclusive new Iberia lounge coming to Madrid
Currently, Iberia has two primary lounges at its Madrid hub, broken up by Schengen and non-Schengen flights. Iberia’s lounge portfolio is solid, and both lounges are quite good in their respective sets, with many particularly liking the non-Schengen lounge.
These are both standard oneworld lounges in terms of access requirements, and are open to all oneworld business class passengers, as well as oneworld Sapphire members and above.
Soon we’re going to see the opening of an additional lounge, as Iberia will be opening a lounge exclusively for oneworld Emerald members, which is the highest tier in the alliance. The lounge is located in the Schengen area, next to the existing Dali Lounge, so it’s intended primarily for regional flights.
The lounge is expected to be fully operational somewhere around September 7-10, 2026 (I’ve heard people “definitively” say the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, so make of that what you will). Interestingly, though, the lounge is already partly operational, in a soft opening phase.
What’s happening is that select top tier elites with Iberia are already being invited to the new lounge, either via an email before their trip, or they’re being directed to the new lounge after arriving at the Dali Lounge. Right now this seems to just be for select Iberia Club members with oneworld Emerald status, and not for oneworld equivalents.
You can find some first pictures of the lounge shared by FlyerTalk members here and here. The idea is that the lounge has a new design, and elevated food and drinks, including some sort of a table service offering.
This is a nice passenger experience investment
The general concept of oneworld Emerald lounge access is that these elite members get access to first class-style lounges.
The catch is that some oneworld first class lounges, like the British Airways Concorde Room and Qatar Airways Al Safwa Lounge, exclude oneworld Emerald members. In those cases there are typically alternative lounges available, but they’re not the same quality.
What I find especially nice is when oneworld airlines without first class lounges put in the effort to open a dedicated facility for oneworld Emerald members. The Finnair Platinum Wing Helsinki is probably the best example of this, as it’s a truly lovely and very high quality lounge that I always enjoy visiting.
So it’s great to see Iberia now joining that “club,” and offering a premium lounge that doesn’t even reflect a class of service being offered.
Bottom line
Around September 10, 2026, Iberia will be formally opening a new lounge at Madrid Airport, intended exclusively for oneworld Emerald members. This is located in the Schengen area, right next to the existing Dali Lounge. The space is already in a soft opening phase, with select Iberia Club elites being invited there, and it seems to offer much improved food and drinks, plus a more modern design.
Well done, Iberia, and I look forward to checking this space out!
What do you make of Iberia’s new lounge plans for Madrid?
Nice to see! Especially when the Iberia lounge situation at MAD is already far better than many airports...
That is a differentiating factor for OW and I hope that they can keep going at it! Sometimes even just a separate area and slight elevation suffices to make these members feel emerald is worth it.
Appreciate some help from Ben or his many experts since I have looked and can't seem to find the answer online. Flying Iberia into Madrid from Schengen in J and flying out to the USA six hours later on Iberia in J. Can I check out both Schengen and non-Schengen lounges at MAD since I will have plenty of time during the layover or will I be forced to go straight to T4S?
You will NOT have to go straight to the satellite terminal. But the staff at the Schengen terminal will encourage you to go immediately to the satellite terminal because of the often-long waits at exit control, which is after your train ride to the satellite terminal. You'll find the main terminal lounge crowded and with a less extensive food and beverage offering anyway.
@Bobo is correct, you'll have access to both lounges but encouraged to use the Velázquez one.
From my perspective, the most sensible approach is to go to the Schengen lounge for a quick stop involving a visit to the bathroom, a glass of water, and perhaps even an espresso before making the trek to the satellite terminal for the full lounge experience.
They’ve done a soft opening for Platinum Prime and some others that they lead from the Sala Dali to it. The official opening is the 8th of September.
It’s good, but quite small and simple and gets already crowded around 3pm (most crowded time in Madrid T4). The biggest upgrade is the catering. Food is really good, there’s a large selection of drinks (a bar with cocktails and a barista), champagne and for some reasons 2 chocolate fountains.
