Flight review: Iberia Business class Miami to Madrid A330-300

Flight review Iberia Business class on an A330-300, end of 2018, booked with Avios.

Boarding and Pre-Departure

The aircraft departs from Concourse E so you have access to the excellent American Flagship lounge in concourse D.

Boarding was a little bit chaotic at the beginning as passengers were lining up everywhere as there was not enough space in the terminal. However we somehow manage to get to the priority queue. Some room for improvement definitely exits here.

As a pre departure drink you could only choose between water and orange juice, no champagne was served.

Seats

Seats are in a 1-2-1 configuration and we choose the middle seats in row 3.

The seats are spacious and you have plenty of leg room on all sides. In the lie flat position, I found them to be quite comfortable and I managed to get a couple of hours of solid sleep.

Every seat has its own entertainment screen, a dining table as well as a small table to deposit your drinks or other staff. Furthermore the seat has its own remote for the entertainment screen, a panel for seat adjustment, a reading lamp, a power socket and a jacket hook.

In terms of storage space however there is not enough, a small compartment in the arm rest is basically the only storage room you have besides the space underneath the foot rest. I had problems to find enough space for my laptop and noise cancelling headphones.

Food & Drinks

I ordered a Gin & Tonic as pre dinner drink accompanied with some tasty olives and had some delicious Spanish red wine during the main course. All in all the choice of wines, and spirits was solid. Unfortunately no champagnes was servers a pre departure drink.

The food was surprisingly good, especially the starters (I had salmon) and the desert. As breakfast you could choose between a couple of options as well but I was still stuffed from the main meal so I skipped that one.

Serving of the main meal took a whooping 2.5 hours which is not ideal if you are having a red-eye flight.

Entertainment & other Amenities

The entertainment screen is of a good size and quality. The choice of movies and shows however is minor compared to other full service carriers, and not a lot of new movies were available.

The blanket is okay and the pillow big enough but could be more fluffy. The noise cancelling headphones did not look very good, but I always use my one ones anyway.

The amenity kit comes with a nice bag which is useable afterwards and the content is the usual one. Some magazines were provided, and the lavatories are normal small ones.

As a business class passenger you receive complimentary WiFi for one hour, thereafter the fees are the following:

• 1 hour for 8.99€ and a maximum of 40 MB
• 3 hours for 9.99€ and maximum of 100 MB
• Full flight for 29.99€ and maximum of 200 MB

I only used the free hour I got. Speed was not very good and nowadays the limit of 40MB is somewhat of a joke, but still better than pricing on other Iberia flights.

Staff

I have mixed feelings about the staff. Some were very friendly, while other ones were pretty rude, especially if you could not speak Spanish. It was a rather strange experience. Serving of the first main meal took to long with nearly 2.5 hours.

Conclusion

Would I fly Iberia business class again? Definitely yes as you get a good seat to sleep in and decent food and drink options, but mainly because of the excellent value you will get by redeeming Avios for the flights between the US and Europe for marginal fees.