Iberia business suite review – A350 ‘Next’ from Madrid to Bogota

This is our review of Iberia’s new A350-900 business class suite.

Late in December 2022, Iberia introduced a brand new business class suite with doors that it was going to install on its last eight A350 deliveries. Iberia’s existing business class seat was by no means out of date, so it was a pleasant surprise to see the airline improving the passenger experience before it was strictly necessary.

These aircraft are special for another reason, because Iberia was one of the first airlines to take delivery of Airbus’ so-called A350 ‘New Production Standard’ which includes a wider cabin (4″ at arm-rest level) and weight savings of over 1.2t, which will improve the aircraft’s efficiency and performance.

After seeing the cabin at a ground event in Madrid, I was keen to try the new suite in person on a proper long-haul flight with full service. Iberia kindly invited me to try it on a flight from Madrid to Bogota and back.

Iberia is great for low tax redemptions

Currently, these flights are available for around £1,600 return, if starting in Madrid. But…..

Iberia has long been an excellent way to redeem Avios. It is now an even better deal, as you can now use British Airways American Express 2-4-1 Companion Vouchers on Iberia flights.

My particular flight, from Madrid to Bogota, would cost 85,000 Avios + US$284 in business class, return. If you were using a BA Companion Voucher then it would be 85,000 avios + US$568 for both of you – an absolute steal. I’m almost tempted to book myself another trip!

(It is more expensive if you start your trip in the UK, as you’ll be charged UK taxes which are significantly higher than what you pay from Madrid. The best option is to book a separate flight to Madrid, with plenty of time to spare to collect your luggage and check in again.)

Iberia’s fantastic seat selection tool

I don’t normally write about seat selection in my reviews because it’s usually fairly explanatory, but I wanted to highlight Iberia’s amazing seat selection visualiser which removes all the uncertainty from the process.

I’ve been saying for years that airlines should be utilising Google Street View-style cabin mockups during the seat selection process. Iberia is the first airline I’ve seen to do it, with some very cool CGI renders of the cabin:

The tech means you can now see exactly what type of seat you are getting, which is especially important in a staggered layout like Iberia’s where ‘window seats’ are either next to the window or the aisle.

It also means you can double check whether you are in one of the new suites or Iberia’s older (but still comfortable) seat. Via the split screen on the left you can move around the cabin and look around, too.

As you can see from the screenshot above, seat selection is not included if you’ve booked Iberia’s ‘Optima’ business class fares. From a quick dummy search, the cost is between US$45 and $50.

Free seat selection is available:

• to all customers at check in (24 hours before departure)
• to all customers who are oneworld Sapphire or Emerald (eg. BA Silver & Gold)

As I am BA Gold I was able to pop myself into my preferred seat – 5L.

Iberia’s new A350 Next business class suite

The seat count, and layout, of Iberia’s new doored suites are identical to the old cabins, with 31 seats across 8 rows in a staggered 1-2-1 layout.

The centre pairs alternate between honeymoon pairs and separated seats, whilst window seats are either literally next to the window or closer to the aisle.

The easiest way to tell is with Iberia’s numbering system. Any ‘A’ or ‘L’ seats are directly by the window, with ‘C’ and ‘J’ closer to the aisle. Meanwhile, ‘E’ and ‘G’ seats comprise the honeymoon centre pairs.

I love a window seat and chose 5L, midway down the cabin:

It was dark outside when I boarded for my 23:55 departure. On this particular flight, the cold-white overhead lighting was bright but had the unintended consequence of washing out the (fairly subtle) warmth from the grey seats and upholstery.

It’s not the most exciting colour palette, but it does look better with warmer lighting (and daylight). Here is a photo I took from my previous tour of the cabin in 2022:

…. although Iberia has added a zing of red to the internal storage cupboards at each seat, which inject some much-needed colour into the cabin.

The seat Iberia has selected for it’s new A350s is the CL6720 from German manufacturer Recaro. You have probably sat on a Recaro seat before, as they supply 30-35% of the world’s economy seats. They are less established in the business class segment, and the CL6720 is its second generation seat designed to compete with the best off-the-shelf seats available.

From my experience, I think Recaro have done an excellent job. The seat has all the hallmarks of a modern business class seat, and even some cool additional features I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Let’s start with the door. Regardless of your views about doors on aircraft seats, they are now a defacto standard. Personally, I tend to use the door when I’m trying to get some sleep, as I find it protects me from the comings and goings of the aisle.

In 5L, however, I’m already well over a foot away from the aisle thanks to the large side console table, and I didn’t end up using the door. However, I’m sure I would have done had I been in one of the ‘J’ seats, where you sit right next to it:

The trade-off for an A or L seat, however, is that you need to squeeze through a fairly narrow opening to get into the seat, so if you’re on the larger side then it’s not as convenient.

