Review of Iberia flight from Madrid to Washington in Business

Introduction

Welcome to the 2nd part of this 3 flight series bringing us back to San Diego after spending the summer in Europe. This second review will cover the Iberia transatlantic Business class experience aboard the A330-300. We took advantage of Iberia's relatively new route to Washington, DC to see family and friends in the DC area before school started up in California. 

After the disappointing experience with the upgrade situation on the last flight—detailed in the previous review—I was looking forward to a routine and uneventful short transatlantic flight. Unfortunately, that was not to be—this flight would not quite go as planned.

At least we'd spent a lovely day and evening in Madrid!

Routing

Reviews in this series:

Check-in & Lounge

We left from our hotel near Puerta del Sol and took the train one stop to Nuevos Ministerios station with the intention of taking the Cercanías C-10 line to the airport, as it's the quickest way to Terminal 4 from the city centre. However, it turned out that the C-10 wasn't running to the airport for a few months due to track work, so we ended up having to take the Metro instead. It's not a huge deal as it only adds about 10 minutes to the trip, and luckily the Metro line to the airport was on the next platform over. 

Despite the slight delay getting to the airport we were still there about 3 hours before departure. 

The Business class check-in area was very quiet.

There's a separate section for oneworld Emerald status holders with seating instead of a traditional queue setup.

There were no other passengers in the Emerald section, so check-in was very quick. 

The entrance to Fast Track security, which had also been recently revamped, is close to the Business class check-in desks. 

Going through security was a breeze as the new machines there allow liquids, gels, and electronics to stay inside cabin baggage, so no fumbling around to remove everything and place it in a separate bin. It's not clear whether the new EU regulations that took effect on September 1st will require liquids to be taken out again. 

From security we headed straight to the underground train to the Terminal 4 Satellite building, also known as T4S. The Satellite is mostly for flights to non-Schengen destinations, while the main Terminal 4 building serves mostly intra-Schengen flights.

Once off the train, those headed to the non-Schengen S gates, must go through passport control, which was quick once again, with few people in the queues. 

The Iberia Lounge is located in a corner of the duty free area, which can make it a bit difficult to find for those who may not be aware. 

The lounge is huge with tons of seating areas on either side of the entrance. 

We have a tendency to go to the left side as it's usually less crowded and has nice tarmac views. The right side of the lounge is essentially a mirror image with tables and a buffet there as well. The main difference being that there's a bar on the right side so there's a better choice of alcoholic beverages—I assume this is why it gets more crowded there. 

There were a good amount of fresh options at the buffet, including hot dishes. As it was just the beginning of lunchtime, there were still some breakfast pastries out. 

It was nice and quiet in the lounge at this early afternoon hour. It seems we were between major banks of flights. 

One major difference with this side of the lounge is that there's a large restaurant area, but it's hidden away in the corner and a bit dark so I've rarely every seen anyone there. 

While in the lounge, I was curious to see how full the flight would be and saw that the Business cabin would be less than half full. 

The Premium Economy cabin had a few empty seats, but was mostly full. 

The Economy cabin was completely full except for one seat. 

A reasonably healthy load overall—it's not entirely surprising to see so many empty seats in Business considering that it was still summer so there's little business travel. Hopefully this route does well and sticks around as I'd love to try the new A321XLR they'll be putting on the route for times with less demand,

Boarding

We left the lounge about 10 minutes prior to boarding time as the gate was located at the end of the terminal.

On the way we stopped by one of the many children's play areas in the terminal. I really love this about MAD Terminal 4. It's always great for kids to be able to get out some excess energy before having to sit quietly for hours on a long-haul flight. 

Oof…walking up to our gate it was a crowded disorganised mess. I got flashbacks of boarding in MAD during the pandemic back when they were checking documentation for the destination country's Covid entry requirements…

Well, it turned out it was something similar. They were doing security checks at the gate and all passengers had to queue up to have their passports and or visas verified and then receive a sticker indicating documents had been cleared. As passports are already checked and entered into the system at the ticket counters, and double checked at passport control, it felt unnecessary to have everyone go through identity checks again. It's possible that this is a special security measure for flights to Washington, as I've never experienced this on flights to other cities. 

It was annoying to have to step out of the Boarding Group 1 queue to have to go queue up again for these security checks and then queue back up for boarding further back. There were also no signs or other information indicating passengers had to queue up separately for security checks, only an agent that occasionally walked around and yelled instructions in Spanish and English. Security is important, of course, but this was not really the most efficient operation. 

After that minor inconvenience we were finally able to board, a bit behind schedule. 

Our aircraft registered EX-LZX is a 10 year old A330-300 baptised "Madrid"

We were greeted by two very friendly cabin crew at the aircraft door who indicated to turn left. 

