{"id":509955,"date":"2025-10-18T17:38:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T17:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/509955\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T17:38:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T17:38:26","slug":"review-iberia-business-class-london-to-lima-via-madrid-a350-comfort-and-lounge-hopping-in-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/509955\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Iberia Business Class London to Lima (via Madrid) \u2013 A350 Comfort and Lounge Hopping in Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hitting up Peru with Iberia \u2013 an enjoyable novelty<\/p>\n

Despite being a long-time (often suffering) OneWorld fanboy and making a fair few trips to Latin America recently, it has been well over a decade since I last flew Iberia. So I was fairly excited to be trying their business class product again, on a trip from LHR to Lima in Peru, via Madrid.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

Sadly my long-haul segment was not in one of the new door-tastic A350s, but instead was on one of the older A350s. Despite this, I did like the hard product quite a lot.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

It was intuitive, spacious enough, and fairly comfortable (with a thick mattress protector and good firm pillow). The alternate window seats also gave enough privacy, and the IFE headphones were fine too.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

Business class service \u2013 a little bit meh<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

The food and drink was very solid, although truth be told, it was the service \u2013 on both flights, too \u2013 that let it down.<\/p>\n

The crew were swift enough, professional enough, and friendly enough, but it was also very robotic, kind of \u2018minimally invested\u2019, and a little cold and flat. For example in my basic interactions with probably about six crew across the two long segments, there was hardly a smile, and at best a stoical and slightly neutral face, and not much else!<\/p>\n

Lounging around in Madrid\u2019s international airport<\/p>\n

In a funny way this matches my experiences of both the airport and lounge in Madrid too. It is well documented already, but Madrid\u2019s Adolfo Su\u00e1rez Madrid-Barajas airport is vast and airy, but it is also a weirdly designed and confusing space to actually use.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

It takes more time than you would expect to get around, and the signage is also not at all obvious or clear \u2013 so do make sure to give yourself extra time, and don\u2019t be complacent about where you are headed. In fact, despite the fact that I am a fairly well-travelled middle aged human, I actually managed to fail at connections (from London) and ended up going through passport control twice!<\/p>\n

\"Aena<\/p>\n

The upside of this was that I was able to experience the (Priority Pass) Anea Sala VIP Lounge in terminal 4, before also sampling the fairly new proper Iberia lounge proper \u2013 the Premium Lounge Velazquez.<\/p>\n

The former was medium-sized, fairly calm and well-stocked (especially on the drinks side, though food was less impressive), while the latter was a mixed affair.<\/p>\n

Spacious, and stretched alongside a lot of window..<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

Specifically, Iberia\u2019s main lounge is a long, thin space, which is fine for a short lay-over, but a far cry from anywhere where you might want or need to spend several hours.<\/p>\n

I think I felt this way as due to the shape of the lounge, and the entrance being set right in the middle, it drives a lot of footfall up and down, right past all the seating spaces and the sweeping views of the atrium.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

That said, at one end is a nice little bar tucked around the corner, while at the other end there is a large-ish and more formal dining area.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

Crucially the lounge did one thing absolutely right; a sweet station at each end.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

Jumping back to the flight itself, I was in 2A for the outbound, and 4A for the return (intentionally for both as the window is much more protected from footfall and noise\/light than in the aisle), and I\u2019d probably recommend 4 as 2 was a little too close to the galley which was a little noisy pre and post service.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

I quite liked the amenity bags, although the eye mask was a little uncomfortable (especially compared to BA\u2019s great White Company ones), and the toothbrush was rubbish. One small example of my service gripe earlier was after a fairly rushed and indifferent meal service, where I had one small glass of wine, I asked for a top up and, and it never arrived. No biggie, but it was symptomatic of a crew who didn\u2019t really want to be there.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

Short haul biz on Iberia<\/p>\n

I also flew Iberia metal on my short-haul trip back to LHR from MAD \u2013 in a A320neo \u2013 which was pretty much exactly the same as BA\u2019s Club Europe experience. Two interesting differences were that one, they policed group 0 properly (which I was included on for the first time in my life, as am only Gold, not GLL), and then on board the overhead cabins in business had labels on them saying \u2018Reserved for Business\u2019. Given the number of spats I have seen over people putting their bags in at the front and walking way back in the plane, it kept that \u2018privilege\u2019 in place more firmly than with BA.<\/p>\n

\"Iberia<\/p>\n

Read more on this in my related review of the JW Marriott in Lima \u2013 and the lounge in Jorge Ch\u00e1vez International Airport \u2013 but after landing in Lima (where we got an always-kind-of-cute smattering of applause from the back of the plane thanks to a super smooth touchdown), it was a 45 minute Uber ride (around \u00a314 for a \u2018Comfort\u2019 ride, so pretty cheap) to Miraflores.<\/p>\n

Latin America is always fun, and Peru was a wonderful treat. Especially for approx \u00a3500 + 80k avios (and a \u2018solo\u2019 companion voucher). Next trips will be to Singapore and then Abu Dhabi, so watch this space!<\/p>\n

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