Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this FR I'd like to present a review of now-long-gone Iberia A340-600 on IB's then-longest flight from Madrid (MAD) to Santiago de Chile (SCL), taken on 17 February 2019, a year before pandemic.
Intro
2019 was the heyday of IB's A346 fleet (which had several last-built A346s), but in 2020 during the pandemic all the IB's A346s were stored and never returned to service. Most of them were scrapped, some was sold to cargo airlines and converted to freighters. It's very sad that ex-IB A346s didn't find new lives in passenger service in pariah countries like Venezuela or Iran (these countries relies on ex-VS A346s), so now these birds are gone to history.
Now MAD-SCL is the second-longest IB flight, the longest being NRT-MAD. The post-pandemic IB widebody fleet is quite dull with A359s, A333s and A332s only. Only A333s share the same business, premium economy and economy seats as A346s had. A359s and A332s have uncomfortable Recaro CL3710 seats in economy and I definitely don't wanna try them on longhaul flights. Though, A359s have nice business cabin, and also the newest IB A359s are NPS with slightly wider cabin than of the earlier built frames.
Iberia has strong Latin American network from Madrid with some trunk destinations (like MEX and EZE) up to 3 flights per day. At the time of the flight there were 2 daily flights to Santiago de Chile: a daytime one (IB6831, which is the subject of this FR) and a nighttime one.
Unfortunately, this flight (and the return one IB6832) turned to be horrendous due to hostile and aggresive crew, which was absolutely frustrating. Due to the crews behavior I was not able to take detailed views of the cabins, but I was seated with good engine views and this slightly compensated the frustration. I find the crew's behavior absolutely stupid. They didn't realize that their workplace - the A346 - was a rare aircraft and how necessary for the aviation history are detailed reviews, and all the attempts to explain this to them were in vain - they just shouted on me in anger and threatened me with the police. I never had such attitude on any other airline in the world (except the other large Spanish airline Air Europe, which I flew in March 2020, and Etihad, which I flew only recently). For IB, being Spain's flag carrier, such attitude to the passengers is an absolute shame. Probably there is something very wrong with Spain as a country…
Madrid Barajas Airport
IB flights are operated from modern T4, and international widebody flights operate from the satellite T4S. My flight was departing during the mid-day bank and T4S was bustling.
The Aircraft
The flight was operated by 2005-built EC-JNQ in the old livery, which had 2-class C46_Y300 layout. Most of IB A346s were at that moment repainted into the dull new livery.
Boarding
View of the front part of the fuselage from the jetbridge
The portside RR Trent 500 engines
The rear part of the fuselage from the jetbridge
The 2L door
The Premium Cabins
Unfortunately, due to hostile crew I was not able to take photos of the business cabin (it had 1-2-1 layout). Here I show a glance of both premium economy and business cabin from 2009-built EC-LEU (in the dull new livery), which operated the return flight IB6832 on 9 March 2019. It had 3-class C36_W23_Y300 with smaller business cabin (which had similar 1-2-1 layout with the same seats), followed by the premium economy cabin with 2-3-2 layout. Both cabin were located in the front between 1L/R and 2L/R doors. Sadly, for the same reason (hostile crew) I was not able to take photos of these cabin in details. Economy cabin in both EC-JNQ and EC-LEU were identical, the only difference was the row numeration. Further I'll use some photos from EC-LEU.
The Economy Cabin
The economy class in all IB A346s consisted of 300 seats in standard 2-4-2 layout, distributed between the front large cabin between 2L/R and 4L/R doors (3L/R doors, located in this cabin are auxiliary and smaller) and the smaller rear cabin between 4L/R and 5L/R doors. The last 4 photos in this gallery are from EC-LEU. Both flights were very to the brim in economy, and in both cases my boarding group was the last (due to the seats in the front rows), so, unfortunately, I was unable to take clean general views of the cabin.
The Economy Seat
My seat on this flight was 19A (on the return flight it was symmetrically located 24L - in EC-LEU the numeration of Y rows was shifted). The seat model was Weber 5751 - one of the best economy seats for long-haul (out of production for a long time). It had ample padding and generous 18.1" width between armrests (maximum possible in 2-4-2 layout in A340/A330 cabin). The row pitch was very good. The seat had adjustable headrest, modern IFE (with hard-mounted screen) with USB port, coat hanger, tray table and seat pocket. Waiting on the seat were pillow and blanket. Some photos are from 24A seat in EC-LEU.
This seat photo is from EC-LEU
Inside seat pocket were safety card, inflight magazine (I show both February and March 2019 issues), duty-free magazine and instruction for WiFi connection.
The crew handed primitive headsets.
The overhead panel was standard for all A346, without individual airvents.
This was the view of the cabin from 24L seat in EC-LEU, where bulkhead had large IB logo (EC-JNQ's cabin didn't have this logo).
The Flight
Safety video was played…
… and pushback commenced on time. View of the wing with slats in takeoff position, portside RR Trent 500 engines and T4S in the background.
Taking off and beginning long 13+ hours intercontinental flight. With the midday sun on the left side, the wing/engine views were amazing.
Flaps and slats off, flying over Iberian peninsula.
Leaving Europe over Lisbon and its impressive Tajo/Tejo estuary.
