FLIGHT REVIEW: Iberia’s New ‘Next’ Business Class Suite from Bogotá, Colombia to Madrid

Today’s article is from TLFL regular contributor, Jason. You can follow Jason on Instagram here @planejayds

Booking 

I used Avios to book this last-minute ticket.  Iberia flies from the Colombian capital to Madrid up to three times per day, all on the A350 with the journey taking nine and a half hours. In addition to 42,500 Avios I paid £133 in taxes and charges.  I find Iberia offers some exceptional value for Avios redemptions.  For example, Bogota to Madrid, a flight of nine and a half hours is available for 42,500 Avios yet a one-way off-peak flight from Chicago to London on BA (7hr50min) and you’ll need 80,000 Avios.  Chicago to Madrid on Iberia which is two hour longer in duration than to London is 30,000 Avios less than BA.

It is one of the great ironies that I find with many frequent flyer programs, you often get better value with an airline’s partners than with the airline you are a member of. Once receiving my BA ticketed PNR I was able to fully manage my booking on the Iberia app.  A big shout out to Iberia at this stage also for the seat selection functionality of their website and app. Not only can you view the standard seat configuration of the cabin, but it also gives you a 360-degree full video visual of exactly how your specifically selected seat will look. 

Check in, Lounge and Departure

I was unable to check in via the APP so proceeded to the Iberia check in counters at El Dorado International Airport. Check in was very busy however I was tended to by an agent within seven minutes who was able to issue me with my boarding pass.

Outbound passport control is all done by automated gates and although there was no priority lane, security was very efficient with all lanes operational, so I was through within a few minutes.

The airport is quite modern, user friendly, and well laid out and I had no problems finding the LATAM lounge which Iberia contracts.  The lounge is up one floor from the main departure concourse and is essentially a mezzanine overlooking the duty-free shops below.  Although compact in size the lounge was very pleasant to relax in for a couple of hours and had enough seating for the guests it handles.  Like the larger LATAM lounge in Sao Paulo, I found the dining selection excellent for a business class lounge and the entire place was immaculate.

My boarding pass stated that boarding would commence at 20:45, an hour prior to departure and I was not surprised when I arrived at the gate at that time and boarding had not started.  In fact, the operating crew only arrived at the gate at 21:00 and the first passenger was boarded at 21:11. 

After a cordial welcome, I stepped into the business class cabin which occupies the entire space between the first two sets of doors. Iberia will never win awards for adding pazzaz to their cabins and the colour scheme is a dull and forgettable grey and cream.  There was a slight improvement on the even more dull A330 cabins though with the seats featuring wood effect bench tops and a red storage cupboard injecting a much-needed pop of colour.  The sense of space was immediately apparent given the lack of overhead lockers in the centre.  I made my way to my seat 8A which was by the window at the last row.

Sticking my head through the galley area to Premium Economy I was surprised to see that there is no separate cabin on the A350.  There is no divider or curtain, simply Premium Economy seats ending and economy seats starting.

I checked out my seat and already there was a washbag, menu, headphones, and the very good Iberia bedding.  Hot towels were offered as well as pre departure beverages with a choice of cava, OJ, or water.

Many would say that crew can make or break a flight and I subscribe to that line of thought, and I think you can generally get an idea of how the crew will be after the first few interactions. I immediately sensed this flight would be very perfunctory at best with minimal pleasantries and I was correct. I find it really distasteful when people comment on the physical appearance of crew in reviews but all of the crew working in business class looked like they’d just been dragged through a hedge backward. Shirts not ironed, hair looking like they’d just literally woken up. It wasn’t a professional look at all.  None of them were outwardly rude or lazy but they were certainly not premium and the chap serving my aisle did not crack a smile the entire 10.5 hours. Communication was very much to the point without any politeness, and it was not a language barrier as the crew that looked after me spoke flawless English.

We pushed back at 21:47 so pretty much bang on time and were airborne a few minutes later.

The Seat

This is Iberia’s latest seating product that appears on the recently delivered A350’s and Iberia has given it the moniker ‘Next Business’. However, knowing which seat you get can still be a lottery especially as the configuration is identical for both the newer and previous hard products on the A350. What you need to check is the Premium Economy seat map to work out which Business seat you will get. Whilst the business and economy seat counts are identical between aircraft, The ‘NEXT’ equipped A350 has 28 Premium Economy seats, and the A350 with the older biz seat has 24 Premium Economy seats. 

The Next Business seat is the Recaro CL6720 of which there are eight rows with the familiar staggered closer to the aisle – closer to the window solo seats and honeymoon – further apart centre blocks of two. Iberia was the second airline to adopt the seat after Air China was the launch customer, the seat has also been chosen to drive forward LOT airlines much needed business class relaunch.

