JonNYC

There are "hidden" IB bargains in many places, i.e. IB o/w CAI-xMAD-JFK as low as $785 (a bit more other times of year) in -I- class.

fly747first

Iberia has been flying the new A340-600 to Miami for quite a while now, so I have been very fortunate to experience the new BusinessPlus Class. As much as I love flying BA First, I must say that the new IB J beats BA Club World hands down. The seats are very spacious and lie nearly flat. What is even better, IB J meals are delicious, unlike BA Club World meals... on some routes you must choose between the cheese plate and dessert, but not both! Iberia also provides nicer amenities in J, e.g. a very elegant amenity kit, excellent blankets and pillows, et al.

Raffles

I just eat junk when released on my own into the community so cannot help you there!

Saturday - get up early. Most things close around 2pm - this includes the historic food market, the old silk market opposite and possibly even the cathedral. Along with most of the shops except El Corte Ingles and similar biggies. In late afternoon, try IVAM - the contemporary art museum - and the bigger shops.

Sunday - everything in town is shut, so head out to the City of Arts & Sciences. It is about 1 mile walk from the metro stop in the park (2 stops further on from Xavita). Easily the best acquarium in Europe - and so it better be for the Euro 22 entrance fee. There is a dolphin show at 12pm (and other times throughout the day). The highlight is a 70m perspex tunnel with fish swimming above you. The rest of the City of Arts & Sciences complex is similarly amazing, at least in terms of architecture.

Hotel - The Eurostars Gran Valencia is a brand new five star, very well appointed with slightly small rooms, but a bargain at Euro 79 per night. Beniferri metro is next door. However, if you want to party hard then stay in one of the few hotels in the old town because the metro stops at midnight, at which point the bars are only just beginning to get busy!

Roger

Any idea which IB flights are operated with the A346? The IB website seems to have given up the ghost on IB seating plans - too many people accessing the website, apparently .

Five of us are travelling to JNB in J. I have had to use IB before when SA, VS and BA were chocka. IB used the other A340 (-300?) which I didn't like very much.

I used the -600 to MEX and found it fine. It will be great for the five of us if they are now operating the -600 to JNB.

Thanks.

oiRRio

The OW timetable also lists the equipment used e.g. MAD-MIA is listed as A346 daily.

For MAD-JNB flights the equipment currently listed is
A340 : Mon
A343 : Wed, Fri, Sun
A346 : Tue, Thu, Sat

The schedule means JNB-MAD flights leave the same day so the equipment on the return is also as listed above. I presume this can change but the info does seem quite detailed e.g. on MAD-GIG the A346 is only listed a couple of times a week.

richie_ja

I have just got back yesterday morning from a LHR-MAD-GRU-MAD-LHR with MAD-GRU in Business Plus and LHR-MAD in a combination of BA and IB. I'll only comment on the long-haul legs.

Seat wise, the new IB product is great and a major improvement on their old Business offer.

The seat is wider than BA's, but obviously not as flat. I prefer BA's product as it is fully flat.
However, IB's seat is definitely better than the CX and LH products, both of which are significantly less comfortable. I haven't tried any other nearly-flat products.

In IB, although not entirely flat, I felt ever so slightly "cradled" and there were no bumps which kept me awake in LH and I didn't slide down the seat as in CX. I got a full 7 hours (assisted) sleep on the outbound but only 2 hours on the return due to the early departure.

The IFE is OK, but not fantastic and the forward/reverse on the films is difficult to use. The size of the screen is good and the choice was satisfactory, but not huge - you will find something you definitely want to watch. On the A340-600, you have a tail-camera on one channel which is not as interesting as the real window, but a nice, albeit gimmicky, touch. IB's IFE is not as good as CX, but of course miles ahead of what BA currently has, but is replacing.

The beige interior style of the cabin works really well and is very soothing (compared to the brashness of LH's steely colour scheme).


What IB makes up for on the seat can be let down by its service. The food was adequate but not as good as BA, the wine less so. The quality of wine is not great, but satisfactory. The cava and brandy was good, however.

We got (good) toasted club sandwiches on the 00:30 from MAD to GRU which given the time of the flight was understandable, but I would have preferred a full meal. There was a full breakfast on arrival.

However, one or two FAs had really (really!) bad attitudes. Most were fine but one was downright rude and generally I have had much more attentive service in WT+. I got a frown asking for both a G&T and a red wine and was (deliberately?) overlooked when they came round again. The other FA however was much happier to top me up second time around. I had plates literally snatched away and banged down on my tray. I was given my own tablecloth (shoved into my hand) to set myself as I had been away in the toilet when they set the tables first time around. These are just some examples. Oh, and no English newspapers.
I do not like the A340-600. Like LH they have chosen to have 9 rows of Business, which really makes you feel like you are not in a premium cabin. The A340-300 (which I had on the way out) gives a much more personal feel. I am not sure that designers truly take this into account when designing planes for J. (Take the BA 777 as another example).


