Review of Iberia flight from Madrid to London in Business

Introduction

Welcome to the fourth review in this transatlantic series of flights. 

Like every year, we flew back to Europe for the Holidays. After several weeks visiting with family and friends it was time to head back home to Southern California. As usual, we flew back through London to catch the nonstop BA flight to San Diego. We were able to book one of the oneworld hub-to-hub widebody flights from Madrid, which is always nice for a 2-hour flight.

routing

Reviews in this series:

check-in & lounge

The only problem with trying to catch one of the widebody flights is that it's pretty early in the morning with a 7:40AM departure time. This schedule makes sense for Business travel, especially for day trips, but it's never fun getting up at 5AM to catch a flight, hah. 

We arrived at the airport a little before 6AM. It was very quiet at the Business class counters—there was no one in the queue. For busier times, 3 of the 8 Business check-in positions are reserved for oneworld Emeralds, which is nice for us.  

Check in took no time and we breezed through Fast Track security with no line there either. From security, we took the escalators down to the lower levels to catch the underground train to T4S, the satellite terminal for non-Schengen flights. 

It only takes a few minutes to get to T4S on the train. 

Once at T4S, passengers going to the non-Schengen international S gates must go through passport control, which is usually very quick. 

We then headed to the Iberia Velazquez lounge—the entrance is located inside the duty free area in the centre of the concourse, which can easily be missed for those not familiar with the terminal. 

The lounge was very quiet at this early morning hour. 

It's usually pretty quiet in the morning as there aren't many non-Schengen departures in the morning, until the main transatlantic banks mid-day. 

There's a decent selection of hot and cold options for breakfast, though lunch and dinner times have much more interesting food. I wasn't really hungry yet and didn't get anything knowing there would be breakfast on the flight. 

boarding

It was a short walk from the lounge to gate S21/22. Boarding was already in full swing when we arrived at the gate. 

Business class boarded from Gate S21, while Economy boarded from S22, so each cabin had its own jet bridge. 

Iberia's A330s are equipped with an older generation of the popular STELIA Aerospace SOSTYS seat model. While these cabins were installed in 2017, it is still a solid Business class product affording direct aisle-access to all passengers and converting to fully flat 76" (193cm) long beds. 

Legroom is very good, and the foot-well is not constraining due to the openness. 

The window seats in odd-numbered rows are closer to the aisle and do feel a bit exposed, but that's not an issue for me as I'm travelling with family. 

Each seat has a 100v volt AC power outlet and a USB port. No USB-C, as that wasn't yet popularised when these cabins were installed. 

Seat controls and the touchscreen in-flight entertainment remote are found on the side console. 

This A330 is equipped with Wi-Fi, like most Iberia aircraft.

The in-flight entertainment is available from gate-to-gate. There's a good amount of content in multiple languages. The system on the A330s is beginning to show its age vs the newer A350s. Navigating the IFE can be a bit slow and buggy at times. 

The flight map is nice and modern. 

the flight

Boarding wrapped up on time and we pushed back shortly thereafter. The new safety video, showcasing different areas of Spain, played as we taxied to the departure runway.  

Taxi time is always short when departing from T4S as the runway is right by the terminal. We took off as the sun began to rise. 

The Wi-Fi was available once the aircraft was over 10,000ft in altitude. 

Business class passengers, as well as Iberia Plus members, have access to free messaging through the Wi-Fi. 

For everyone else, messaging plans begin at 3,49€ while full browse & stream plans begin at 5,99€

The meal service began shortly after level out at cruising altitude. The friendly cabin crew offered two choices this morning: a hot and cold option. I went for the omelette, which is nothing fancy, but well-cooked with good flavour. 

The cabin crew were efficient and came through the cabin several times to check on drinks, etc. 

Rare sight of snow-covered Normandie all the way to the sea as we headed out over the English Channel. 

Towards the end of the flight, the chief purser came through the cabin to thank every passenger individually and offered a chocolate. He also thanked us for our loyalty as oneworld Emeralds, which is always a nice touch. 

Beautiful sunrise colours as we reach the English coast. 

No holding pattern this time, but we came in for landing from the west, which is quite rare in my experience. 

A beautiful cloudless winter day in London…another rarity, and in sharp contrast to the stormy weather we'd had a few weeks earlier through Heathrow. 

Taxi time is a bit longer when landing from the west as the aircraft has to make its way all the way back to Terminal 5. 

We reached the gate a few minutes ahead of schedule. 

Off to the train and transit security we went. 

Thank you for reading!