Flying IBERIA A350 Business Class: my review

Hello and welcome to another trip report. I am at Terminal 4 at Madrid Airport here in Spain and

I've got the privilege today of flying Iberia's brand new A350 down into London. I really love

taking wide-body aircraft on short-haul flights and this is a brand new aircraft Iberia are

introducing into their fleet. When airlines take delivery of aircraft especially if they're wide

body planes they don't currently have into their fleet. It's very common for them to send them on

tester flights around Europe, around key markets. Iberia are currently sending this between Madrid

and London at the time of filming this video, and by the time you watch it, it'll be on Madrid to

New York in proper mainline service. I can't wait. Let's go check it out. One of my favourite things

about Madrid Airport is its efficient fast track security system. This is one airport where fast

track really does mean just that. It's accessible to business class passengers and One World

Sapphire and Emerald cardholders. Flights departing outside the Schengen zone and long

haul flights by Iberia depart from the satellite terminal, Terminal 4S. You have to catch a transit

train to get there and it drives over half a mile underneath the airport to the satellite terminal

Iberia's flagship business class lounge is the Sala Velazquez, located curiously in the middle

of a duty-free shop. This lounge was actually refurbished last year and is accessible to all

business-class passengers and again One World Sapphire and Emerald cardholders. If you're ever in the mood for a cheap taster of long-haul business-class flying

Madrid is the place to come. LATAM, the South American airline, run a 787-9 on their Santiago

to Frankfurt route via Madrid. You can get on the Madrid to Frankfurt leg, about two hours

for £97 one way. I've done this a couple of times and it's a fantastic experience

Overall, I really like Iberia's refurbishment of their flagship lounge here at Madrid

It's understated, classy and contains all of the features that you'd expect from a proper

international business class lounge, including a new relaxation room and some very nice shower

suites. There is no extra charge to use any of these facilities and in the case of the shower

suites, towels and toiletries will be provided. There's also a new experience area to the Iberia

Lounge. Now as far as I could tell this is just a massive self-serve bar with loads of alcohol

Personally I don't like to drink heavily while traveling so it's just an orange juice and brunch

for me and a bit of charge on my phone. Okay so I'm just waiting at the gate which you can see

just behind me there. My flight's ready to board in about two or three minutes' time

so just a quick note to say I'm really looking forward to taking this A350-900 extra wide-body aircraft

up into London Heathrow today. It's always a massive privilege to take any wide-body aircraft

on a short-haul route, but doubly so if you can get a brand new aircraft like I am today As I mentioned earlier in the video this aircraft will at the time of viewing be working Madrid to New York routes it won be on this short haul route anymore but if you are a fan of

taking wide body aircraft on short haul routes this particular flight and in fact usually once

per day Iberia do run a wide body A330 or A340 aircraft between Madrid and London I'll stick some

more details about how you can book those in the description text below but let's go fly

Today's aircraft is named Paco de Lucia after a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist

so Wikipedia tells me This trip did happen some months ago but if you want to follow me in real time

you can follow me on my other social media I've got profiles on Twitter and Instagram

which is where I live blog all of my trips in real time using the stories function

I've also got a new website which you might want to check out Business class is located at the front of this Airbus A350 and the seats are in a 1-2-1

staggered configuration. If you want a true window seat, you need to aim for the odd numbered seats A and L

My seat today, 5L, a life-lap business class seat. Something that's becoming more common with modern business class seats is the need for a three-point harness

There's a normal lap belt as you can see here, and this third shoulder belt, like you would find in a car, is only necessary during take-off and landing

The cabin ambience here on Iberia is exceptionally boring. There is grey everywhere, there isn't even a red or yellow feature wall where they put their logo

without exception every single surface wall seat partition everything in the business class cabin

is a shade of grey that said I found the seat to be very good indeed and we'll look at it a bit more

after takeoff Thank you

our route to london today is 772 miles long we'll be flying at 40 000 feet and it'll take us just

over two hours flying time now we in the air let explore some of the features of this business class seat there a shoulder reading light which has three intensities and there a console on the left hand side of the seat including the seat controls and a remote

control for the in-flight entertainment. As well as the headphone jack there are two USB charging

points and a universal power socket too. There's a decent amount of storage in this seat too