As is the new standard these days the seat has a door which is helpful especially if you end up in one of the solo seats closer to the aisle.  The footwell is not particularly wide nor narrow however one thing I did notice is there is no storage underneath.  What I loved was that the features of the seat are so well thought out for example, the remote, multiplug adaptor, and both USB A and C outlets are all located together in a very accessible area. 

I liked how the armrest flips up to create more room, also cool for me was the seat numbers that are projected by light from the ceiling onto the floor.

One area that was a bit of a letdown was the lack of storage space.  There are the small cupboards at shoulder height that housed the headphones, and you could squeeze a few other bits and pieces in there but apart from that and a holder for the water bottle it was just the overhead lockers.

The Flight

After take off the Purser, Hector came to welcome me on board as a OneWorld Emerald customer.  He was the stand out of the crew and was just a lovely guy and very professional. Whilst on the subject of OneWorld Emerald welcomes, this is four out of four long haul sectors on Iberia where the Purser has welcomed me as a BA Gold card holder which is significantly more than BA itself has!

Hector took my meal order and I opted for just a starter, some cheese, and red wine. Despite being on the last row, I was served first and had my supper in front of me within 25 minutes of take off. The crew whilst not the friendliest were certainly efficient. The starter was beef with palm of hearts which was just OK and note to self – the Spanish do not do crackers with cheese. Anyway, I really appreciated the speed of service and the ability to have a light bite and recline my seat flat within about 45 minutes of take off.

For those curious about what the full offering was, there was a choice of two starters, three mains, dessert and cheese.  It is worth mentioning that you can view Iberia menus before your flight in Manage My Booking also.

But back to the service, it was definitely more at the crews’ speed, not the customers. If you wanted to partake in the ‘full’ service, it was a combined meal and drink service delivered by trolley which makes sense as it was now 10:30pm. Trays with the starter were delivered along with a drink, starter plates were then cleared, and the main was delivered. The person sat across from me was having the full service and when the crew member reached her seat to deliver the main, she was only halfway through her starter and instead of returning to the galley with the meal and allowing her to finish her starter the crew member just plonked the main meal (still covered in foil) awkwardly on the edge of her tray table. 

The seat was really comfortable to sleep in with the added privacy of the sliding door which blocks out glare and light from other passengers’ IFE screens (I cannot sleep with eye masks, yes I am weird) as well as the Iberia bedding consisting of a mattress topper, big pillow and not too heavy duvet which I find very good.

I woke up around two hours before arrival in Madrid and dared visit the galley to ask for an espresso. Again, whilst the pleasantries were certainly at a minimum, I appreciated that the crew member gave my china cup that had just been removed from a freezing trolley a warm up with some hot water before preparing me a nice espresso.  For many (well I guess most) people the availability and quality of the booze on board would be a big factor but as a very occasional drinker and a coffee addict, an airline that has an espresso machine ranks higher for me 😊

Breakfast was served an hour and fifteen minutes before arrival in Madrid and I was again asked first which option I would prefer. I opted for the omelet and whilst it was fine, the second meal left a lot to be desired. It was quite sparse with the meal consisting of just the hot item and a bit of bread. No sides of fruit or pastries which would have been well received.

In no time the captain made his announcement that we would soon be arriving in Madrid and we reached our arrival gate thirty minutes ahead of schedule. Which would have been great had disembarkation not been so bad. Door one opened first and door two opened second. Those of us who exited door one reached the top of the jetty to discover that the door accessing the arrivals concourse from the jetty was locked and by now, the jetty had backed up with passengers waiting. It had to be relayed by shouting from the top of the jetty to the aircraft door to the crew that the door was locked and passengers couldn’t get out.  After ten or so minutes we all turned around, got back on the aircraft, and off again at door two.

IFE and Wi-Fi

The IFE screen is 18.5” powered by Panasonic NEXT 4K and was crisp and responsive and content could be selected by touching the screen or using the remote control in the seat. As expected of a new product there was a large amount of options including box sets and I counted 188 movies. Whilst there was an interactive map there were no cameras. 

The Iberia provided headphones were pretty good but you also have the option of pairing your own via Bluetooth.

There were several wifi packages available with browse and stream (no caps) for £13 for four hours or £20 for the full flight. Messaging was free for business class and Iberia Plus passengers.

Verdict

Overall, I would say it was a good flight.  On the one hand, the suite is incredibly comfortable, the time performance was very good and the inflight service very swift. On the other hand, it definitely had areas where it could improve. Despite the efficiency of the crew, there was certainly a lack of friendliness and polish, and the catering (especially in the case of breakfast) could be improved. I know Iberia can offer a great service in Business Class on long haul flights as this is exactly my experience of flying them to Miami and back last year but given the excellent Avios value, I would certainly fly Iberia on the same route again.