Hello Everyone,
I just returned from the US and I will review IB A350 product/ Long-haul in Economy. It was my first time to fly IB lang-haul and I have mixed opinions. The plane was great, catering so-so and crew not that good. Overall, it was an OK flight.
Lets start!
My route was : Detroit-Chicago( 4 hours layover)-Madrid.
The first leg of the flight was in AA on a regional Embraer.
Had some time to explore Chicago Airport, and I was quite shocked to find it so packed, small,outdated and basically with no virtual space to sit down and enjoy a tranquil lunch. I struggled to find a seat to eat in the food court, despite being 2 pm. The good thing about terminals 2&3 is the view to the tarmac.
My ride for today: 1 year old IB A350
Boarding started on time, but our departure was delayed due to air traffic congestion.
Cool: Each seat had a blanket and pillow ( clean ones, not previously used by other passengers as in other airlines)
Enter text here…
Pitch is not that great. Only 31"…
IFE box is almost gone
Had luck while doing the check in the previous day. Got the best seat in Y on this plane for free. Seat 39!
Flight load was around 80%; had empty seats next to me :)
Time to depart. Was able to catch some nice shots!
Time to take-off
Cool views over Chicago
Pretty comfy seat! The only disadvantage of this seat is the screen height. I prefer the ones inserted into the seat in front of you.
-
And finally.. The much expected dinner service. Was quite anxious to see and taste IB food! Flavor and quantity was OK. But not the best in sky in Y! Another disadvantage of this airline, is that there is no free spirits in economy. Only beer on wine! Come on Iberia, you should offer the same catering service as British Airways!
s
One thing that pissed me off was the crew! During the first service, there were 2 stewards which gave me a good impression. Always smiling, kind with the passengers; quite nice being this Iberia! After service was done went to the Galley to get some wine and was offered but no pretzels or biscuits as for example with AF, KE, etc, etc…
Around 2:30hrs into the flight, just about to leave Canadian Air Space I pressed for the "Call button" as I wanted to order something to drink. And wow.. waited for more than 30 minutes!!!!!!! During all this time the bell was ringing automatically every 7 or 8 minutes, I guess that the plane has some kind of alarm to remind the crew that there are passengers requiring assistance. But no one came! I was kinda shocked! I know that Iberia is not Emirates or Air France, but 30 minutes?
At the end I was lucky that a crew passed by, I stopped her and she asked me surprised: What do you want? ( ¿Que quiere?) ***** Sorry? I am your customer! You should be kind to me! Thanks to me, your customer Iberia is on business.
A really bad experience! Guess that IB should bring their seniors F/A back to training or something.
At the end, I managed to sleep around 3 hours before breakfast service started
The famous IB breakfast box. I would say that is better than AA second meal between Spain and the US but still lagging behind its European rivals.
And arrival into MAD. Early morning.
City of Madrid:
It only took me 20 mins to pass customs , take the automated train from T4S to T4 and arrive in the luggage delivery area.
I usually tend to avoid any Spanish carrier on longhaul flights as their product often falls behind compared to other European longhaul carriers.
-
While it is definitely not a good thing that you've been ignored for over thirty minutes and such thing should not happen, I don't think (if she said it in Spanish) that you should be offensive to that sentence Que Quiere? as for most Spanish (not latin) it is a very neutral thing to say and they don't really mean it in an offensive matter.
-
Thanks for your great report.
Thanks for reading Thomas!
You are absolutely right! Spanish carriers lag behind its European rivals! At least , Iberia, thanks to BA is improving slowly their product. But still, they have some years of works...
Regarding the experience with the CC, it was not only the sentence but also her facial expression. From what I read, IB has 2 types of crews. The "veteran ones" with great salaries due to some agreements with the unions but poor service towards the customers; and the younger ones, with lower salaries but a better working attitude...
Thanks for the interesting review. Nice shot of Madrid, too!
Thanks for reading :) !