My very first new Amex BA voucher was going to expire, and to maximise the returns I booked a trip to Bogota on Iberia. My itinerary is Madrid – Bogota – Madrid – London, all in business class and costs 48,875 Avios + £244.30. This is a ridiculously great deal.
It will also be the first time I’m flying Iberia’s A350 in business class. I wasn’t too excited to be honest, as they look very similar to the old cabin at a quick glance, and I doubted the difference would be significant. When I went to Buenos Aires last year, where they rotated between A330 and A350, I just picked a better schedule and ended up in the A330.
I booked a separate LHR-MAD flight for the day before and stayed overnight at the Melia Chamartin Hotel, which is a short train ride to the airport. All non-Schengen flights depart rom T4S, so you’ll need to arrive at T4, pass security (fast lane available) and take a transit train to get there.
Iberia has a Velazquez business lounge at T4S. It’s a massive, bright and functional lounge but food-wise it’s gone downhill compared to a few years ago. I arrived at the boarding gate 5 minutes before the announced boarding time, only to realise that Group 1 boarding is almost complete already!
So I’m onboard a full flight, and there’s only one empty seat in the business cabin. I did’t feel very comfortable taking pictures when there were so many people around, but managed to snap a couple eventually:
It is quite similar to the old configuration in some way: the grey colour scheme and also the 1-2-1 staggered set-up. The seats however, are now angled outwards or inwards, as opposed to being straight-up previously.
For solo travellers best options are window seats in even rows:
Compared to the old seat, the new seat is much better encompassed, and feels more spacious too. Window seats in odd rows look like the picture below. They are private enough too thanks to the addition of a door.
The screen is fixated in front, so you don’t need to fold or close it for landing or take-off. The tray table has a revolutionary new design – it’s so big that I can eat and watch videos on my laptop at the same time!
Under the screen it’s the same cubby hole for your legs. Strangely the small storeroom underneath is now sealed, which could have been ideal for shoes.
Another enhancement I really like is they replaced the two open shelves with one locker and one bottle holder. It now offers much more space, and you can close the door for extra safety.
And this is when the seat is converted to a bed:
I can wiggle freely when lying down and flex my arms and legs. They installed a plastic board next to the bed too – the old seat is narrower with nothing on the side, so feels kind of insecure.
The seat becomes a suite when you shut the door:
Shortly after I’m settled down the cabin manager came over and greeted each passenger in business class. There’s a Japanese lady on the team too – Iberia is finally resuming its Tokyo service later this year, and hopefully Shanghai at some point too?
I didn’t spend much time on the IFE and only watched Flash.
The amenity bag:
Menus:
I’m not hungry and went for the salmon and veg pasta.
And some gnocchi before landing. Today’s dining experience is much better than last time, and at least I’m not left starving when I leave the plane!
Having learned my lesson I got to the boarding gate much earlier when flying back to Madrid from Bogota. I was amongst the first to board and took loads of pictures – and then I was puzzled when I noticed the missing door. Well, it turns out that not all A350 planes feature the new cabin!
Well life is like a box of chocolates and you never know. So no more photos of the cabin, but I did have a fun experience when boarding – they asked us to put our bags down on the floor, and brought a cute German Shepherd to sniff :p
The only connection option I had when booked had an almost 6-hour layover in Madrid. I asked Iberia’s transit desk at T4S but they wouldn’t move me to an earlier flight as the ticket is issued by BA. I had quite a lot of time to spend in the lounge thereafter, and tried out both the shower room and quiet room:
All in all, my first flight in Iberia’s A350 business suite is surprisingly good, and I have to say their user experience design is extraordinary. It is definitely way more preferable than Virgin’s weird A350 half-suite, and I suspect BA’s Club Suite isn’t as good either.
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