I think it's illegal to have cabin crew who don't speak English. Spanish is the "optional" language, even on a Spanish airline such as Iberia. But of course most airlines try to roster one or more flight attendants with the appropriate language skills for the route in question. (Portuguese for Brazil, Japanese for Japan, etc.)

What actually most likely happened if that the flight attendants on the OP's flight weren't at their best on the day, and just couldn't be bothered to provide acceptable customer service. Get the passengers put to bed so that they don't have to do much work... I think we've all come across a few of those on Iberia, regardless of language...

It's certainly worth a complaint to Iberia, although claiming things like racism or xenophobia is a great way to stop your complaint from being taken seriously.



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