On the ground IB were surprisingly OK (apart from a late bag). Outbound they successfully tried hard to get my colleague and I a seat together (courtesy of lounge dragons who were delightfully helpful and smiley). On the return in GRU, they changed my poorly routed GRU-MAD-BCN-LHR I class ticket to GRU-MAD-LHR with no fuss.

The new lounge in MAD is great (but I used late at night and early morning), with a reasonable selection of booze, very nice, comfortable seating, plenty of places to work and even some bedrooms! - a major benefit if you have a 3 hour plus connection. However, I had a shower yesterday morning (now quite as nice as a BA travel spa) and there was no soap in the shower! The new terminal is a complete shambles with bags being lost all over the place (my colleagues bag came 2 days late to GRU) and queues for security (for transfers) stretching several hundred metres.

However, on the return from GRU, the BA lounge is shared by IB and the situation is discraceful - there is no room for a full BA 747+ IB A340-600. At one point there were 10 - 20 very cross passengers standing up. The BA lounge dragon blamed the overload on IB (!). I don't know if IB ususally use the AA lounge, but either BA has to kick IB into the AA lounge or the lounge has to be extended (further over the roof it looks onto- which would be quite easy).

In short, if IB sorted out the little things that cost little or NOTHING to sort out (e.g. bad attitudes of FAs and checking the soap in the shower!), then their new longhaul product would be truly great. I assume that the problems with the new terminal will sort themselves out in time.

BA has to sort out the GRU lounge pronto.

Roger

Thanks very much, oiRRio! (Thanks delayed by our VS trip to CPT with limited online access on the ground - VS maintained its variable reputation by being good outbound and poor inbound, with Odyssey IFE dreadful in both directions.)

Given the 0030-ish departure ex MAD and assuming the schedule is maintained, we will have the A346 in both directions .

The night-time departures will mean we won't benefit from the view from the tail camera on takeoff, something which was very impressive on MAD-MEX.

JonNYC

Try and get row 1-- it's my favorite row on the new equipment and if you happen to get the old config it's even better (assuming they keep you there)-- former F-seats far more comfortable than any other seat in IB old-- or new-- J.

Roger

Wrong assumption, the schedule changes from 27 March to:

A340 : Mon, Thurs
A343 : Tues, Wed, Sat, Sun
A346 : Fri

which means that we'll be on an A343 outbound and an A340 inbound. (What's an A340. Is it the same as EQV? Or a very old Airbus?)

JonNYC: thanks for the tip about row 1.

JonNYC

Be as persistent as possible in trying to get row 1. It won't be easy necessarily and keep an eye out for them sneaking you out of row 1 into the truly inferior seats in back. Get row 1 and try to hold it. If you're traveling alone, try and get the middle seat (2x1x2) it's very nice!

chipster

I did LHR-SVQ-LGW last weekend for the 12000 points. I thought the C standard on IB was just nowhere near BA on either service or quality of offering. Seats both ways were rather basic and uncomfortable. I had to ask three times for a fresh glass after I decided I could not drink the red that they offered and then decided to sample another couple...No choice of meal. LHR IB lounge looks nice but is too small, SVQ lounge really is just not worth bothering with - few nuts, some coffee, that was it, oh and small again with no windows.

Seville was magnificent though.

JonNYC

I can't imagine anyone arguing that point.

virtualtroy

Did you call? I have to say that a recent experienc of IB C LHR-VLC and back again was ininitely more pleasant than the last 5 BA CE flights I've taken. Attentive service, edible food and pleasant booze. Then again my last BA CE flight (LIS-LHR) was more pleasant than the last 5 too, Just goes to show the difference that a quality crew can make over crap food and booze.

JonNYC

Great to hear. My long-haul IB experiences have all been great, my shorter ones (only 3 segments) weren't. But, it just goes to show, the knee-jerk "IB stinks!" posts we often see may be more and more antiquated as IB improves.

miesterjustin

Let me affirm that the JFK-MAD flight in J on IB was pleasant and I would willingly do so again. I just took it last night. I was prepared for the worst, but the seat was definitely better than an AA/BA JFK-LHR-MAD combo and the IFE seemed to work well enough for those of us who were not trying to sleep (of which I was one). The catering was fine, though they had some wierd problems with a soup appetizer that was unavailable since they the caterer apparently delivered a giant container of cream without the accompanying soup. The staff was attentive and there was more staff than I am used to on AA flights to Europe in J. All-in-all, I would not hesitate to repeat JFK-LHR on IB.

Of course, now that I offer praise to IB, I am ready for the worst again on their MAD-LHR flight, since I am returning on AA through LHR, since the single MAD-JFK flight leaves too darn late.