Not sure what about my post stimulated such a (heated ?) response from you Traveloguy, espec. as you will see that most of the posts in the weeks between the OP and your post (and since !), many from regular IB flyers, concur with my experiences and observations.

The answer to your question is that it was (LHR-) MAD-TLV (and back) which is officially 5h 15m (and on this day was even longer), and is over 7 hours on some flights/days (I found out since) due to a stop-off in Barca on the way/way back.

Secondly, I'm not sure why you feel the need tell me "...that the rest of the world is not like Australia and Asia" when I live in London (UK), have done so (apart from a year or two) for 30 years, fly mostly shorhaul in Europe (30-40 sectors a year minimum these days - about 60% in Y, 40% in J) - in addition to my relatively frequent travel to the Middle-East, the US, and Asia and Oz - and am making my comments/comparisons in regards these flight experiences. (Did you assume from all my posts on QF Forum etc that I am Oz/Asia based ?)

And you 'break it' to me ( ) that "any A320 services on any OW carrier in Europe..." on a flight of that length would not have IFE etc, but if you have a good look at my post you will see that that is exactly the point - why are they flying such an aircraft on such a route ? No other OW carrier would. And why, on top of this, do IB choose (as their management have) not to use video equipment that they actually have on board ? Even the LCCs/charter carriers on similar length route from London for e.g. (the likes of Monarch etc) provide IFE on the big screen.

On the equiv. routes (LON-TLV, LON-CAI, etc) BA fly on 'long haul aircraft' with a 3 class service, with full service in Y with personal screen IFE, NCW seats in J, and the full F service (yes, including the 'pyjamas' if you ask for them ! ). And see Gardyloo's post re. your other BA observation.

Therefore, in answer to the real question at hand here, on 5h+ direct international flights in my experience EVERY SINGLE other OW carrier apart from IB provides IFE etc ! (Not just QF and CX, but on such medium haul also BA, AA, etc, etc). And one of the reasons is that no other OW carrier (not even I believe [from what I have read on FT]) the [soon to be departing] LCC that is Scare Lingus) would consider treating (in usual circumstances) a 5h+ international flight as short-haul, and impose such a low level of experience/comfort on its paying pax.

And ALL other OW carriers certainly have real J on flights of such length - not one that has the same identical seats etc as in Y, just with a different seat head-cover, and a very minimal addition to the Y meal offering.

These infact are the points we need to 'keep reminding' ourselves of .

I also find it odd that you can't see these points when, again as I posted, the IB CSM/D onboard the flight itself expressed her own annoyance at the very same issues (and had tried herself, without success of course, to get management to change policy) !

And, btw, whether you intended to or not (and I would like to assume having read many of your posts on FT before that you didn't), your opening comments about my experience ("Where were you flying that would require a 5+ hour flight on an A320? They can't really fly that much further than that in the first place?") read as if/implied that you don't believe that they actually took place. Your shock/amazement at the fact that IB would fly such a lengthy route on such an aircraft and with so little services should instead be reserved for/directed at IB itself.

It is my opinion (and of other here, as previous posts testify [like wandering_fred's - who I see was forced by IB to do just such a stop-off in Barca on way to the Middle-East ]) that it is a disgrace that in 2006 an OW carrier operate such a flight/service. (And please remember that IB policy now is to run such a service on ALL their routes of such/similar length, not just to TLV). And this is by any objective standard, not just that of Asian carriers. I have little doubt that if you had actually been on such a flight - like myself, wandering_fred, etc - you would agree 100%.