Iberia A330-200 MAD-PTY (economy)
Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 12:36 pm
In August I had the chance of trying Iberia's longhaul product for the first time, here you can find my impressions of it:
TICKET PURCHASE
Iberia offers the chance of partially buying a ticket using Avios, offering a huge discount on the final fare. Also, iberia has an auction website on which you can buy tickets to the us for as little as 250€
CHECK IN
The website lets you check in pretty much as soon as you buy your ticket, even if it is several months beforehand. Iberia, like BA, charges you for seat selection, but not if you buy your ticket with avios, so I got myself an emergency exit seat that assures plenty of legroom.
At the airport, check in was made electronically and very smoothly introducing my Iberia Plus card. It prints your boarding pass and bag ticket that you put yourself in and then drop off in the counters.
BOARDING
All non-schengen flights that leave from Terminal 4 (mostly Iberia-oneworld flights, Emirates and a few charters) leave from the Satellite building. You have to catch a train that will take 15 min, and then a passport check right after that, so better be one of the first ones to leave the train.
Boarding was separated by groups (business, then group A, 1, 2 and finally 3). Blankets and pillows awarded in your seat and the stewardess came by offering headphones.
FLIGHT
Best part about the flight? taxiing took less than 5 minutes. Our gate was right next to the runway so it was pretty much pushback and possitioning.
Right after takeoff, the crew pasaed through the cabin offering a wide variety of newspapers, something I've never seen before in eco.
-lunch
An hour and a half after takeoff, the lunch service was offered, with the surprising offer of pasta or chicken. I went for pasta, tortellini with tomato sauce and green beans. A salad, crackers cheese and butter, and a dessert, plenty for a shorthaul. Wine and beer is offered for free, also water and soft drinks. During lunch, the crew offered more bread rolls, something also I've never seen before. It was economy class and they still used metal cutlery, I've only seen that on the big 3 middle eastern carriers!
There was a packet with milk, sugar, salt and pepper, a napkin and a refreshing towel, nice touch!
Coffe and tea were offered right after lunch, and quite a few times. Excellent service!
-entertainment
There was a wide variety of foreign films, spanish and even a couple of japaneese ones. A lot of tv shows, games, and a quite complete routemap. It let you navigate throughout the flight, having a wing view, and a simple cockpit.
-midflight service and pre arrival meal
Halfway through the flight a simple sandwich and drinks were distributed, and a packed carton box prior to landing. That box is the same one they serve for breakfast, including a youghurt (or fruit) a candybar, a muffin and a ham and cheese croissant. Better than the flattop muffin that they served on UsAir, huh? It was plenty of food for the whole flight.
amenities
One thing I found very odd is that seats didn't have a personal air conditioning outlet, same thing happened on the return flight on an A330-300. The quality of the pillow was very good, same linen you'd find in your pillow and not that rubbish matterial like the one on the headrest. The bathroom waa HUGE, i sat on the toilet with my legs fully extended and didn't reach the cupboard by far.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I've found their longhaul product excellent. The flight was very smooth, and even though the crew wasn't the best I've seen, they made their job effectively and never have I seen such service (like offering coffe so many times) in economy (except Qatar Airways, of course). The way back was a bit more caotic, since several passengers including me were issued the same boarding pass with the same seat number, and also all passengers in the back had to stand up and walk to the front of the airplane to liberate a truck that got stuck. But appart from those issues that were issued fast, the flight was as good as the first one.
If you would like to check a video of it, here you can find a trip report on my personal channel, hope you enjoy it!
https://youtu.be/wsi0kg3a9HY
TICKET PURCHASE
Iberia offers the chance of partially buying a ticket using Avios, offering a huge discount on the final fare. Also, iberia has an auction website on which you can buy tickets to the us for as little as 250€
CHECK IN
The website lets you check in pretty much as soon as you buy your ticket, even if it is several months beforehand. Iberia, like BA, charges you for seat selection, but not if you buy your ticket with avios, so I got myself an emergency exit seat that assures plenty of legroom.
At the airport, check in was made electronically and very smoothly introducing my Iberia Plus card. It prints your boarding pass and bag ticket that you put yourself in and then drop off in the counters.
BOARDING
All non-schengen flights that leave from Terminal 4 (mostly Iberia-oneworld flights, Emirates and a few charters) leave from the Satellite building. You have to catch a train that will take 15 min, and then a passport check right after that, so better be one of the first ones to leave the train.
Boarding was separated by groups (business, then group A, 1, 2 and finally 3). Blankets and pillows awarded in your seat and the stewardess came by offering headphones.
FLIGHT
Best part about the flight? taxiing took less than 5 minutes. Our gate was right next to the runway so it was pretty much pushback and possitioning.
Right after takeoff, the crew pasaed through the cabin offering a wide variety of newspapers, something I've never seen before in eco.
-lunch
An hour and a half after takeoff, the lunch service was offered, with the surprising offer of pasta or chicken. I went for pasta, tortellini with tomato sauce and green beans. A salad, crackers cheese and butter, and a dessert, plenty for a shorthaul. Wine and beer is offered for free, also water and soft drinks. During lunch, the crew offered more bread rolls, something also I've never seen before. It was economy class and they still used metal cutlery, I've only seen that on the big 3 middle eastern carriers!
There was a packet with milk, sugar, salt and pepper, a napkin and a refreshing towel, nice touch!
Coffe and tea were offered right after lunch, and quite a few times. Excellent service!
-entertainment
There was a wide variety of foreign films, spanish and even a couple of japaneese ones. A lot of tv shows, games, and a quite complete routemap. It let you navigate throughout the flight, having a wing view, and a simple cockpit.
-midflight service and pre arrival meal
Halfway through the flight a simple sandwich and drinks were distributed, and a packed carton box prior to landing. That box is the same one they serve for breakfast, including a youghurt (or fruit) a candybar, a muffin and a ham and cheese croissant. Better than the flattop muffin that they served on UsAir, huh? It was plenty of food for the whole flight.
amenities
One thing I found very odd is that seats didn't have a personal air conditioning outlet, same thing happened on the return flight on an A330-300. The quality of the pillow was very good, same linen you'd find in your pillow and not that rubbish matterial like the one on the headrest. The bathroom waa HUGE, i sat on the toilet with my legs fully extended and didn't reach the cupboard by far.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I've found their longhaul product excellent. The flight was very smooth, and even though the crew wasn't the best I've seen, they made their job effectively and never have I seen such service (like offering coffe so many times) in economy (except Qatar Airways, of course). The way back was a bit more caotic, since several passengers including me were issued the same boarding pass with the same seat number, and also all passengers in the back had to stand up and walk to the front of the airplane to liberate a truck that got stuck. But appart from those issues that were issued fast, the flight was as good as the first one.
If you would like to check a video of it, here you can find a trip report on my personal channel, hope you enjoy it!
https://youtu.be/wsi0kg3a9HY
