ffay005

After your flight, would you please report here what the catering was like?

chilglish

Yes, of course! This is going to be an interesting flight! According to expert flyer (just checked) there will be 5 of us in business, 4 in premium economy and a grand total of 72 in coach (which is a little surprising since there were only 13 seats taken a couple of days ago!).

ffay005

So how was your flight? How full was it in the end, and what was the food like?

chilglish

So, here's my feedback from 2 flights in J on IB. First leg SCL- MAD there were only 3 of us in the business cabin, a couple in PE and maybe 90 in Economy. I had to ask one of the cabin crew for some water when we boarded because they weren't offering anything spontaneously. The plane was boarded from the back (logical) and we were almost the last ones on. Food service was very prompt and consisted of a box meal with a sweet chilli quinoa salad and various little packs of snacks. There was no choice whatsoever but the crew were quite accomodating when I mentioned that my daughter hadn't liked the salad much and they brought her one of the economy meals ( which come in a paper bag). It wasn’t very impressive, but she quite enjoyed the cold tuna pasty that came with it. Although I don't drink, I asked the purser what they were offering people who did and it was just beer and wine for those in business but no alcohol whatsoever for anyone else! He also apologised for the food explaining that it wasn’t fresh and had actually come over on the plane from Spain because they weren’t getting any catering services in Chile. The 3 of us in J were allowed to use the business toilets despite an announcement which had stated that they were reserved for the exclusive use of the crew.
We arrived at Barajas terminal 4S, 20 minutes ahead of schedule and deplaning was smooth. Once inside the terminal we had to go through a security check before being able to access the main terminal building which was a complete ghost town. Nothing was open and, as I had been warned, the lounge I passed was closed. I had trouble finding someone to ask about getting to the one lounge I knew was open (in terminal 4) but eventually encountered someone from security who explained that we’d have to go through more security and immigration on the way there and on the way back. Since our connection to London was supposedly leaving from terminal 4S and I was with my 9-year-old daughter, I decided to give it a miss. Had I been travelling alone I probably would have given it a shot. Anyway, come boarding time we couldn’t see a plane at the gate and we’re informed that our plane was in fact leaving from terminal 4 (as we had actually been informed in an email about 1 hour before) despite the fact that all the screens were displaying the flight as actually leaving from gate 32, terminal 4S. We were then herded onto a bus which drove us to the plane and had to walk up some stairs where we merged with the passengers who were boarding directly from terminal 4. All a bit strange really and left me wondering why they had made us fill out the health declaration forms on the plane if nobody had the slightest interest in seeing them!
Anyway, the connecting flight to LHR in J was fine and the box was actually quite reasonable. Everything tasted fresh, Spanish tortilla, Serrano ham, cheese, croissant and bread and service was swift and fairly attentive. The forward toilet was reserved for business and crew only.
According to Pedro the purser on the first flight, all of the food on flights leaving Spain is fresh and they have been told that from next month IB will be ramping up their meal services on long-haul flights with several hot options to choose from and all courses served together on the same tray.
Sorry for the delay in reporting back, but after arriving in London I had very little time in between getting to my mother’s place, dumping some stuff, freshening up, grabbing a cab to Euston and then getting on a 3 and a half hour train to Wales where I shall be quarantining for the next 14 days!

jackr27

Thanks for reporting back!

Did you get any sort of second 'box' prior to landing?

I'm also curious - how proactive were the crew being? Did you get the impression it'd be fine to request soft drinks through the flight, or was it more of a 'sit down and be quiet' approach? Prior to covid (and in contrast to some reports) I always found Iberia pretty good at this between meals.

If Iberia moved to a hot meal, all on one tray, I think that'd be a definite improvement and absolutely fine.

chilglish

Hi jackr27 I forgot to mention that we did indeed get a second “breakfast” box prior to landing which was fairly basic, but included a long-life croissant a yoghurt and a couple of other bits and bobs, as well as the much needed coffee. They came round several times during the meals to offer more soft drinks and see if we had finished. Whenever I called for them, they were fast to respond, whether it was to reset my daughter’s IFE or to get me another coke. The only moment I felt they were not particularly attentive was upon boarding, when we offered nothing until I asked (but they were extremely fast off the mark once I had asked for water).
N.B. I did buy the crew a box of Lindt chocolates, for which they were extremely grateful, so I don’t know if this might have affected their attitude!😉

ffay005

Thanks, Chilglish. This sounds a lot worse than I expected. On Monday, I'll be flying MAD-SDQ and will probably have to get some sandwiches or whatever to keep me going. A salad on a 12-hour flight, and that's basically it? Sounds like a fat camp.

NickRivas

hey did you get an amenity kit?

fly747first

WOW! IB cabin crews sure know how to abuse rules. Doubt corporate would be pleased with them making the J lavs exclusively for crew... they have a job because of paying customers after all.

ffay005

One crew lav is quite okay these days. But on a widebody there are more than one lavs in the front, so perhaps that's a misunderstanding?

fly747first

sorry but it sounded like the op meant all J lavs were reserved for crew

chilglish

Yes! We got the standard amenity kit! Everything was fairly standard but the eye mask was quite plush!

ffay005

Firsthand info from today's MAD-SDQ, A330: the lav in the front was for crew only. The lav between J and PE was the only lav assigned for J pax (and was intermittently used by PE pax as well). Not very nice on a flight that was almost full in J.

chilglish

Yes, that’s exactly what I meant. I’m pretty sure that’s what the announcement said, but I wasn’t really paying attention. However, my guess is that because there were only 3 of us, the cabin crew didn’t enforce the rules. Both forward toilets were available for our use.

chilglish

Doesn’t sound good at all! Maybe the fact that J was full had something to do with it? That’s no excuse however, and they should have designated one forward lav for business.