Iberia business class has long been one of our favorite ways to cross the Atlantic for one main reason: You can book these seats between the U.S. and Madrid for as low as just 34,000 points each way (… and sometimes less!) But really, that's been the only reason to love Iberia's business class.
Until now.
Just last week, I flew Iberia's brand-new Airbus A321neo, a narrowbody aircraft featuring fancy and spacious new business class seats onboard. It has most of the bells and whistles of the newest business class seats, just squeezed into a smaller aircraft crossing the pond.
With just 14 business class seats at the front of the plane, the service was fast and friendly throughout the flight. And although the plane itself is smaller, business class passengers pay no price: The seat was full of shoulder and elbow room – with a surprising amount of storage, too – reclining flat into an incredibly comfortable bed in the sky.
Oh, and remember that thing we first loved about Iberia business class? That's right: You can still book these seats for 34,000 points each way – making this the best value in travel across the Atlantic.
Read my full review of Iberia's A321neo business class, including how to make this seat yours for next to nothing.
How to Find & Book Iberia Biz Class on the A321
Late last year, Iberia unveiled its plans for its first A321neo XLR.
“XLR” stands for extra-long range. It's a long-awaited single-aisle plane with the ability to cross the Atlantic Ocean, making it a great business proposition for Iberia and other carriers to continue schlepping passengers to Europe and back even during the slower winter months. Most importantly, this plane has just 182 seats total onboard – far fewer than the nearly 300 seats (or more!) Iberia has to fill on its widebody Airbus A330 or A350s.
Oh, and did I mention it's brand new? When I boarded it on Feb. 13, the plane was just three months old, according to Flighty Pro.
When these new aircraft first took flight, they were scheduled to fly to and from Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) and Boston (BOS). However, Iberia cut its winter flights to and from Dulles a few months ago, leaving just Boston (BOS) being serviced by the new plane.
If you book from any other Iberia strongholds like Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Miami (MIA), Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), or New York (JFK), you'll likely be onboard one of Iberia's A330s or A350s with its older (yet still comfortable) business class seats.
Paying cash, you can generally expect to pay $2,000 to $3,000 or more each way for one of Iberia's business class seats over to Madrid or back. But it's one of the best deals in the world of points and miles: You can book for as low as 34,000 miles each way using Avios from either British Airways or Iberia itself.
There are a few keys to make that happen:
- You'll find the lowest rates on the shorter flights from Boston (BOS), New York City (JFK), Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD), and even Chicago-O'Hare (ORD). Longer flights from Miami (MIA), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), and Los Angeles (LAX) start at 42,500 miles each way.
- Iberia uses peak- and off-peak pricing, too: Flights during peak season stretches like summer, the winter holidays, and parts of spring will cost you at least 50,000 miles. Still, there are plenty of off-peak dates bookable starting as 34,000 miles each way.
- You'll need to plan ahead. If you're not looking at least eight to 10 (or even 11) full months in advance, odds are you won't find any Iberia business class seats bookable, period.
Luckily, Avios are incredibly easy to earn thanks to an abundance of transfer partners. Your Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt, Chase, or Wells Fargo points all transfer to both Iberia and British Airways – and you can transfer Capital One to British Airways, too. To top it all off, you can combine points between Avios accounts, too.
Frequent transfer bonuses can make it an even better deal. For example, a previous 30% transfer bonus from American Express to British Airways and Iberia would mean you could book a lie-flat seat for as low as 27,000 Amex points!
Both Iberia and British Airways tack on roughly $125 in taxes and fees for a one-way to Spain, or about $280 for a roundtrip. Given how few miles you have to fork over for a lie-flat seat, that's a small price to pay.
Because Iberia is part of the Oneworld alliance, you have a few other options to book with miles, including:
- Alaska Airlines charges a flat 55,000 miles each way, plus about $19 in taxes and fees for the one-way flight to Madrid
- You can also book for 57,500 American AAdvantage miles each way … just beware that AAdvantage members typically can only see and book one business class seat on Iberia (even if more are actually bookable).