We found the familiar Iberia long-haul cabins with its older generation Stelia Solstys seat in a spacious staggered 1-2-1 configuration. 

There are 29 seats in the Business class cabin laid out over 8 rows. All seats have direct aisle access; however, those travelling alone will prefer windows in even-numbered rows as those are true window seats further from the aisle. 

As usual we selected seats in the last row…well it's almost the last row, there's a single seat in row 8. 

On each seat were the bedding, an amenity kit, and noise cancelling headphones. The bedding is quite nice and includes a full-sized pillow, a quilted cover, and a mattress pad.

Legroom is very good and not restricted in bed mode as the footwell is large. When reclined to the full-flat position, seats are 76" (193cm) long, so there is a reasonably long sleeping surface. 

Food & Drink menus were distributed during boarding. 

Pre-departure drinks followed shortly after with the usual choice of Cava, water, or juice. 

At the end of boarding, the Business cabin was still mostly empty. 

The crew did move up a few passengers from the back into some empty seats, who I understood to be the captain's family. This doesn't bother me as I understand it's part of the perks of working for an airline, but it really should be arranged before the end of boarding so it doesn't look so obvious.

It was also weird that one of the couples, who had a baby, were split up with one given the empty window seat in front of me, and the other the one behind me. It was a bit awkward for me being between them, and of course I'm also travelling with my family with my 5-year-old next to me, so I wasn't able to offer to switch seats with them—otherwise I would have, had I been alone. I just couldn't understand why the crew would sit them there when there were plenty of empty seats together. I guess they figured it would be best to have the baby all the way in the back close to the galley, but it would have made more sense to have the couple sit together.

The Flight

Though boarding had started behind schedule due to the messiness with the extra security checks, we pushed back from the gate just about on time. 

It's always a short taxi time from T4S as the runway runs parallel to the terminal. 

Right after takeoff the flight time to Washington was showing 8 hours and 21 minutes, for an on-time arrival.

Once above 10,000 ft, the Wi-Fi and in-seat power were turned on. 

Each seat is equipped with a 110v universal power outlet and a USB port. 

Seat controls and the in-flight entertainment remote are on the side console. There is also a QR code for quick access to the Wi-Fi home page. 

Let's have a look at the Wi-Fi

Passengers in Business class and members of the Iberia Plus loyalty programme have free access to messaging services. 

All other passengers can access the Messaging plan for 3,49 Euros. 

Food & Beverage menus are also available through the Wi-Fi portal. 

There were 3 full streaming-capable Wi-Fi plans, with the full flight priced at 20,49 Euros. 

After 10 years in service, the cabin's hardware is getting old—seats don't always recline smoothly and the in-flight entertainment is buggy and slow to respond. My son's IFE had to be restarted as it was completely frozen. Luckily that did the trick.

My IFE was slow and buggy but working for the most part. The touchscreen sensitivity was shot on the main screen so I had to rely on the remote control to select content. 

Shortly after takeoff cabin crew were up and about and distributed hot towels followed by drinks. 

Here's a look at the content of the amenity kit, pretty standard for shorter transatlantic flights. 

Prior to the main meal, there's a light tapas service. It's small and simple, but is a nice touch, and certainly better than the bag of nuts on sister carrier British Airways. 

We began our Atlantic crossing, leaving the Iberian peninsula over beautiful Porto, Portugal. 

My son's child meal was served first, as usual, which is always convenient as it's easier in case I need to assist him. 

The portions were perfectly sized for a 5-year-old—a nice change from the huge child meals we usually get. 

For my starter I selected the seafood option:

Marinated octopus with paprika and orange, 
served with potatoes and frisée salad

Delicious and fresh.

The "La Menina" salt & pepper shakers are always adorable…and I always forget to take them with me!

We were making good time and due to arrive ahead of schedule, alas, it was not to be. 

For the main, I continued with seafood and was not disappointed.

Grilled king prawns in a creamy seafood sauce
served with squid-ink black rice and roasted zucchini

Once again, delicious and well-presented. 

To finish, I had the plate of Spanish cheeses with a nice Jerez. 

I relaxed, watched movies, and took a nap for most of the rest of the flight. 

The soft mood-lighting was turned back on for the pre-arrival meal service. 

The pre-arrival meal was very light and simple but good. 

Homemade cod empanada with roasted artichoke and sundried tomato

Arrival…or not

Then things went sideways, or at least the plane icon did on the flight map….

When I felt we were making a sharp turn, I looked at the map and saw we were turning away from the coast …. Ummm…wrong way!

I suspected there were delays into Washington airports if we were circling over the ocean and yup!

The captain made an announcement explaining as much in great detail. Major thunderstorms were rolling over the Mid-Atlantic and all three main DC area international airports were closed to arrivals until further notice. The captain explained that we had about an hour's worth of extra fuel and would continue to circle for now. If the situation did not improve in time, we would need to divert to another airport.

