I had the opportunity to fly Iberia Express last Wednesday afternoon from PMI to MAD.

The Iberia counters in PMI were split between "Iberia" and "Iberia Express" on the monitors. I asked if I could use either one and was told "yes for now", but I guess they are planning on using different counters? Seems off.

First positive surprise is that I was upgraded from Economy to Business. this is the first time ever I have been offered an upgrade on Iberia after two years of Iberia Gold status, so either I got very lucky or Iberia is really trying to convince business travellers to the convenience of using Iberia Express instead of Vueling or something else. I appreciated it, hope they start doing it on long-haul flights!

The plane was painted with the basic white and the Iberia Express logo, just like the ones in the pictures elsewhere in this forum. The cabin had been re-done and had all gray leather-like seats with IB Express covers on the headrests. The first three rows were business and had the same kind of seat as economy, but it looked like there was more leg room and the middle seat was left unoccupied.

The flight attendants and the pilots were younger than the Iberia ones and wearing different uniforms. One thing that seemed weird was that there was what looked to be a very senior(and old, looked like Santa Claus) Iberia captain standing on the finger right outside the plane talking on his phone and talking to another guy. Not sure what he was doing, he didnīt come on the plane. Maybe it was a union guy stalking the new operation?

Meal service on business class consisted of a glass of OJ or water before take-off and a snack tray while on the air. There was also a menu in the seat pocket which looked identical to the Iberia menu with the same kind of crap food. The Iberia magazine also in the seat pocket. Overall service was very friendly.

Regardless of airline, we had a 30 minute delay on take-off because of flow control at Barajas and another extra 20 minutes circling around Madrid, so I guess some things never change regardless of airline!

Overall it was a good experience, or as good as the usual Iberia anyway. I probably would not have noticed it was a different airline if it wasnt for the flight attendant uniforms and because it said "operated by Iberia Express" on my boarding pass.