Review of Iberia flight from Paris to Madrid in Business

Dear members,
I am getting very slow at publishing lately, sorry about that.
We are back in March, and at that time a lot of us were heading to NYC for the Flight-Report meet-up.
Originally, I planned to travel with the majority of the group on the direct service on Air France, but when a very attractive Business class fare with Iberia popped-up, I had no choice but to book it.
Pititom also took benefit of this fare but with a different routing, maximizing tier point gain with Openskies and AA (ORY-NYC-JFK-NYC-ORY).
Personally I wanted something more exotic and I settled with the following routing:

1. Paris ORY - Madrid (Iberia, Business, A321)
[YOU ARE HERE]
2. Madrid – New York JFK (Iberia, Business, A330-300)

[NEXT]
[*]New York JFK – Los Angeles (American Airlines, Business, A321)

[SOON]
[*]Los Angeles – London LHR (American Airlines, Business, B777-300ER)

[SOON]
[*]London LHR – Paris ORY (British Airways, Club Europe, A320)

[SOON]

Wait IBERIA?
Yes you read it correctly Iberia, the unfamous Spanish carrier.
However along with their new brand image, they are modernizing their airline with new seats.
New York being served by their brand new A330-300, you are 100% sure that you will get their latest product, a full flat seat manufactured by Sogerma and already in use with Etihad, Thai, Asiana or Alitalia.
Then I wanted to try the new A321 transcontinental service offered by the legacy carrier American Airlines on their flagship route New-York JFK – Los Angeles.
And to go back to Europe, AA was also the airline of my choice, their new 777-300ER promised a lot in term of hard product with the Cirrus seats (same as Cathay Pacific) and bar, my other choice would have been BA but I already flown with them several times.
European feeding flights will be with IB on outbound and BA on inbound.
To make this routing even better I have convinced 2 elite members, yd75 and hcl75 to join me on this trip.
On this Friday morning we are at Orly Ouest Hall 1

One counter is dedicated for Business class and it’s empty

Over-informative boarding pass I would say

Iberia is having their own lounge, unfortunately it is located landside

Let be honest this lounge looks old and uninviting, but at least there is sufficient seating for IB, TP & BA eligible customers.

Press

Buffet is standard

Cereals, yoghurts and Fruits salad

Cookies and pastries

My selection, a bit of everything

Soon enough, we are heading to security via the Access n°1

Boarding just started but priority is not well enforced and economy passengers are blocking the way to the gate

Our aircraft is the expected A321 with a special marking

Passengers are greeted in Spanish and are asked to store their carry-hand luggage
Standard Recaro seat with the middle seat blocked in Business

Press is distributed and my neighbour seems to enjoy its Les Echos!

We are leaving on time and after a short taxy we are up in the air.
Back in Economy it’s full house today!

Business is full too with 3 rows
I will let you judge the legroom and recline:

Warm breakfast is offered by the friendly crew, no choice and everything on one tray with toast and croissant

There is no menu distributed
Fruits salad, Actimel yoghurt

Strawberry jam, butter

Omelet with ham

This is a comprehensive breakfast, taste was ok except the croissant and toasts who were very dry.
Fleet overview

Seems like someone mix-up aircrafts

Do you have yours?

I think It’s Madrid Torejon Air base?

T4N, our next aircraft is already visible, this is the only one sporting the new livery

Never heard of UX leasing one of their A330 to this Chilean carrier.

Before I forget, our winglet

We are disembarking straight into the boarding area of T4S, impressive building

A quick check to the FIDS, our next flight is scheduled at 12:20

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