Hands-on with Iberia’s A321XLR business class seat

MADRID — Ahead of its inaugural Airbus A321XLR flight to Boston, Iberia unveiled the new twinjet during a media event today. Runway Girl Network was able to get its hands on the new business class seat and put it through its paces before paying passengers enjoy the product.

The A321XLR is part of Iberia’s new route strategy, dubbed Flight Plan 2030, which will be published in the next few weeks, Iberia CEO Marco Sansavini said during the briefing. Service to Washington D.C. is in the cards for the New Year.

The aircraft itself is comprised of 182 seats: 14 in business class and 168 in economy. Up front, the 1-1 configured hard product is based on Thompson Aero Seating’s popular VantageSOLO platform (of which JetBlue was launch customer) whilst Recaro Aircraft Seating’s R3 (formerly CL3810) forms the basis of the economy class seats.

Iberia is not offering a Premium Economy cabin. Sansavini explained the carrier’s chosen layout facilitates the passenger mix that Iberia anticipates.

Whilst the plane is brand new, the cabin is rather more of an evolution of Iberia’s existing product.

Arriving in business class, you are greeted with a variety of greys, though this is a more thoughtful mix of colours and textures than found on Iberia’s A350 interior. A class divider features an elegant Iberia logo and the seat shrouds in each business suite are designed with swooping lines to add depth and movement to the cabin.

Recessed lighting at each business class seat also makes the design feel more like a contemporary cityscape than an office cubicle.

The seat shrouds use textured leather (and seem to be taken from Thompson’s recommended CMF options). Overall, this feels like a refined and elevated version of Iberia’s interior, if still (to my mind) plain.

The seat itself has many positives, but also some compromises. The seat’s entry is narrow, though manageable.

When in the seated position there was enough space for this 48”-chested journalist to sit comfortably. The table was adjustable and could be pushed away, but I still needed to fully close it to leave the seat.

A large side table, on the aisle-side, is out of the eyeline of the passenger. This is also where you will find the headphones and amenity kits.

Fortunately, there is a small table and storage cubby by the window, in addition to a large space for shoes and other items under the ottoman and a smaller space in the bottom of the dividing wall.

Each seat had a universal power point, plus USB-A and USB-C sockets. The Panasonic Avionics IFE screen is 18.5” with 4K resolution and can be controlled from a remote or you can stretch out to reach the touch screen. The screen itself is adjustable for different seating positions.

In terms of privacy, there is no door, but no other passenger was within my eyeline when I sat down. I could also turn my head to look out the window without straining my neck.

Overall, the seated position was very comfortable, However, in bed mode, the compromises of the seat were more obvious. There was limited space at my knees for side sleeping, and whilst my (US size 14) feet could fit in the footwell, they were touching the sides. Whilst smaller passengers would feel less hemmed in, there was not much wriggle room and I fear sleep would be challenging.

What was most surprising was the bulkhead seat. While many airlines are selling their bulkhead seats as a more luxurious offering, like the JetBlue Mint Studio, Iberia has not gone down this route.

Instead, the first row on Iberia’s A321XLR is more narrow than the others, with less space for the passenger.

Whilst they do benefit from a large side table, the two seats in Row 1 seem ironically less swank overall.

The economy class cabin is very standard for Iberia, but felt well-appointed (RGN will get a better sense of the economy product during the inaugural flight to Boston so expect another Nose To Tail-style trip report in the near term.)

Each economy seat has a 12-inch screen and USB power points.

Whilst both Iberia and its sister in the IAG Group, Aer Lingus, have ordered the A321XLR, an Iberia spokesperson told RGN there are no plans for interchangeability between the IAG brands, with Iberia’s fleet being designed to match the Iberia interior palette already in service.

Overall, Iberia’s new A321XLR feels like a natural evolution of the Iberia product, with positive changes on quality and finish, but it remains to be seen how it feels to spend 6-plus hours in it when compared to the carrier’s widebodies.

Airbus Customer Services head Cristina Grieder, meanwhile, revealed that Airbus will be examining all its A321XLR customers’ interior configurations to identify improvements for the future.