Iberia Business Class Pros and Cons

Several Iberia Business Class Pros and Cons come to mind following a recent Iberia Business Class flight from Madrid to LAX. We'll have a full review later, but in no particular order, here are the highlights and detractors:

Iberia Business Class Pros

Great Cabin Crew

Credit where credit is due: on our flight we had a fantastic crew that not only was professional, but dare I say cheerful and friendly, which is not to be taken for granted in this industry. From happily agreeing to provide small tastes of wine and both almonds and cheese to finding fresh fruit for me in lieu of the packaged snacks available between the meal services, I had a great experience with service on my flight.

Wine Tasting, Almonds and Cheese, Iberia Business Class

Good Business Class Bed

While not my favorite (I prefer JAL Sky Suite Business Class window seats, with a long bed and optional memory foam mattress pad), Iberia's A330 Business Class bed, especially the window seats, are very good. There's a thin mattress pad that slips over the seat in addition to a duvet and pillow, and unlike Qatar Qsuites business class, I didn't find the footwell too cramped.

Very Good Madrid Business Class Lounge

The Iberia Business Class Lounge in Madrid has nice shower rooms to refresh in, and during weekdays, the bartender makes an excellent Illy cappuccino.

Iberia Business Class Lounge Shower Room, Madrid

Iberia Business Class Lounge Cappuccino, Madrid

Iberia Business Class Cons

Not Enough Meat Main Courses Loaded

In retrospect of course, I should have pre-reserved my meal, which is possible. In any case, on my particular flight, there were at least 5 passengers who wanted the meat main course and there weren't enough. You've been warned: pre-reserve your meal.

Not Enough Food Served

While I personally was fine since I'd had a large breakfast and wasn't overly hungry for most of the flight, hungry eaters should be warned that there wasn't enough served between our lunch meal soon after take-off and the light pre-arrival meal. The flight is nearly 13 hours, and while the lunch served after take-off, given the almonds/cheese pre-meal snacks, appetizer, main and dessert was hearty, nothing was served after that for 9 hours. The cabin was dimmed, so many people did rest or try to sleep, but for those still on Madrid time, it would have been reasonable to expect them to be hungry for something about 6-7 hours later.

Now to be fair, there was snack food available in a self-serve area, but these were package snacks such as potato chips, candy, etc. (which is why I instead asked the crew if they could find any fresh fruit). That brings me to my next point:

Iberia Business Class: I asked the crew for fresh fruit

Different Pre-Arrival Meal From Menu

This was actually a pleasant surprise, since what we got was better (in my view) than what was on the menu, but something to be aware of. The menu had listed “Warm chocolate sponge” and “Seasonal fresh fruit” under “Before landing,” but in fact our choices were between Gnocchi with tomato sauce and cheese or Spanish tapas (served cold). The gnocchi were quite good (although I was also very hungry when I ate them, so that helped). Wine was offered with the meal, but no fruit or anything else was served after it, which is why I personally don't think enough fresh (non-snack) food was offered during the flight.

Gnocchi Pre-Arrival Meal, Iberia Business Class

Wait to Board on a Hot Jetway

This could be an anomaly, but after the agents check us in, we waited for about 10 minutes in a hot jetway before we could board the aircraft, because cleaners were still finishing. This could have been prevented by better communication between the check-in agents and the flight crew.