Flights between Madrid and Mexico City in business class typically cost between 1900€ and 3700 € return. And when I saw Iberia's offer from Madrid to Cancún (with a connecting Interjet flight in economy from Mexico City) for only 980€ return I decided to book quickly.
Booking wasn't as easy as I thought. I booked on Iberia's website using my credit card but I received the following message: Please contact Serviberia via 901 111 5000. Your booking was not completed correctly. So the amount was blocked on my card but my booking was not confirmed. Nice. I tried to call this phone number - impossible from my country. I managed eventually to call Iberia in the UK. I had to give again my credit card number again over the phone, the agent told me my booking was confirmed - but it wasn't. I had to call again a few days later to have it confirmed and to receive a confirmation e-mail.
Do you think I would be happy to book Iberia again on their website?
I received an e-mail three months after booking and two months prior to departure that the the Interjet flight from Mexico City to Cancún was simply cancelled. No options offered. I called again and I was rebooked on completely different Iberia and Interjet flights - but at least I had a confirmed booking.
You can read my flight report about the Madrid to Mexico flight here
I first flew from Cancún to Mexico City with Interjet, booked by Iberia together with the long-haul booking. Interjet is a single-class, economy-only airline that flies to many destinations within Mexico, including an hourly shuttle between Cancún and Mexico City. I got both of my boarding passes in Cancún and my luggage was sent to directly to Madrid. My flight from Cancún arrived to the same terminal at Mexico City Airport from where my Iberia flight was leaving from. Mexico Airport is old, crowded, and it's not easy to find your way around.
The Premium Traveller Lounge is used by Iberia (and British Airways).
The lounge definitely doesn't look premium.
The choice of food is poor:
I had some meet with rice - it wasn't good.
The choice of drinks is better:
Boarding was quick and priority boarding was available.
Iberia's A340 has a 1-2-1 configuration in business class with 9 rows of seats in one relatively large cabin. Some of the window seats are closer to the window while some others are closer to the aisle; the once closer to the window are better. Some of the middle seat pairs have seats right next to each other so suitable for couples (although these seats might be difficult to access for overweight people) while some others are further away from each so even strangers sitting on the same pair of seats do not disturb each other.
I had seat 9E.
A pillow and a blanket were waiting on the seat. Both of them were good quality.
Iberia's business class headphones were on the other hand not very high standard.
A nice amenity kit:
Cava (spanish sparkling wine), orange juice and water were offered as welcome drink.
Push-back was at 20.30 and take-off at 20.48 from runway 05R for a scheduled departure time of 20.55.
A long way ahead of us
Dinner service was offered shortly after take-off. Here's the menu:
Hot towel
The starter, the soup, the salad (green salad), and the cheese (gooda cheese) were served together on a tray. All of them were good.
Smoked salmon with potato and dill purée
Chilled potato and leek soup
Gouda cheese served with grapes and prunes
The main course of Grilled king prawns with chimichurri sauce, grilled cherry tomatoes and barley risotto was served later. It was very good.
The Three milk cake was nothing special
We were over New Orleans by the time I finished dinner
There are several options to see the flight maps
Free internet was offered but it didn't work when I tried
Iberia's in-flight entertainment offers an excellent choice of movies
I found the choice of music less good
Some of the TV Shows are very interesting
I went to sleep at about 11pm Mexico City time. I could easily convert the seat into a full flat bed which was long enough. I could sleep for four or five hours quite well despite two small issues: the width of the legroom was slightly small, and the seatbelt sign was turned on several times when the turbulence could not be felt, and the screens always turned on automatically when PA was made.
We were here when I woke up:
Breakfast was served one hour and 10 minutes before landing.
It was considerably less good than dinner
Approaching Madrid
We flew 5729 miles
We landed in Madrid at 13.10 for a scheduled arrival time of 13.55
Our aircraft after landing
We arrived at Terminal 4S. This terminal is very nice but it's a long walk plus a short train ride to the exit. Luggage arrived exactly 100 (!) minutes after landing as there was some technical issue to open the luggage compartment.
Thank you for reading my flight report and please feel free to comment!
See more
Verdict
Iberia
8.1/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew7.5
Entertainment/wifi8.0
Meal/catering8.0
Iberia VIP Lounge
5.0/10
Comfort5.0
Meal/catering5.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Services5.0
Mexico City - MEX
6.5/10
Efficiency5.0
Access8.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness6.0
Madrid - MAD
9.0/10
Efficiency9.0
Access8.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness10.0
Conclusion
Booking with Iberia was a nightmare with a complicated payment process, a call center almost impossible to reach, schedule changes and flight cancellations with no alternatives offered. But all was eventually sorted out.
Mexico City Airport is old and the lounge is nothing premium.
Iberia's A340 business class seats are comfortable.
Dinner was very good, while breakfast definitely wasn't.
The choice of movies is excellent.
The cabin crew was efficient but certainly not personalised and neither very attentive of friendly.
Altogether the experience was clearly positive, especially at such a good price.
9 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Thanks for sharing. I've never been too impressed with Ibera's Business Premium offering from the looks of it from various photos I've so far seen on this site, but this report makes the presentation and food appear to be better than maybe I had thought.
Hi 757Fan, thank you for your comment. The same goes for me: I didn't have a very high opinion on Iberia's premium products but the long-haul business class offered a good experience.
Hi David, thanks for another good report. Too bad there's no report on Interjet. I haven't seen many on them, so I was curious to see how the experience was. I hear they're not bad for an LCC.
Overall Iberia have a really good product with good seats offering privacy in a 1-2-1 configuration, good IFE, and free WiFi...too bad that it wasn't working though. I've only been to the Aeromexico lounge in MEX...it was way better than this Premium lounge BA and IB use.
Hi KévinDC, thank you for your comment. I didn't make a report on Interjet as I didn't expect anybody to be interested in a Mexican domestic flights, here are however some information about the MEX-CUN-MEX Interjet flights:
- MEX is an old and crowded airport, and it's not always easy to find your way around. On the plus side there are a lot of eating options - You can only check-in for your Interjet flight at the airport - Interjet is a single-class, economy-only airline - No lounge access or priority boarding even if your long-haul segment is booked on business - Legroom is huge: you only have about 180 seats for an A321 - Both flights I took were absolutely full - Basic service: one drink and a snack are included. There's no buy-on-board service. - I got my boarding pass in Cancún for both segments and my luggage was sent all the way to Madrid. You connect at the same terminal in Mexico. The Iberia lounge at MEX is near gate 24. - Domestic and international flights leave from the same area at Mexico Airport which means that you don't need to pass border control when leaving the country.
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4 Comments
Overall Iberia have a really good product with good seats offering privacy in a 1-2-1 configuration, good IFE, and free WiFi...too bad that it wasn't working though. I've only been to the Aeromexico lounge in MEX...it was way better than this Premium lounge BA and IB use.
Thanks for sharing!
- MEX is an old and crowded airport, and it's not always easy to find your way around. On the plus side there are a lot of eating options
- You can only check-in for your Interjet flight at the airport
- Interjet is a single-class, economy-only airline
- No lounge access or priority boarding even if your long-haul segment is booked on business
- Legroom is huge: you only have about 180 seats for an A321
- Both flights I took were absolutely full
- Basic service: one drink and a snack are included. There's no buy-on-board service.
- I got my boarding pass in Cancún for both segments and my luggage was sent all the way to Madrid. You connect at the same terminal in Mexico. The Iberia lounge at MEX is near gate 24.
- Domestic and international flights leave from the same area at Mexico Airport which means that you don't need to pass border control when leaving the country.
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