Technically this is a BA flight, operated by Iberia, hence the fact the boarding pass and info screens primarily display the BA code. However, service on board is 100% Iberia (i.e. buy on board in Y, cava in business class, etc).
This was the first time I've done LHR-MAD in economy on Iberia, my experiences in the past have been in business class on their A330/340 aircraft which have been a great experience (a longhaul business class product on a shorthaul service, what's not to like).
This time though was an A321, in economy. The seat map showed all the forward exit seats (the ones with the massive legroom) already taken, so I took an exit seat on the exit behind the wing (22D) - HINT: looks like 22D has no extra legroom, 23D does have but was taken. If you prefer window seats 23F is a good choice as there's no 22F so legroom is plentiful, but I prefer aisles.
After boarding, one of the cabin crew approached me and asked if I'd like to take a seat nearer the front where there's more legroom. So I took a row near the front, 2 behind the business cabin. Just like the current BA config there's more legroom in the rows in the forward section of the cabin.
I assume the crew must have looked at their manifest and moved me to a better seat based on status.
The buy on board service wasn't too bad either. My main worry about buy on board is that the service might be slow with everyone having to pay. Thanks to moving me up front I was one of the first to get served ^ Just around the time I was considering ordering something else a member of the crew was passing and so I could order without hassle. No problem whatsoever.
So the main reason I was happy was the proactive way I was offered a better seat, but the service continued to be good for the rest of the flight.
Iberia use the same slimline Recaro seats that Lufthansa do, but unlike Lufthansa they still have the extra legroom in the front section of the plane. The combination of a 34" pitch and the slimline seats created a very spacious feeling.
Here's Iberia's equivalent of the
welldone form.