“This is a nice passenger experience investment” … how rare that is these days. Good for Iberia. I ain’t MAD about this! *wink*
As for other airlines and lounges, I must say, one of the few benefits of getting ‘stuck in HEL’ (non-Schegen) is that First Class lounge sauna.
Sounds like they wanted to expand the existing lounge, maybe to make it less crowded, and couldn’t for whatever reason. So the next best option is to open another lounge and send oneworld elites there?
Welcome news.
The T4S lounge, non-Schengen, can be busy, but the Schengen side lounge is literally standing room only at times. I’m also about to switch which side I fly from more frequently, making this particularly convenient for me.
OWE continues to be the best alliance status.
Looking forward to a more private, premium space…the existing Schengen lounge can be insanely busy. Iberia definitely does some notable things to make Emerald flyers feel special (Group 0 boarding for example).
I would have figured non-Schengen makes more sense for a premium lounge, but maybe they’re planning to open one there too.
@ AceQuik -- Yeah, that's what one would assume, but I suspect it comes down to available lounge real estate, which is always tough to come by.
Not sure why it would? Most traffic is within Schengen, so having a premium lounge there makes a bigger impact, both in terms of how many eligible passengers go through, and in terms of how crowded the "general lounge" is. Besides, people travelling on non-Schengen flights can still use the Schengen lounge quite easily (unless connecting between two NS flights), while it's not as easy the other way around.
Obviously, the ideal solution would be...
Not sure why it would? Most traffic is within Schengen, so having a premium lounge there makes a bigger impact, both in terms of how many eligible passengers go through, and in terms of how crowded the "general lounge" is. Besides, people travelling on non-Schengen flights can still use the Schengen lounge quite easily (unless connecting between two NS flights), while it's not as easy the other way around.
Obviously, the ideal solution would be to have a premium section in both, but it's easy to see why Schengen is priority. It's not a unique setup either, for example LO only has Elite section in their Schengen lounge.
Because:
- IB has a large NS network to Latin America, and it’s sister airline, BA, is also NS and routes passengers through on the way to/from Latin America.
- NS flights are the ones where passengers are spending the most.
@AceQuik - I'm aware of IB's network to Latin America, but IB has an even larger network to the EU :)
Quantity is obviously not the only consideration. Airlines will usually try to target their most premium service at long-haul travellers. S.g. All 3 main US carriers have their very premium lounge concepts only available to those on long-haul tickets. NS lounges being higher quality than their S equivalents is also pretty common in Europe, airlines generally want to put their best foot forward for higher yielding long-haul travel.
Let’s not pretend Ib’s NS network...
Quantity is obviously not the only consideration. Airlines will usually try to target their most premium service at long-haul travellers. S.g. All 3 main US carriers have their very premium lounge concepts only available to those on long-haul tickets. NS lounges being higher quality than their S equivalents is also pretty common in Europe, airlines generally want to put their best foot forward for higher yielding long-haul travel.
Let’s not pretend Ib’s NS network is not a very significant component of the airline, particularly when the UK is also NS for short-haul.
In fairness, having it at the Schengen area allows both Schengen and non-Schengen passengers to use it. Both clear security at the same point and the Schengen lounge is on the same level right past the security checkpoint.
It wouldn't make much/any sense to send it to the non-Schengen flights- they're having a lounge built for FREQUENT FLYERS, not for holders of expensive tickets. Those who need to fly with Iberia every week are more likely to be going to Milan than Montevideo. Moreover, in my [admittedly limited] experience, the Schengen lounge is the one that tends to get more crowded.
As @Ben Holz points out, Emerald pax flying to non-Schengen destinations...
It wouldn't make much/any sense to send it to the non-Schengen flights- they're having a lounge built for FREQUENT FLYERS, not for holders of expensive tickets. Those who need to fly with Iberia every week are more likely to be going to Milan than Montevideo. Moreover, in my [admittedly limited] experience, the Schengen lounge is the one that tends to get more crowded.
As @Ben Holz points out, Emerald pax flying to non-Schengen destinations may still opt for the new lounge, and may well do so if they're on a long connection from a Schengen origin.