Here we go for another loop!

The situation was not improving in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia), big hail-producing storms continued to roll into the area. 

So we made an even bigger loop…

Then the bad news dropped…
The captain announced that we'd have to divert due to low fuel. He was very apologetic and again went into a lot of detail regarding the difficulty of the decision, which I really appreciated. No one in the cabin made a fuss or got upset—I believe the captain's calm and reassuring tone and high level of transparency in sharing information were very helpful and appreciated by all passengers. 

And where were we diverting to?

New York JFK!?!?!

Yikes, JFK…and New York airspace in general, isn't a place that aircraft normally divert to, but rather AWAY FROM…

Again, the captain explained that JFK was admittedly not ideal, but was currently one of the few airports not affected by the storms, and that Iberia had staff there to coordinate the fuel stop. 

Alright then, New York JFK it is. Here we come!

Meanwhile, the weather in the DC area was not improving…not even remotely. In fact, it was getting worse 😬

On a positive note, we didn't really have any additional delays landing at JFK. I assume we were given priority due to the low-fuel situation.

Ah, Long Island….so close, but so far away at the same time!

Though I was hoping it would be a quick refuel-and-go…there's nothing quick about operating a flight in and out of JFK on a normal day. Several other transatlantic flights to Dulles had diverted to New York JFK and it was even more congested than usual. 

Texting with a friend I'd found out that a SWISS flight to IAD had also diverted to JFK and cancelled as the airport was still closed. 

Oh man, it wasn't getting better, and now there was flooding on top of everything!

We ended up going to a gate at Terminal 8 for refueling. We had no choice but to stay on board since we'd be stuck in New York if we deplaned and cleared immigration here, so we waited…

During our time at the gate in JFK, the captain took the time to come out in to the cabin and personally apologise for the situation. He made a PA announcement, while standing in the cabin facing passengers, explaining that the weather situation appeared to be improving so we would be departing again from the gate in a few minutes, once fueling was completed. The flight would be very short once we were in the air, but he did warn that the situation on the ground in JFK was not good with so much congestion due to diversions in addition to the normal busy transatlantic departure bank. He let us know, in all transparency, that the aircraft needed to be off the ground within 2 hours or the cockpit crew would reach their legal duty limits—what's known in the industry as "timing out." 

That really made us nervous, but again, everyone appreciated his constant communication and transparency. And coming out in the cabin to greet passengers and speak in front of the cabin was truly a class act. 

Departure…again

Alright, fingers crossed, here we go! We had been at the gate at Terminal 8 for less than an hour before we pushed back out…so far so good!

Lights were dimmed for departure. 

So we taxied…

And taxied, and taxied, and taxied some more….barely moving at a snail's pace due to all the congestion. After over an hour of taxiing, we were still very far from the departure runway. At the same pace we weren't going to make it within that all-important 2-hour window 😩

And the weather in DC deteriorated again, with more heavy rain and flooding near Dulles Airport. So…no surprise after taxiing for two hours, the crew were no longer legal to continue working. The captain regrettably informed us that we had no choice but to return to the gate and that the flight would be cancelled. BUT…some bit of good news, instead of being stuck overnight in JFK, as we waited for the crew to have their mandatory rest period before working again, the Iberia staff had already chartered buses to take all passengers down to Washington-Dulles.

Wow, though 5 hours overnight in a bus sounded awful, it was really the best option and I was impressed with how well-organised Iberia staff had been in jumping to action and handling everything so efficiently. As soon as there had been a hint of a possibility of being stuck at JFK overnight, I checked hotel rates and there were no hotel rooms available in the airport area! The bus would get everyone to our destination much faster than overnighting in JFK…possibly forced to sleep in the terminal. 

Arrival - Part Deux

Everyone on the plane was essentially in zombie-mode as we deplaned. But we all took it in stride…it's as New Yorkers like to say "Whadayagonnado?"

Meh…it is what it is

It did end up taking almost an hour to get all the checked baggage up due to a lack of available staff at this late hour, but there was a representative from Iberia right there with the passengers keeping us informed in English and Spanish the whole time. She looked as exhausted as we all were and the solidarity was appreciated. 

Thanks to Global Entry we were out in seconds once our baggage came up. We were told to head up to the departures level to catch the chartered bus. 

The buses arrived right as we exited the terminal—talk about good timing!

We boarded the coach and off we were for 5 hours on the road. 

It was a rough ride as we were all so tired but uncomfortable and just unable to sleep. The rain and wind throughout the night did not help matters.

The Washington-Dulles terminal was such a beautiful sight as we finally arrived!

It was 7AM…12 hours past our original scheduled arrival time, but we were all so happy to have finally made it!