Flight Review: Iberia A320neo Economy Class (+Lounges)
Flight#: IB724
From: London Heathrow (LHR)
To: Madrid-Barajas (MAD)
Flight time: 2h
Aircraft: Airbus A320neo
This is going to be a short review, since there is only so much to report on this short economy class flight. However, I thought it would be worth posting some of my flight notes here in order to complement previous Iberia flight reviews, such as my report of an A320 Barcelona-Madrid (Iberia’s Air Shuttle) business class flight and the ultra-long-haul Premium Economy Tokyo Narita - Madrid on an A350-900.
In fact, this flight review is a composite of my experience on a return itinerary BCN-MAD-LHR-MAD-BCN, but since all flights were on the same aircraft and flight I have merged them in one.
What’s more, while the flights were in Economy, Iberia kindly offered me access to its lounges at both Madrid’s T4 and T4S terminals, so I have included them in this flight report as well.
The flights were courtesy of Iberia. All opinons are my own.
Flying on Iberia’s A320neo - the cabin experience
Iberia operates its A320neos with a two-class configuration. The front of the cabin is business class (although the seats are very similar to the ones in economy, just with more space, better headrest and no middle passenger) separated by a divider from the main, economy class cabin. You can see the standard seat in the picture above right.
There are a few seats in economy that have extra space and are labelled as “XL”, these cost extra if you select your seat online before your flight. You can get an idea of how they look like below. The emergency seat row seats have also more space, looks like even more, actually, than the XL ones, although not sure if they are technically designated as such.
Interestingly, during the evening flights of this itinerary, the LED ambient cabin lights were on at all times producing different combinations of colours. This gives the cabin a really more modern, futuristic, look, even if it’s essentially the same I flew in the morning!
Here the view from the seat, a window one in this case. You can see the seat has only one literature pocket, net-like at the bottom. A coat hanger and the tray. The seat did not recline.
Also, worth noting that while I had USB in-seat ports (in the space between the seats in-front) on the MAD-BCN leg of the trip, that was not the case on the other legs. Apparently, not all seats in economy are fitted with sockets.
The two economy class toilets are located at the very bottom of the aircraft, contiguous one next to the other, and not, like in other A320 versions, before the rear galley facing each other across the aisle.
Pretty much all of Iberia’s flights are fitted with internet connectivity. Business class passengers and members of Iberia Club have access to light data connectivity (messaging basically), while you must pay for full connectivity access.
This may change soon as Iberia, like all other airlines within the International Airlines Group (IAG), will be getting Starlink high-speed broadband across its entire fleet very soon.
Even if you don’t connect to the internet, you can access the Iberia portal to see flight updates and information about Iberia and its products, including the digital version of the inflight menu.
Iberia’s economy class is no frills, although they have some pretty tempting food and drink options onboard!
Iberia’s Lounges in Madrid: Premium Lounges Dalí (T4) and Velázquez (T4S)
Iberia has two lounges (also called “Salas VIP” in Spanish) at its Madrid-Barajas airport, both named after renowned painters:
Premium Lounge Dalí is located at the T4 terminal, which is for flights within the Schengen space
Premium Lounge Velázquez is located at the T4S terminal (the satellite terminal which you access via underground people mover) and it caters to passengers traveling to destinations outside the Schengen area.
I had the chance to visit both during this journey, so, while I don’t claim to have used all the services they offer, I will post a few notes about the experience here.
Iberia Premium Lounge Dalí (T4)
Here below you can see how this lounge looks like. It has two main spaces, each with its own food buffet, separated by a bar area. Each of these two areas has a rather large number of desks, which makes it quite practical for people that wish to either work or eat comfortably or both. There are also quite a few armchairs. The lounge itself is on an elevated floor, one level up from the gates.
There is a mix of cold and warm dishes (although leaning more towards the former), snacks and fruit. While the variety is not huge, the quality is pretty good throughout. There always some Spanish specialties, such as curated olives. Desserts were also nice. Very tasty overall.
There is also a broad variety of drinks available in multiple well-stocked fridges. The bar was not tended when I visited, but you can serve yourself. It has mostly Spanish wines of different varieties and regions, as well as liquors.
The lounge has its own dedicated wifi network which works pretty well.
Iberia Premium Lounge Velázquez (T4S)
This is Iberia’s lounge for passengers flying outside the Schengen area. It is located at the central section of the T4S satellite terminal, in an extension of the building that protrudes a bit from the main corpus of the building, so, unlike the other (T4) lounge which is more interior, Iberia’s Velázquez lounge has amazing views of the apron and the runway.
Perhaps it is because it was not particularly busy at the time when I visited, but I got the impression that the T4S lounge is a tad more premium when it comes to the overall atmosphere and layout. It looks a bit newer at least, but perhaps this is just because it gets more natural light.
The food and drink offering is pretty much the same as in the T4 Lounge. This Velázquez Lounge, however, has, I think, more armchairs than hard desks. I really liked the way some of these armchairs are laid out, since in addition to being comfortable, they all have little desks with chargers AND many of them have views of the apron too. So, you can easily make yourself comfortable there.
The Velázquez Lounge has also several more private rooms and areas (for people working ) at one of its ends, but I didn’t use any of these. Maybe some other time…