This storage console actually acts as a bit of a barrier giving you some privacy. The water bottle

storage pouch here is in a sensible place for you to access it when you are fully reclined

perhaps in bed. The tray table is located just within reach, as long as you're of an average

size I guess. It's pretty sturdy too. The seat actually comes forward to meet the table as it

stays in a fixed position. As you would expect from any long-haul business class seat, this one

reclines into a bed. For some reason though, it doesn't actually lie flush with the ottoman

which means that your feet will hang off this by a couple of inches. You can see the effect just here

In common with a baffling standard set by most airlines, there are no individual air nozzles in business class

Nobody's ever explained this to me. All of Iberia's new A350s are fitted with Wi-Fi

and you can see some of the payment options here. In business class, a limited amount of Wi-Fi is free

thanks to these handout Wi-Fi codes. Iberia have a decent selection of things to watch or do on the in-flight entertainment system

There were a good number of films and TV shows including some children's options too

Iberia hand out complimentary headphones for the duration of the flight These aren't the best headphones in the world but they'll more than do for this two-hour hop up to London

Iberia use the same in-flight entertainment system as Finnair which comes with an interactive route map

This is one feature I really like You can ask the system to replicate pretty much any view from anywhere on the aircraft

As we cruise towards northern Spain, it's time to have a look and see what there is for lunch today

One thing I found very confusing about the meal service is why everything was served with the foil or covers still on

It's definitely not a premium way to serve a meal. I have no idea if this is something the crew decided to do

or whether this is part of Iberia's service standard. If you know, please let me know in the comment section below

A few years ago, I did this route in reverse on their Airbus A330

and Iberia served me one of the worst business class meals I have ever seen in my life

It was absolutely terrible. What was today's going to be like? well this veal burger didn't look as bad but it tasted really bland there was absolutely no flavor

at all to this dish catering standards on short-haul european business class have really risen in the

last couple of years so i was surprised to see iberia serve something which was so miserable

it could well have been cooked in this guy's studio fortunately i was able to wash away my

troubles with a half decent red wine one thing i should point out from this video is that service standards between airlines long and short routes can really differ This meal may not be representative of what Iberia will serve on their long haul routes to places like New York and Miami

After a slightly mediocre coffee, it was time to check out the bathrooms

Now, this is one place where I was actually quite impressed with the fittings on this aircraft

Despite my visit being towards the end of the flight, the bathroom was very clean

There was also a very nice smelling hand wash that Iberia had installed. The one thing that I really liked was the vanity mirror and the spotlights, which would remind you of a movie star's dressing room

Iberia stocked two in-flight magazines on this aircraft. This Excellente magazine was complemented by the normal in-flight magazine Ronda by Iberia

Now, I wonder if any of you can tell me what is wrong with this diagram of the Airbus A350

If you're struggling, let's have a look at the Airbus A330 below it

Can you notice any difference between the two? After two hours of uneventful flying, we're entering the London area

so so let's sum up i paid for this flight using 15 000 avios and 16 pounds

and 80 pence in fees and taxes. Taken as a sum of its parts

the Airbus A350 from Iberia is a solid option if you want to travel across the Atlantic

However, I was really disappointed that with such a new aircraft coming online, Iberia hadn't done anything with their business class cabin

The seat is merely an evolution of what already existed on the A330 and A340

and I've never seen such a dull business class cabin in my life

When you couple that with a very poor meal service, overall I was left feeling very underwhelmed

I can't help but think of the numerous small touches that would have made this experience feel a lot more premium

And that's it. I'm now back at London Heathrow at Terminal 5

After an uneventful but slightly disappointing flight with Iberia. Lovely hard product, but you've really got to back it up with better soft service than what I got on that flight

Let me know what you think of the A350 in the comments below this video

But until next time, I'll see you around. We'll see you next time