FlyerTalk Forums - Old business class on several routes from november

FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)

- Iberia Airlines | Iberia Plus (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/iberia-airlines-iberia-plus-683/)

- - Old business class on several routes from november (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/iberia-airlines-iberia-plus/1757396-old-business-class-several-routes-november.html)

Old business class on several routes from november

I try to book Iberia new business class with my Avios but only find old businessclass seats to Buenos Aires, Mexico, New York. Does anyone have a clue?

It's been reported several times on this forum that these keep popping up. Either the few remaining old planes (in theory no old cabins left on A340-600 and there are only a few A343) have the gift of bilocation or there is something funny going on with the IT as they complete the transition.

The old J still exists in the A340-300 fleet, both the low J (342) and the high J (343) versions. These birds will gradually replaced by eight A330-200s.

Initially, it was planned to take the last delivery in November 2016. I don't know if this timeline is still valid, but even if it is, I don't expect the A340's to be withdrawn from service before the A330's are delivered and fully operational. Also the A340's seem to go into storage, so there's no reason to rush their retirement.

As was mentioned, don't trust seat maps right now.

Look at the aircraft type. It's simple, any type of 330 is new configuration and anything listed as 346 or 345 will be the new configuration.

Anything listed as 343 or 342 will be the old configuration. There's no exceptions to this anymore and the old 340s are not planned to be refurbished but will be retired as the 350s arrive.

Thanks for the information. It's a 346 so no new C ;-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freewilly (Post 26435943)

Thanks for the information. It's a 346 so no new C ;-)

That's the point, there are no A346 left with the old configuration. They have all been renovated (or are being renovated). However, the seat map is sometimes showing the old configuration for A346 planes, which does not seem consistent.

The A343 were going to be retired, but are being kept due to low fuel prices and may stick around for a while yet, but everything else should have the new cabins.

As I mentioned in the other recent thread, there are definitely flights being sold as new J but actually flying as old J.

The only way to know for sure seems to be to book and see what seat map you are offered and/or only book flights listed as A330s.

I'm flying JFK-MAD this weekend and the plane was listed as 345 but the seat map is the 2-2-2 config, so there's definitely old J flying on what is meant to be upgraded stock.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abraxias (Post 26445049)

I'm flying JFK-MAD this weekend and the plane was listed as 345 but the seat map is the 2-2-2 config, so there's definitely old J flying on what is meant to be upgraded stock.

Was it a 2-2-2 A346 in the end? I still find this strange, because they say that they have none left. From this month's Ronda magazine:

Quote:

In the middle of last March, we finished the retrofitting of our Airbus A340-600 aircraft, a process that began back in 2013[...]

Twenty-seven of our long-haul fleet now have new cabins. This means that passengers on more than 84% of our long-haul flights are already wnjoying inflight Wi-Fi; an individual à la carte entertainment system for each passenger; new, more spacious and comfortable seats in Economy; and in Business, two-metre flatbed seats, each directly accessing the aisle, to mention just a few features.

What's more, this year we'll be receiving another nine A330-200 from the Airbus factory and will retire our remaining A340-300. This means that, by the end of 2016, all our flights will be made with our new product, which -in the case of Business- have been recognised as the highest standard of flying between Europe and Latin America.[...]

I read that as saying that the only remaining old J is on the A343, which will be gone by the end of this year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yllanes (Post 26463775)

Was it a 2-2-2 A346 in the end? I still find this strange, because they say that they have none left. From this month's Ronda magazine:

I read that as saying that the only remaining old J is on the A343, which will be gone by the end of this year.

The problem in my case was that Iberia was selling it as an 345/6, but was actually flying a 340-200 with old J.

Curious as well to find out if abraxias checked the actual plane type when on board.

IB6251 today operated as a 343 (EC-GUP).

So could be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LupineChemist (Post 26465021)

IB6251 today operated as a 343 (EC-GUP).

So could be.

When checkin opened online the seatmap was for a 345, but about an hour or so later I got an email saying the aircraft type had changed and yes it did run as a 342.