Our Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal analysts are searching every single day for Iberia business class availability. We send our members an alert whenever business class space becomes available like this one from just a few weeks back, including flights over next Christmas and New Year's!
I wound up booking a one-way flight home from Europe, flying from Madrid (MAD) to Boston (BOS), for 34,000 Avios and about $180 in taxes and fees.
At Thrifty Traveler, we don't accept freebies. We use our own points, miles, or cash to pay for every single flight or hotel you see reviewed here – including this one!
Checking In & the MAD Biz Class Lounge
In Madrid, business class passengers don't just get a designated queue to check in. They have this whole aisle full of check-in desks to themselves.
I had no wait to run up and check my bag. I made it through check-in in about 3 minutes.
After that, business class passengers at Madrid get access to this “Fast Track” security. It was not only free of lines, but also had TSA PreCheck-like benefits – I didn't have to take anything out of the bag or take my shoes off to get through.
Once you exit security, gates for U.S.-bound flights are a long (about 15 minute) commute away by airport train. When you get off the train, you're dumped into the duty-free area, where a brightly-lit, stark red sign frames the entrance to the Iberia Premium Lounge – Velazquez. Travelers connecting flying within the Schengen zone can go to the Iberia Dalí lounge in the other terminal.
The lounge was spacious and comfortable, but fairly ordinary for an overseas business class lounge. It had tons of seating yet was relatively full when I visited between 10 a.m. and noon.
There are two full buffets at either end of the lounge as well as a full, a-la-carte dining restaurant, too – though it's unclear when this is open for business. Plus, there are coffee and refreshment stations all throughout the space.
You can also book shower suites and sleeping rooms at the lounge.
The Brand New Business Class Cabin
Boarding Iberia's new A321neo is a a bit of a strange experience.
Walking up to the plane, it feels like boarding a domestic flight with just a single-aisle … and in some ways, it is. Every passenger on the plane walks past business class on the way to their seats because only one door is open for boarding.
And because it's such a small plane, boarding only took about 20 minute. That meant no pre-departure drinks were served to business class passengers – a major departure from other international business class flights.
I didn't mind, though, because I was distracted by the beauty of this small, sparkling new business class cabin.
If these seats look familiar, it's because they're almost identical to JetBlue Mint Suites, which is also offered on single-aisle, transatlantic flights operated by the New York-based carrier! While Iberia and JetBlue chose drastically different finishes, the bones of the seats themselves are carbon copies.
With just two seats in each row, there were only 14 total seats in a 1-1 configuration. Business class and economy cabins are separated by these big partitions and storage areas – plus a curtain during the flight itself.
My seat was in the last row of business class, row 7.
There was a mattress pad, comforter, and pillow on my seat at arrival, as well as a water bottle and an amenity kit in the side railing on the huge console table closer to the aisle.
When you're sitting down, you can see just how intimate this cabin is. From the very last row of business class, you can easily see the cockpit door.
While all seats are angled toward the aisle instead of the windows, these business class seats are still relatively private thanks to the storage console along the aisle. There are no doors.
The beige and gray interiors were spruced up by brightly lit red seatback screens at boarding. You can see just how much legroom there is in these seats, too – the footwell was way too far away to use when the seat is set back. And the footwell itself is far less restrictive than the narrow cubbies many airlines force you to wedge your legs into.
Underneath the footwell, there's a small area for a personal item or pair of shoes. My personal item was slightly too big, so I used it to store my bedding.
Storage was in no short supply on this seat, either. I loved this little table area by the window behind the seat in front of me. It's where I kept my phone during most of the flight, and I kept my passport in this little hidden storage area underneath it.
There's also an armrest next to it, too.
On the left side, you'll find a small reading light, the seat controls, an outlet, and USB and USB-C ports below the Iberia-provided headphones.
The water bottle and amenity kit are tucked in the pocket next to that, along with the massive table space in the front of the seat.
When you recline the seat all the way, it turns into a huge, plush bed. Because of the space below the window on the left, there's a ton of shoulder room and plenty of leg and knee room at the base of the bed, too.
