[SwissExPat]

I recently flew with Iberia from Madrid to JFK in Premium Economy.

I connected into MAD from Zurich also with IB.

I needed to get to NYC at short notice and the routing via MAD (back with BA) was very favourably priced when compared to my more normal route via London.
The IB Y+ product is quite new. The seats and IFE (incl. noise cancelling headphones) were excellent (2-3-2) on a A340-600. Food Service was better than Y (although the same wines as in Y and also same as BA). The small amenity bag provided was useful and I now use it to carry sunglasses and swim goggles (definitely better than the BA offering).

However, there is one very unfortunate aspect to the product which I discussed with the CSD (and she was in complete agreement with me). The A340-600 configuration means that most of the food and beverage service to J cabin is sourced from the Mid Galley behind the Y+ section. It seems that the Y+ seats were created by removing the last few seats of J (presumably because Iberia were not selling enough of these) and hence all or most of the supplies for J are located there.

Therefore, the flight in the Y+ cabin was a 3-hour (plus 1 at the end) observance of trollies being wheeled through the cabin and into J. We were being tantalized with the cloth cover trollies ferrying elegant wine bottles and cheese etc to those more fortunate than us!

Also there were not many toilets in J and the one at the rear of Y+ was for use by J PAX and there were frequently coming back to it (again this was initially part of the J cabin) so all in all, the Y+ cabin was a very busy thoroughfare.

So, I would use IB Y+ again (for the Seat and IFE) but would bring an eye mask so that I was seeing all the goodies being wheeled past us…. So near but yet so far !

[Flightlevel]

Many airlines are moving to Y+ to give business pax cheaper alternatives, and very suitable for daytime flights too, so good service from IB.
You alluded to the situation – they have too many A340s purchased in pre-IAG days and now 90% of A340 routes are better suited to new A330s. Not yet sensible to sell A340s (they are the safest aircraft in the sky) so cheap convertions are required.

[Author]

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