Iberia has been on a journey to modernise its passenger experience, and now boasts some new Airbus A350s with Recaro doored mini-suites in business class (the latest A350 deliveries are in the airframer’s NPS, New Production Standard).
Runway Girl Network was invited by Iberia to try its business class product on an A350 NPS operating one of the carrier’s key routes to Buenos Aires, and found that the solid Recaro hard product offers a lot of opportunities for Iberia to further refine the onboard service.
After a breeze through Madrid-Barajas, I arrived at the gate at final call, with the gleaming A350 being refuelled. I glided down the jetway and into Iberia’s business class cabin featuring Recaro’s CL6720 mini-suites.
My immediate first impression was of darkness. Iberia has fitted business class in a sea of beige and grey. Even the mattress topper was the same dark grey, and the amenity kit was beige. Whilst I wasn’t expecting Iberia to have the zing of a Virgin Atlantic, it felt incredibly anodyne.
I took my seat in 1E, one of the front honeymoon seats. There is a lot of real estate to work with, including a wide space between the seat and the door, a large side console with touch buttons and a small cupboard that included some unbranded noise cancelling headphones.
Although the seat does have the enclosed footwells that this 6’4 (193cm) journalist usually struggles with, there was enough space for my size 13 feet, even with shoes on. That might be because the beds aboard Iberia’s NPS A350s are now five centimetres longer when fully extended.
A very deep adjustable table completed the space and made for a practical and comfortable area. What let me down, however, was the sheer lack of personality. Aside from the flash of red on the IFE screen and some tepid orange mood lighting, it was all shades of grey and brown. The view out of my mini-suite towards the front monument was so bland I felt like an extra in Office Space.
As I had a travelling companion, these seats offered a lot of space for us to talk, but the privacy screen, even when lowered, did not go all the way back, so there was still a wall between us when seated upright.
During the boarding process, the crew offered cava, orange juice and water served in tastefully branded glassware, and distributed menus.
As we taxi’d to the runway, the Iberia inflight safety video played. Whilst not as outrageous as many other safety videos, I found it distinctly too playful. The lack of staff interaction or attention during the proceeding did not inspire confidence.
The A350 took off, and once we hit cruising altitude, the crew began a lunch service. It was here that the Spanish flair became most apparent on board. Sherries were offered as an aperitif with plated hors d’oeuvres including Manchego cheese and olives.
This was followed by a salmon tartare, then cod with potatoes, and lastly sorbet. Whilst the salmon was zingy and fresh, the cod was surprisingly under-seasoned (although the olive tapenade made up for that). The sorbet was crisp and delightful. The only real low point was the stale crumbly roll.
The crew also served each course separately, which made the experience sedate and charming. The service was inconsistent, however; crew members on the right side were happy to talk through the menu and offer recommendations, but the crew on my aisle seemed bemused when I asked about the wine list. It would have been nice to have learnt a little something about Spanish cuisine.
Following the meal service, the lights were turned down and, outside of shuttling back and forth between galleys empty handed, the crew were not seen again in the cabin for about nine hours. It seemed the expectation was that we’d all have an eight-hour siesta since we had left at noon. There were a few bagged snacks in the galley, as well as the offer of a meat-and-cheese or tofu sandwich, but I had to get up and ask for a drink if I wanted one.
During this lull, I inspected the IFE. There were reams of films, including recent blockbusters. But alas, there was also a dearth of Spanish collections to tempt passengers. All the content was in low definition, which was disappointing. The IFE did have multiplayer games, however, which proved to be a fun way to pass the time.
I did also try to nap, and managed an hour after making up my bed using the soft beige bedding and topper provided, but it was not a comfortable rest given the warm temperature in the cabin.
I couldn’t seem to make the bed go completely flat despite prodding the touch buttons repeatedly. Curiously, I’ve had this problem before on the same seating platform.
Exactly 90 minutes before landing, the lights went up abruptly — no ‘soft wake-up’ here — and the final meal service began.
After being served warm white wine, we asked for chilled wine only to be told that the chiller had broken.
I stuck with a preordered ovo-lacto vegetarian meal for this service, and was served a plate of warmed vegetables with a cup of fresh fruit.
This felt like a vegetarian/vegan/low calorie catch-all meal that you serve to the difficult passengers. It left a sour taste in my mouth.
As we landed in Buenos Aires, I felt bemused by Iberia. The cabin is comfortable, but felt like a dormitory. There are some tastes of Spain in the food and drink — unless of course you are a vegetarian — and the service was quite mixed throughout. The IFE had a decent selection, but of pixellated content.
In short, Iberia has a contemporary hard product but has made some antiseptic design choices. Refining the soft product and service could add enough flair to make this a contender against other European carriers.
Fintan was a guest of Iberia on this flight, but all views are his own.
Related Articles:
- Designing for comfort: Iberia reveals A350 NPS with wider seats
- Viva España: Iberia Express is effective if uninspired in economy
- Inside Airbus’ new A350 NPS interior mockup, with ten-abreast seats
- Iberia furnishes solid PaxEx on New York-Madrid-Hamburg
- Airbus’ A350 NPS variant: lower weight, more MTOW—and bigger cabin
All images of Iberia‘s A350 interior credited to the author, Fintan Horan-Stear