The seatback entertainment screen was also crisp and plenty large. It was both a touch screen and had a remote control. The screen does not face you when it's secured into the seat, but you can pull it out and face it toward you, as you can see below.
You can also point the screen downward so you can watch in bed mode or in an extra-reclined position with comfort.
Dining & Drinks
After boarding, flight attendants came around with a menu for the flight. We each had our choice of one of each of the options for lunch and the pre-landing meal.
Shortly after reaching cruising altitude, the flight attendants loaded up a drink cart and started working their way back to me – taking drink orders and handing out some snacks. I opted for a Cava.
There were three white wines, three reds, Spanish Cava, and two “sweet” wines on the menu, as well as a good sampling of liquor and soft drink options.
Shortly after taking my lunch order, Iberia flight attendants brought the entire meal out on one tray – not course by course, as is often the case on transatlantic flights. I switched to a Spanish red blend for my meal, which was veal ribs and the salmon and avocado tartare.
I asked for ice cream for dessert, but they had run out by the time they made it to my row. So a chocolate eclair it was!
Ultimately, I wasn't blown away by Iberia's catering on this flight. I thought the salmon and avocado dish was excellent, but the rest was just OK. In all, the food just didn't leave much of an impression.
Later in the flight, I ordered an espresso which came out promptly with cookies, too.
Finally, before landing, we were given our choice of a light, breakfast-like meal. I chose this Spanish-style omelette, which came with artichoke, cheese and peppers, along with some olive oil and bread bites.
Again, this meal was also just fine … except for the coffee, which was not good. I would have ordered a second espresso if I had to do it all over again.
Service & Amenities
First, a note about the service … because it was exceptional.
Because the business class cabin is so small, it was easy to get the flight attendants' attention. Service was always quick and attentive: Both flight attendants were friendly and ready for either English or Spanish. I was impressed and was never left wanting more.
While you don't get a pre-flight drink, the service itself was on-par – if not better than – most other business class flights I've taken.
The amenity kit was also really nice – and I mean the bag itself, too! The navy blue bag accented in Iberia's signature red and orange is sturdy and will definitely be a keeper for me.
The same goes for the eye mask, which was probably the best inflight eye mask I've ever seen. Designed in a way so the mask doesn't touch your eyelids, it's a major upgrade from the cheap cloth masks you get on many other flights. I'll be using this eye mask for years to come.
Finally, the socks were also a major upgrade from other airlines. Most business class socks are cheap and short, but these knee-high, moisture-wicking socks made my flight better. I'm something of an airplane sock connoisseur (I'm NOT fun at parties, believe me…) and I think these are the best I've ever seen on an airplane.
Entertainment
Inflight entertainment options were abundant on Iberia, too – I was seriously impressed.
There were dozens of TV shows with full seasons and even series available, plus hundreds of movie options. I found two different comedies that I adored that I had never heard of: “The Treasure of Foggy Mountain” and “Snack Shack.”
Wi-Fi, however, was hit or miss during this flight. Everyone with an Iberia Plus account or who is flying business class gets inflight messaging on these transatlantic flights. Interestingly, the messaging included the business-messaging platform Slack, which isn't included in most U.S. carriers' messaging plans.
To actually get online, though, Iberia was asking for 13 euro for four hours or 17 euro for a full flight pass. I pulled the trigger on the 17 euro pass, but was only able to reliably connect for about a third of the flight.
The connection existed for the full flight, but over the brunt of the Atlantic, it wasn't enough to do much. I was able to work pretty well near Europe and once we got close to Canada at the end, including streaming YouTube videos, but the middle of the flight was too slow to do anything of consequence.
Bottom Line
It's intimate yet spacious. The brand new Iberia business class cabin on the A321neo is the airline's best lie-flat cabin.
While the dining was nothing special, Iberia more than made up for that a sparkling new, functional, and comfortable seat; ample entertainment options; and plenty of space for your next trip across the Atlantic.