In addition to the bright red storage unit, the side console also has a bottle holder (empty when boarding, but a bottle is provided after the meal service) as well as a remote control for the in-flight entertainment system, charging ports (USB-A, USB-C and an international mains socket) and the seat controls:

Next to it is a small armrest that can be flipped up out of the way when the seat is converted to a bed – a nifty idea which I haven’t seen before.

The seat itself is comfortable, and there was a good sized pillow, blanket and mattress protector on the seat:

Opposite is a large 18.5″ in-flight entertainment screen featuring Panasonic’s NEXT 4K screen – more on this below.

Underneath is the tray table, foldable and very large. Here’s a photo from 2022, as I forgot to take one on this trip!

And, underneath that, the ottoman / foot cubby. Annoyingly, there is no storage underneath this for shoes – a missed opportunity, in my opinion.

In bed mode, the seat is also very comfortable. One thing I did notice is that Iberia has chosen not to add padding to the seat surrounds. This means that, in bed mode, you have a sort of border a few inches lower:

The foot cubby is tall but not super wide – about 30cm or so. The height helps, however, and is achieved by lowering the entire seat down when in bed mode.

Overall, the Iberia bedding is comfortable and the mattress protector adds a bit of extra padding and is obviously far more hygienic.

The amenity kit is good too. I thought the beige fabric bag was stylish (and it has a lovely patterned interior) whilst products by Germaine de Capuccini help to elevate it. The contents are substantial – far more than I anticipated -s including a foldable comb, eye mask, socks, dental kit, facial mist, ear plugs, lip balm and hand cream.

Other things to note include Iberia’s choice to remove the centre luggage bins in favour of more space. This means all passengers must use the overhead bins along the windows, although this wasn’t a problem in terms of space. There are no personal air vents, either – something I sorely miss!

My favourite feature – and one I haven’t seen anywhere else yet – are the little mini projectors at each seat that project the seat number onto the carpet. An absolute lifesaver in the dark!

Inflight entertainment and wifi

Entertainment is provided by the aforementioned 18.5″ screen. The resolution and responsiveness was excellent, just like on an iPad at home, although the resolution of the content hasn’t caught up and it felt like all those pixels were wasted on what could barely have been 720p content!

The content available was decent although not vast (British Airways has done a great job at increasing availability in recent years.) There was a good range of classics available, although I struggled with new releases – probably because I’d already seen them all already! I ended up re-watching Barbie, Elemental and the new Dungeons & Dragons film (surprisingly decent, from someone who knows virtually nothing about D&D!)

Headphones are provided in the red storage compartment and are average for business class headphones.

The creme-de-la-creme, however, was being able to use my own personal bluetooth headphones to watch. This is slowly becoming standard for new business class products and makes life so much easier than dealing with a tangle of cables. The same for USB-C and wireless charging, although this Iberia seat only has the former.

Wifi was also available on board in a variety of packages:

• Free messaging for business class passengers and Iberia Plus members
• €3.49 for messaging for others
• €13.49 for 4 hours of ‘browse and stream’
• €20.49 for a full flight pass of ‘browse and stream’

It’s good to see a ree messaging option, especially as it’s free to sign up for an Iberia Plus account and therefore free for anyone, should you want it. The service was fine, if a little erratic. The fact that it only loads text-based messages and emails (no images) can be a bit frustrating given the image-centric nature of communication these days. But of course you can upgrade for more should you need it, and that worked suitably well.

Iberia’s service on board

Historically, Iberia has had a mixed reputation for service on board and when I told people I was flying Iberia long haul the first reaction was often ‘good luck’ or ‘I hope you get a good crew’.

And yet…on all four of my flights, including the two connecting flights from London, the service I received was excellent. That despite the flights being full (or almost full).

I can only conclude that Iberia’s reputation is out of date. The only other option is that I was extremely lucky to get four fantastic crews, which seems unlikely to me!

(I also really like the new Iberia uniforms, which I think look very stylish.)

Service started with an offer of orange juice, water or cava after boarding:

Menu cards and a hot towel followed shortly after. The menu cards are A4-sized bound booklets in beige covers – a little on the flimsy side and definitely something I think Iberia’s design team could have a bit more fun with!

(As an aside, Iberia also lets you check the full menu for your flight online prior to departure – another useful digital feature!)

On a late over-night flight such as this one, the crew launch straight into the meal service. However, on day flights, and those that depart a bit earlier, you are offered an aperitif after take-off which includes a choice of olives, cheese and biscuits or nuts. Or, in my case, all three!

