Reviewing Iberia Business Class: Buenos Aires-Madrid

AviationSource was invited to fly onboard Iberia Business Class from Buenos Aires to Madrid. Join us on this adventure.

This trip consists of reviewing the Iberia NEXT cabin for both Premium Economy and Business Class.  

In this portion of the review, we will be reviewing the Business Class side of the equation.  

Without further ado, join us on this adventure spanning a total of 65 hours round-trip! 

Trip Report: Buenos Aires-Madrid Onboard Iberia’s Business Class…

Flight Information: 

• Flight Number: IB6856 
• Origin: Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini International Airport.  
• Destination: Madrid Barajas Airport. 
• Registration: EC-NXC 
• Aircraft: Airbus A350-900 
• Date: 30th November 2023-1st December 2023 

Check-in at Buenos Aires 

The theme from my arrival into Ezeiza, Buenos Aires yesterday continued again on the return trip.  

People just scattered everywhere with nowhere to go. It really was a painful experience.  

Nevertheless, I managed to get to my check-in desk and begin the process of going through security. I luckily had priority check-in and fast track security, so that quickly superseded my perspective of entering Ezeiza initially.  

Regardless of the painful experience at Ezeiza, it made me very excited for what was to come in the next few hours.  

I would be going onboard another Airbus A350 (My personal favourite), but this time, trying out the new Business Class product from Iberia under the NEXT cabin program.  

Boarding & Seat 

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Before I knew it, it was time to board. With me being in Business Class, I got Group 1 priority boarding, which was always a nice bonus.  

My ride for this flight back to Madrid is with EC-NXC, another Airbus A350-900 in the flagship Iberia fleet.

As per data from Planespotters.net, EC-NXC is a one year old airframe that was delivered to the Madrid-based carrier back in December 2022.  

I was given Seat 7L on the Airbus A350-900, providing a strong window view, of which I would get a bit more daylight viewing this time, with it being an afternoon departure.  

The Business Class seats are set out in a 1-2-1 configuration.  

Upon my arrival to the seat, I was handed the Business Class Menu (Which we will get into later), as well as a choice of drink, for which I opted for an orange juice.  

Crew also came round to see what I wanted for dinner, as food service begins straight after departure.  

This flight is predicted to take 11 hours and 10 minutes as stated by the pilot-in-command, with an arrival time of 5:30am, which was 30 minutes ahead of schedule.  

We pushed back from the gate around five minutes late and proceeded to taxi out to the active runway at Buenos Aires Ezeiza.  

EC-NXC then held at the holding point for quite some time, as we waited for a KLM Boeing 787 and a JetSMART A320 to land. I wasn’t complaining, that’s for sure! 

Once those aircraft had landed, we proceeded to backtrack the runway (As the main taxiway is undergoing maintenance currently), and then lined up for departure.  

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Departure from Buenos Aires 

One noticeable element between Business Class and Premium Economy is the noise! Hearing those elegant Trent XWB’s roar as we were rolling down the runway was just incredible.  

I will note that for passengers who want silence on departure, this isn’t really possible, but for enthusiasts alike, it was incredible.  

We departed from Buenos Aires, bound for Madrid at 14:35 local time, around 20 minutes behind schedule in the end, which didn’t really matter if we were due to arrive very early in the morning.  

Climb-Out & Cruise 

It was beautiful conditions in Buenos Aires, and you could tell definitely by the clear blue skies and open terrain as we climbed out northbound towards Madrid.  

Crew started service with very hot towels to keep us refreshed before coming out with the meal service.  

At that point, the crew started getting the meal service together, which you will be able to establish more details about below: 

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As you can see (Image above), the menu had a few more options than Premium Economy (As expected).  

I opted for the Oven Baked Chicken Breast with Lemon Sauce. Appetizers were the Breasaola dressed with basil and sundried tomato cream, followed by marinated palm hearts and some warm bread from the bakery.

Iberia also has an on demand service where you can request grilled chicken breast in a sandwich, which has mozzarella cheese, mayonnaise and mustard on, as well as hummus, feta & cheese with sundried tomato and courgette in a sandwich, a fresh fruit basket and a selection of snacks too.  

Verdict on the food: The food was very tasty, and you could definitely notice the difference between Business Class and Premium Economy on that front.  

The chicken breast was incredibly fresh-tasting, following the theme on the Premium Economy review. Iberia’s caterers are clearly very good at what they do if they can keep such food fresh for so long.  

The starter was very unique and is something I don’t normally eat when onboard, but it was quite pleasant to eat.

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Onboard Product 

If you saw in my Premium Economy review, there were a few undesirable elements to this, being the map on the IFE not working (And subsequently crashing the whole system), among other things.  

This time, the map works very well on the IFE and gives me multiple views to look at the airplane from, although sadly no actual cameras were present with it being based on OpenStreetMap.  

As for the seat itself, it comes with multiple power outlets (USB, USB-C, Universal Power socket), as well as the room for headphone jacks.  

There is also storage to the left of the remote control, which was spacey enough to put a laptop in there. In said storage, that is where the headphones and the amenity kits are kept.  

On the topic of the amenity kit, there is a difference between what’s in that bag and what was observed in the Premium Economy one.  

In the Business Class amenity kit, there is the following: 

• Eyemask 
• Ear plugs 
• Toothpaste 
• Toothbrush 
• Hairbrush 
• Socks 
• Germaine de Capuccini set: Hand cream, lip balm & facial mist.  

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Everything but the Germaine de Capuccini set was in the Premium Economy amenity kit, so not much difference on that front.  

The IFE offering looks to remain the same as Premium Economy and Economy, with a huge range of films, tv shows and much more. Obviously the key difference in this case is the fact that the screen is much bigger and is in clear 1080p HD as well.  

As for the overall seat itself, it offers different reclining modes, although the panel to interact with those settings were very scratched up.

They made need a look at by maintenance. The seat reclines to a full 180′ and offers significant comfort. With the bed comes a comfy blanket, bed sheet and pillow, which was a joy to sleep in.  

Around a couple of hours after departure, I opted to begin the process of sleeping so then I could be recharged in time for the arrival into Madrid, and then onward connection to my home of Manchester.  

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Descent into Madrid

I woke up about an hour or two before our descent into Madrid, which gave me time to take advantage of breakfast before landing. I went for just a croissant, as I wasn’t feeling too hungry, with it being quite early in the morning.  

After that service was completed, it was time to descend into Madrid, and begin to say farewell to my comfortable seat.  

The descent was quite turbulent, but this was due to the adverse weather in Barajas, which produced incredible views of the city with the rain! 

Arrival 

We landed into Madrid at 05:30am, and then taxied to the gate, around 30 minutes ahead of schedule.  

From there, it was time to get my transfer back to Manchester, thus concluding this trip report.  

Verdict of Business Class 

Overall, Iberia’s Business Class is strong, and for long flights like Buenos Aires-Madrid, it is definitely needed if you need to sleep to get yourself ready for an onward connection in Barajas.  

The crew onboard were very good throughout both my trips (Had the same crew there and back), and particularly in the Business Class side, I couldn’t fault their service provisions for this.  

Would I fly on Iberia again long-haul on routes such as Buenos Aires-Madrid? Yes, I would, particularly in Business, that’s for sure! 

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