Review of Iberia flight Dublin Madrid in Economy

Airline Iberia
Flight IB3793
Class Economy
Seat 5C
Aircraft Airbus A320
Flight time 02:40
Take-off 27 Jul 19, 11:20
Arrival at 27 Jul 19, 15:00
IB   #51 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 341 reviews
Iolar
By 702
Published on 7th April 2020

Pre-flight


This flight was booked during summer high season so was approximately €160 one way which is quite expensive for an intra-europe flight.  I had been toying with the idea of an upgrade to Business class for €200 but didn't and instead paid €15 to sit in the quiet zone.  More on both of those later! 

What's strange is you really have to compare prices between IB and IB Express, IB had a cheaper one-way outbound and IB Express on the return.  Both flights are operated by Iberia Express.  


photo seat-reservation

Boarding was chaotic, in a small part of Dublin airport (old A gates for locals), and there seemed to a large number of groups and of standby passengers.  Our seat reservation didn't seem to buy us any sort of priority boarding and we (like most passengers) boarded in a glut in Group 4.  This could have been better.  


Aircraft: Airbus A320
Registration: EC-MBU 
Departure Time: 11.20
Arrival Time: 15.00
Seat: 5C
Operated by: Iberia Express 


photo 20190727_101031639_ios-41910

INFLIGHT


So firstly, there was nothing quiet about this zone, we were sat behind a family and it was quite loud.  Noise cancelling headphones come in so useful.  Secondly, Business Class was filled with standby passengers, so the cabin was full including most middle seats.  Glad I didn't spend €200 on that. 

The inflight service was nice, decent wine and pringles for €7, really can't argue with that…I always find Iberia crew are not memorable, mix of slow inflight service, we did get offered chilled wine from the back galley which was a welcome surprise :)
 
I noticed from behind the curtain that Business Class (revenue passengers) were being served off the Buy-On-Board menu, again very disappointing. 



One thing I will give them credit over is their inflight entertainment streaming service "Club Express Onboard", a great selection on TV (I watched some Family Guy in English), movies and press.  And for all us AvGeeks a cool AirShow channel.



Arrival


The rest of the flight was uneventful, its a nice time to fly and the wine helped! We arrived into a small section of gates for UK & Ireland (Non-Schengen) in Terminal 4 beside an Iberia A319, and took a cab to Madrid downtown.  I do love Terminal 4's architecture, the pictures probably don't do it justice!



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Verdict

Iberia

7.8/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew6.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering8.0

Dublin - DUB

6.8/10
Efficiency4.5
Access4.5
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0

Madrid - MAD

8.2/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

An expensive flight, decent buy on board and inflight entertainment for a short hop. Seat selection was a little bit misleading with "quiet zone" and I would not recommend the Business Class experience from what I witnessed. Still not a bad flight to Madrid!

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1 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 550742 by
    ThomasDutch SILVER 632 Comments
    I love the fact that I2 is selling their front seats as quiet seats when there is literally no separation of the cabin and people often disregard it even if they're in one. The only add-on is probably a slightly improved pitch as those seats could be used for J class if demand requires so... and providing J class by BoB choice is definitely not something one should adore. Swiss does it too from their GVA base. Thanks for this report :)

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