Iberia must be one of the only airlines now to serve wine in proper stemmed glasses. I don’t know how practical this is but I liked it.

Main meal orders are taken at the same time, as these need to be prepared in advance. After the aperetif, crew come round offering a choice of starters. In my case:

• Octopus timbale marinated with paprika and lemon over sauteed peppers with black olive tapenade and an oven-roasted lemon
• Roasted sweet potatoes on a white garlic base with lettuce hearts and sundried cherry tomatoes

Kudos to Iberia for offering something a bit more inventive than the standard smoked salmon starter. I have never had octopus on a flight before so of course I had to try that, and was pleased that I did. It came as a sort-of carpaccio and wouldn’t look out of place in a restaurant:

For mains, the choice was between:

• Grilled chicken breast with crispy Serrano ham, served with mustard potato puree and grilled artichokes
• Grilled king prawns on a bed of tomato sauce, accompanied with sauteed spinach and basmati rice
• Handmade panzerotti pasta filled with mozzarella in a creamy tomato and parmesan sauce, served with eggplant and semi-dried cherry tomatoes

I went for the first choice – the chicken – which wasn’t fancy but very delicious:

Crew were attentive with drinks throughout and offered a top-up or alternative as well. Bread rolls were also served with both courses.

For dessert, there were again three choices:

• Homemade (whatever that means when it’s being produced in a factory by the airport!) hazelnut and chocolate cake with passion fruit
• Raspberry ice cream with chocolate sticks and blueberries
• Selection of Spanish cheese served with quince and grapes.

Being quite full, I opted for the light and refreshing raspberry ice cream which was delicious. Ice cream appears to be a staple offering for Iberia – on my return flight they had chocolate ice cream.

Finishing it all off, the crew came round with little chocolates, just as they do on shorthaul. They also bring round water bottles.

Both my flights were night flights and I bedded down after the main meal. Should you be peckish in the middle of the night, you can find a selection of snacks including crisps, chocolate bars and biscuits in the galley.

Fortunately, I slept virtually all the way through and got a solid 6+ hours sleep, waking up as the cabin lights were slowly turned on again in time for a breakfast service, which consisted of a choice between:

• Plain omelette with grilled ham and vegetables
• Traditional crepes with chocolate syrup and red berry coulis

I wasn’t particularly enthused by either option on the menu but I went for the omelette and I’m glad I did. It hit the spot. I suppose if you can’t trust a Spanish airline to serve a good omelette then what can it do?!

As both my flights were overnight, I didn’t drink a huge amount but it is worth noting that Iberia only serves cava on board – there is no champagne available. I am a big fan of cava and like when carriers showcase their local products, but the lack of champagne is clearly a differentiator between Iberia and other airlines such as British Airways.

Also onboard were two types of sherry – red and white – brandy, gin (Bombay Sapphire and Fifty Pounds), three types of whisky (Dewar’s 12 Years, Chivas Regal 12 Years, Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve single malt) and more.

Conclusion

Overall, I was impressed with the entire Iberia experience. With the new seat, Iberia offers an ultra-modern business class cabin that is paired with excellent onboard service.

What surprised me was the hi-tech set-up Iberia now has, including some excellent seat selection tools and menu and in-flight entertainment previews. Unfortunately, the app was significantly less advanced and surprisingly slow.

It would be nice to see Iberia get a bit more creative with the soft product (menus, blankets etc) to introduce a bit more colour and design into the cabin, as at the moment it’s very ’50 shades of greige’. Spain has such a heritage of patterns and design that these could easily be incorporated without creating an overwhelming or busy experience.

The transit experience in Madrid is excellent, too, with all my flights departing from Iberia’s T4S satellite terminal. It is quick and easy to navigate and the Velazquez lounge is also a favourite.

Despite some delays to departure due to additional security checks by the Spanish authorities, both my flights arrived early and I had no issues with my checked baggage. The whole thing was an incredibly smooth operation and Iberia would likely be my first choice should I need to fly to Latin America again.

Where can I fly Iberia’s new A350 Next business class suite?

With just eight aircraft featuring the new seat, and no plans (yet) to retrofit it to existing aircraft, you’ll have to pick your routes and flights carefully to maximise your chances of getting Iberia’s new business class suite.

I asked Iberia which routes will see the aircraft for the Summer 2024 season, and this is the list they gave me:

• Bogota
• Buenos Aires
• Lima
• Mexico City

On some routes, the aircraft is only operating on selected flights and certain days – the best way to check is to take a look at the interactive seat map! You can book on the Iberia website here. Our guide to redeeming Avios on Iberia is here.

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