Iberia will soon be taking delivery of their first of 16 Airbus A350 aircraft, which they’re using to modernize their longhaul fleet. Currently the airline operates a fleet of A330s and A340s for longhaul flights, so over time they plan to retire some of those A340s and replace them with these new planes.
Continue reading: Iberia Reveals Routes & Configuration For New A350
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Iberia sucks like shit....
They are just another idea-less money hungry company and so their product and food sucks like shit!!!
I have tried IBERIA as an alternative to using AA or BA through Heathrow (traveling from New York to elsewhere in Europe).
It works just fine and the onboard service is often better than BA or AA. The seat is also really good, if you get a window. Lounge in Madrid has a shower.
I wonder if Air Tanzania will actually take delivery of the 788. Looks like they may struggle on making a payment. Bombardier has a newly built Q400 for them for months that has yet to be delivered.
Perhaps its different since in the US we have the Ex-Im bank that can help.
What are the chances the A350 is flying out of Boston in mid-October?
I’m booked out of Boston but I check often to see if any seats open up for my dates out of JFK.
I think the IB3166 rotation won't change, because it is currently the daily A340-600 rotation MAD-LHR-MAD. There were no equipment changes in this rotations in the last time; so I won't expect any changes until the A350-900.
There are also other wide-body planes on the route: a BA B767 (1x daily) and a BA B777 (1x daily), so no need for business in economy seats...
Ulf Müller
I booked an award in business from New York to Madrid route for this November for only 25,500 Avios based on one of your earlier posts. Pretty cool to find out that this will now be operated by the A350 as I've not yet flown on this plane.
Booked on MAD-JFK IB 6251 in September... looking forward to enjoying that new plane smell on the ride over.
Service ON BOARD of Iberia is infinitely better than AA (service onboard BA is also infinitely better than AA). The only things I do not like about IB:
a) For Econ: no ability to select seats until check-in unless you pay extra (but now AA is the same with the cheapest fares).
b) Barajas... what an awful airport. It takes about 3.5 hours to walk from the international arrivals to the gate for your connection... (just kidding, but it does take more than 25 minues... they even have signs stating that).
It is not that rare! Both BA and Iberia routinely operate 787, 340 etc with international business class on London- Madrid flights. You can check and find this availability via BA.com
I quite like IB business class - in fact, I will fly them next Monday JFK-MAD on my way to BIO. My only pet peeve is that they do not have proper champagne but only cheap cava; however, their reds are usually very good.
Also, the lounge in Madrid is consistently very good.
Well...interesting to see all these opinions.
Mine: come on people, IB BC class seat configuration and F&B service is way better than many others, including our common favorite BA ;-).
( I flew countless times in BC with BA from BRU to South America...being young and stupid and wasting your money on the wrong products).
Barajas, including the lounge is awful indeed. Crew is inconsistently good.
But the (personal) thing is:
I will not fly again a national carrier ( Europe!) that supports a regime that locks up people with different political views and agendas.
I took IB6250 from JFK to MAD a year and a half ago and was impressed with Iberia's business class. Granted, I do not have anywhere near the international premium cabin experience that Lucky has, but it was probably the second best international business class I have flown behind that on an American 777-300ER (I am more focused on the hard product than the soft product). I enjoyed the food and found the seat comfortable. I wasn't able to sleep but that was a function of my excitement over my trip. I would love to use MAD as a gateway to Europe in the future in order to fly on a new A350!
flown many thousands of miles worldwide with IB in business, cannot fault it, look forward to trying the A350
Same A350 Business Class seats which, I believe you have yet to review on longhaul.
Well, I'm not surprised not seeing too many changes. Their current J product is only two years old (and much better than BA) and their W product is only 1 year old. So I guess it's a bit too premature to expect yet another product update.
@ FFF
“I will not fly again a national carrier ( Europe!) that supports a regime that locks up people with different political views and agendas.”
Yes, I’m intrigued that the Spanish government has got away with this. Self-determination strikes me as an inalienable right: I know Americans disagree (they fought a civil war to prevent secession), but post-Imperial countries should surely celebrate freedom and independence? The attitude of the Spanish government strikes me as being as imperialistic as Argentina’s views on the Falklands.
Nonetheless, Iberia has nothing to do with the Spanish government. Its parent company, IAG, is an independent corporation which happens to be based in Madrid. Surely if you’re boycotting Iberia you ought also to boycott BA and EI, among others?
I think Iberia’s J is actually rather good. I travel a lot from London to South America: there are no direct flights to places like Montevideo, so Iberia is a good option. Barajas is vast but also actually rather beautiful. As long as I’m not in a hurry I enjoy tea sitting there.
“Tea sitting”?
Why did autocorrect think that was better than “transiting”??
I’d already removed a stupid apostrophe that the damn thing had incorrectly inserted into a possessive “its”. It seems determined to make me look even dumber than I am. Damn it.
Will be flying a code share BA-Iberia Madrid to JFK. My flight info says a340-600. This is a Iberia aircraft, but could they switch to the new a350?
Thanks
I’ve flown it yesterday from lhr to mad in business class. I’m very impressed! The aircraft smelled new like a new car :). Smoothest flight ever. Hardly any noise. The most noticeable thing is the seatbelt is like a car, it goes on your upper body too. I’m sorry for ditching the 380, but 359 became my favourite aircraft now
I really like Iberia a business class product. This flight was only 2 hours long and we got a proper hot dinner. The seats are spacious and comfortable. Good selection of entertainment and you can watch it from the moment you seat on. Great wines and the food is lovely, which is expected on a Spanish airline. I think Iberia did a good job upgrading their old product a few years ago.