Review: Iberia Economy Class A321 Madrid To London

Aren't pilots required to have at least adequate English, given that ATC communicates in English?

"Million Dollar Listings: LA"

Sounds like someone is doing some house shopping.. 😉

@john, I have at times wondered if there will eventually be a problem with a pilots English skills. I don't think it would likely occur going into USA or UK. it seems to me like the greatest risk is two people speaking English where it is a second language for both the controller and the pilot. Normal communications are routine and well practiced but if something unusual happen I could see communication difficulty causing safety concerns.

Ben,
Nice to see your report Y class on IB flight – It is not offen we see you travel Y class inside Europe. Myself I haven’t try IB flight for several years so it was a surprice that it seem to be a NO FRIIS airline. The good news is that there is still lots of good service (free food) airline in Europe – here just to mension a few – Germanwings (4U) amazing service – freebottle water-Sandw-soft drink – great coffee-cream –AF – even HOP (lowfare) free newspaper-sandw/croissant-softdrink-great coffee – SWISS (LX) free great coffee w. cream-croissant-AUSTRIAN (OS) again great coffee w. cream-croissant -Air Malta (KM) free hot meal-beer/wine/soft drink -Aegean (3A) amazing service hot meal – free greek wine/beer – great coffee w. cream – I am not surprise this airline got the price for best Airline in Europe for best service 2014.
Some I the worth airlines in Europe for almost no service I had used recently SAS (SK) only free bad coffee NO cream – Norwegian (DY) seem to be like IB where everything cost.
Bye the way it could be nice to know first if we (your fans of your blog) can send photo of our airline – flight experience
Thanks for taking your time.

Iberia have an evening service Heathrow to Madrid most evenings on the A340 series with lie down flat beds! Wonderful. The food tray is standard intra-Europe food but complimentary in business.

@John
I find it strange as well. I remember that the avianca crash in new york back in the 90s had a captain who couldnt speak english well, and that ultimately contributed to the cause.

OMG you watch MDLLA? Who's your favorite realtor?

Wouldn't it be easier to clear immigration (Use EU passport) and take heathrow express for free to Terminal 3?

Is there any European airline with a real business class like in America???

Mmm mature British man’s armpit.

@peter81 TAP and Turkish have proper intra-EU Js.

Intra-Europe business class on IB A321 gets you 2in. more of recline with same 17in. width seat.

The last supper consisted of stuffed chicken in a saffron-butter sauce, arugula-tomato-cucumber salad, rolls, a Basque cheese slice, an orange and a disposable wet wipe.

The pilots are fluent in English, but the Castillian accent makes c's, s's and z's sound like English th's. Glad you found the enunciation adorable. It must be hard for Spaniards to keep up with Catalan, Galician, Basque and dozens of dialects.

Funny that you say the difference between Economy and Business is "... with slightly better service" - and then fly Iberia 🙂 - because with their low cost approach in Economy the service difference to Business Class is one of the biggest ones in Europe.

Iberia Business Class has full service with usually a hot meal (often times better than their long haul meals which are a desaster most of the times) and free flow bar. Iberia is particular strong in their wine offerings if you like Spanish wine. Add into the mix a more generous seat pitch (34 inch for the first rows, I don't know how many) and it's an airline where you can actually justify a higher business class fare to a certain extend.

Hi, I flew Iberia economy from LAX to Madrid last Fall. I am 5'3" and not fat. I had a window seat and it was one of the worst flights I have ever had. There was no behind the seat entertainment and I could not see the TV screen above the aisle. Luckily I had my books and iPhone fully loaded. I felt very swished as there was hardly any room to put my stuff under the seat and have a place for my feet. The person in the middle seat was very miserable. He was a big person, at least 6'5" tall and he could not even put his tray down for the food service as his knees were in the way. I will never take a long haul trip in economy on Iberia again. Luckily, my flight back was British Air to London and then American (one of their new planes.) I agree, London Heathrow is horrible. What a maze. Security and passport control takes forever even when you are changing planes and they don't care if you miss your flight. I always seem to get some jogging in! I try to avoid it, but sometimes options are limited.
Cheers, Nita

The late afternoon/eve flight from MAD-LHR is in fact now operated by a A330 with there new business class flat bed seats. I snagged two seats for Dec the other week during the avios sale. Cost just under 8,000 avios one way...bargain! The rest of the flights during the day are with short haul aircraft.

I flew IB round trip MAD to LHR to MAD last week. Got the 50 euro upgrade going (A321)...only three rows and more space and a very nice full lunch. Other than, nothing stood out. Return on A320, no upgrade offered (it was actually a BA flight operated by IB) but seat 12A, emergency row, was spacious, great seat mates so all was well. Didn't sample the high priced stuff on offer. Being AA emerald, I got through everything in five minutes or less, including LHR security. I agree about the pain of transferring terminals at LHR. I had no connections either way so it didn't matter but what a hassle. Nice to get on the LAN 787 for the flight home to Santiago.

Reading your stupid reviews just get my frustrated. All you do is fly business/first EVERYWHERE you go, without even bothering to fly economy class. I bet if you flew economy class, your review would be nothing but negative remarks. You live the high life drinking champagne at 35000ft, while we're cramped in cattle class trying to sleep. I hope that when your old on your deathbed, you finally realize that you haven't accomplished s*** with your life.

Lucky, check the title...

I'm curious as to how you held up your ipad on the seatback? Was it a special holder?