Although there has been some indication to the contrary, Iberia has publically announced plans to eliminate First Class fleetwide.

I did fly MAD-MEX (J) late this November and found the service just OK and is inferior to BA by all means. No complaints other than food quality, seat comfort (glad that it was a day flight) and poor in-flight entertainmant.

I took BA on the way back MEX-LHR (J) and it really was a decent service as I had a seat in the upper deck where it was quiet and exclusive.

The only reason for flying IB is to gain enough points to qualify for BA Gold. I paid for LHR-MAD-MEX and got MEX-LHR on redemption.

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I think I'll be sticking with IB. After being seriously disappointed on AA JFK-FCO in two-class C not so long ago, I guess IB should be a fair alternative to AA's 2-class service.

PS. Viajero, thanks for the "pata negra" reference. Reminds me of the time my boss visited the "museo del jamon" in Madrid and brought back a leg of ham in his suitcase!

Happy holidays to all!

Yes, they announced this. Then they announced that F was being kept but new aircraft were being configured without F seating. So the latest official IB announcement makes F safe for many years (given the rate at which IB buys new planes).

I flew IB in F a few nonths ago from JFK-MAD. Was supposedly a few weeks before they were to discontinue the service. Wasn't too impressed. The pyjama's were nice but amenity kit was awful. Food was very average and the FAs spoke shockingly bad english. They also ran out of slippers in many sizes so I received some HUGE size.
IMO, no comparison with BA

My very limited IB F experience taught me that the seats are poor - think LH style pairs rather than a pod. The food was pretty good and the wine list excellent - except for the provision of cava (ugghh) rather than champagne. Service was variable - 1 nice, 1 evil old hag who actually shouted at one of the pax. The quality of the IFE was pretty rubbish. I would put them behind BA by a fair bit. LH are a bit better - and certainly a little more slick.

After half a dozen intra europe C flights this year, I've come to the conclusion that IB are just an indifferent airline - about the same as AA. I know number_6 rates Air Nostrum very highly though.

That's nuts. The new longhaul aircraft are A340-600s and, maybe, some A340-300s. They already have three class versions of both a/c in their fleet and now they are going to create a 2 class subfleet. This is going to create a situation where some routes have F on some days and not on others or, if they plan to keep the 2 class a/c off some routes, last minute equipment subs resulting in the loss of F.

They are going to continue selling F, but will not be in a position to guarantee it on any given day.

Agree that it does not make any sense. If you believe the IB seat map feature, then the old A-340-600 has 2 rows of FC, but the new A-340-600 will have 0 rows of FC!!! I flew on an A-340-300 with 1 row of FC, and it was OK, but not great. The FC FA was nice, especially when I used my limited Spanish, but the other FA's got annoyed and told me to use English.