Now there'll be only ocean for hours…
The crew started first meal service. The meal was well-presented and the hot dish (chicken with potatoes in sauce) was tasty. The cutlery was metallic. Wines were available. It was the only positive moment of the interaction with the crew for the entire flight…
Flying through a veil of high-level clouds, which damp sunlight and soften shadows, thus making perfect wing/engines view.
The lower cloud cover becomes scattered…
… and the (still Northern) Atlantic becomes visible for a while.
Time to explore the IFE, which had a lot of content.
Some examples of the musical content and current weather in Santiago (where is currently an early morning).
Time to stretch the legs. View of the rear (smaller) economy cabin. Notice that in the rear, where fuselage tapering begins and middle seat blocks transition from 4-seater to 3-seater, the first 3-seater for some reasons was missing one seat, being actually 2-seater, thus making an extra space seat in the next 3-seater.
The lavatories were pretty standard
The 5L door (from EC-LEU)
A view from the small round window in the door.
The galley, where snacks and drinks were available.
Snack were of a pretty low quality and not tasty at all.
Only ocean below, but the wing/engines view is perfect.
The sun starts to slip to the right side of the plane, and a shadow from the fuselage appears…
We're approaching the equator…
… and passing through the intertropical convergence zone, where cumulonimbus clouds and strong turbulence is common.
The last perfect view without sharp shadows.
Entering the Brazilian airspace.
It was very cloudy over the northern Brazil, so no impressive views. 3 years before on my first-ever transatlantic flight from Istanbul Ataturk (ISL) to Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU) on Turkish Airlines B777-300ER with generous 3-3-3 economy with the same (but wider) Weber 5751 seats, the views of the coast of the northern Brazil, of the clouds and of the continent were absolutely fabulous and stroke me to the heart. ISL-GRU flight, btw, had similar distance and similar flight time of 13+ hours.
This is, probably, Araguaia river, which falls into Atlantic near Belem very close to Amazon river mouth, but doesn't belong to the Amazon basin.
Interesting cloud formations over northern Brazil.
As sun is getting closer to the horizon, it's time to stretch the legs again. Couple of views of the rear economy cabin in semi-darkness, as most passengers rest.
View of the right wing and the outer starboard Trent 500 engine from the 5R door. The sky begins to clear, but due to the low sun it's already impossible to see anything on the groud…
View of the starboard engines from the 2R door.
Sun begins to set…
… and the clouds below already see it's last rays.
But for our flight level the most scenic part of the flight just begins.
Engine views in the sunset light are gorgeous! Meanwhile we're overflying Paraguay.
The very last rays of the sun.
Probably this is Bermejo river in northern Argentina, a tributary of Paraguay river and a border of famous Chaco region.
A couple of views of the front large economy cabin. The crew turned lighting before the second meal service.
View of the rear economy cabin with lighting.
Wing/engines view in twilight from my seat 19A.
The second meal service consisted of snack boxes with sandwhich, cake, youghurt and chocolate bar. Everything was of extremely disappointing quality.
We're approaching the most scenic part of any daytime flight to Santiago - the Andes crossing. But, unfortunately, our flight is no longer daylight with the sun gone and the night outside.
Lights of Mendoza - the wine capital of Argentina - in sight.
Mount Aconcagua (almost 7K metres high above the sea level) - the highest point of the western hemisphere and of all the Americas - and starry sky above. We're already descending into Santiago and there are Chilean lights below.
Final approach, the slats are in landing config, the landing lights are on.
Landed in SCL in pitch dark.
Arriving to the old Terminal 1 (which is currently used only for domestic flights, and all the international flights operate from the new shining T2 with 4 concources).
The Economy Cabin After The Flight
Some views of the front rows of the economy upon disembarkment. The seat with severely misaligned window is 18A - right before my 19A seat. I was lucky being not assigned to 18A during (random) online check-in.
The last glance on EC-JNQ from the jetbridge. If not the hostile and aggressive crew, this flight could've been pleasant and memorable, but turned to be frustrating, despite very comfortable economy cabin…
Bonus: SCL-MAD Flight
As a bonus I'll show some photos from the return IB6832 SCL-MAD flight, operated by 2009-built EC-LEU (in the dull new livery).
The aircraft view from the old T1 SCL terminal.
Takeoff from SCL.
The first meal service was absolutely disguisting. It was one of the worst meals I've ever had on a plane. It's incredible how Iberia managed to cut costs, because LATAM's catering from SCL was always very good. The crew on this flight were even more hostile and aggressive than on MAD-SCL…
A view of the large front economy in the darkness. The crew forced the passengers to keep the window shades down until we almost reached Portugal.
The only positive thing was some views I managed to peek out at.
Morning sun over northern Brazil.
Wing/engines view in the morning light.
Flying over the Southern Atlantics.
Somewhere over Northen Atlantic not far from Europe.
Entering Europe over Lisbon.
Traffic over Iberian peninsula.
Descent to MAD.
Landing in MAD.
Views of the fuselage and of the portside RR Trent 500 engines from the jetbridge.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
IB's A340s were legendary. I loved to see them flying over Bogotá. I only had the chance to fly them once. I agree IB's current livery is horrible compared to their former one.
IB has come a long way from what it used to be...while I think the hard product is still up to par with competitors, and the crews have improved, catering is still a soft spot. Being based in MAD, they are the airline I use the most, but whenever I can -specially on long hauls- I avoid them, even if they're the cheapest choice.
Thanks for the retro-FR!