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How I got a flat bed on my Iberia flight from Madrid to London

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A few days ago I reviewed my Iberia Express flight from London Gatwick to Madrid. My conclusion was that business class on Iberia Express is, in most areas, surprisingly good. You shouldn’t be put off by any image you have of the airline as a low cost carrier.

On my way back from Madrid I did even better – I had a flat bed.

For cargo reasons, both Finnair and Iberia run long haul aircraft on selected daily flights to London Heathrow. For Iberia this is usually a mid afternoon service from Madrid which returns as an evening flight from Heathrow.

A serendipitous side effect of this cargo-driven decision is that anyone on these flights will enjoy the pleasures of a long haul cabin – in this case, flat bed seats in business class and seatback entertainment if flying in economy.

It is only the aircraft itself that changes. Everything else remains the same – you get the same food service as you would on any other British Airways or Iberia London-Madrid flight and you don’t get an amenity kit or bedding.

How to book an Iberia A350 from Madrid to London

You can currently find long haul aircraft, looking at a random July date, on IB721 (15.45 from Madrid), returning as IB722 (18.45 from Heathrow).

If booking with Avios the cost via ba.com is 12,750 Avios one way, off peak. Taxes and charges are £60 one way FROM Heathrow and £24 one way TO Heathrow. There is no price difference to booking a standard aircraft.

On ba.com, these aircraft show a blank space next to ‘Aircraft type:’ if it is scheduled as an A350 (an A330 would show, oddly). if you click the flight number during booking. Iberia.com correctly shows the aircraft type if you want to double check over there.

(Note that, contractually, Iberia is not obliged to put you on a long haul aircraft. If your aircraft was swapped to a standard short haul aircraft then you have no grounds for compensation. Because of the cargo requirement, however, this is unlikely to happen. An Avios booking would also be refundable.)

Iberia business class on an A330

I started the trip with a visit to the lounge. Rhys wrote a review of Iberia’s Velazquez lounge here so I won’t repeat it, but it is a pleasant place to visit.

All I WILL say is that you need to remember that the entrance is INSIDE the duty free shop. If you usually put your head down and charge through the duty free maze at a brisk pace then you may well miss it, even though it is bright red.

I’m not going to focus on the aircraft I flew, because it’s not the one you will get.

Iberia typically puts an A350 on Heathrow to/from Madrid. However, the aircraft operating my flight had a mechanical issue and we were moved to an A330-200.

If you get one of the older A350 aircraft then you will have an identical seat to mine. If you get one of the newer A350 aircraft then you will get the ‘next generation’ seat which is better than I received.

The ‘Next’ new look A350 Iberia business class seat is reviewed here.

Whilst this is NOT a detailed seat review, here a few pictures of my seat:

Iberia A330 business class

Iberia went for a colour scheme of beige-greys, although this is lightened with the bright red in-flight entertainment screens when you board:

Iberia A330 business class

Seats in the business class cabin are arranged in a 1-2-1 layout with direct aisle access for everyone. This is the Stelia Solstys seat which has a staggered configuration resulting in alternating rows of seats.

In the middle pairs you can choose between two seats side-by-side or two seats separated by the side tables, whilst window seats in A, C and J are either next to the window or next to the aisle (A seats and odd numbered J seats are adjacent to the window with the side table on the aisle side.)

This is an A350 picture showing a middle pair where the seat is next to the aisle:

Iberia A350 business class middle pair

Whilst this might be a shorthaul flight the inflight entertainment was still activated and headphones are provided. Given the short flight time I did not use it.

Food on Iberia short haul

Although I was flying on a long haul aircraft the food is the same as any other Iberia flight between London and Madrid.

The meal is served in one go, as is customary for short haul flights – you don’t get a drink before take-off or any other things you might expect on a long haul flight.

The menu was:

  • marinated anchovy accompanied with Tudela lettuce hearts and sun-dried tomatoes
  • a choice of roasted pork fillet on a red wine sauce or handmade gnocchi in a parmigiana sauce (I took the latter)
  • catalan cream with crunchy sugar

…. with wine or cava on request.

It wasn’t at all bad as you can see below. It is served on a large tray rather than the mini-trays used in British Airways Club Europe:

Iberia A330 business class

Conclusion

If you need to fly to Madrid (or indeed Helsinki on Finnair) then choosing one of the flights serviced by a widebody aircraft is a great free upgrade versus your standard A320 flight.

If you are a new Head for Points reader who may never have flown long haul business class, this is a great way to try it out whilst working towards the Avios needed for a full long haul redemption.

Head for Points made a financial contribution to the Woodland Trust as part of this trip. The Woodland Trust creates and manages forests in the UK in accordance with the Woodland Carbon Code.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

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Capital on Tap Pro Visa

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There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

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There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

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The American Express Business Gold Card

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (42)

  • Catalan says:

    I still remember many years ago (thanks to HfP) flying the Iberia A340-600 from MAD to LHR. Very enjoyable!

  • Niall says:

    I was on one of these Iberia a350s out of Madrid booked with Avios (on BA) and it’s really frustrating that Iberia won’t let you change/add a frequent flyer number at all, even at check-in. My BA number was stuck in there which made getting the benefits from my OneWorld emerald status (Alaska airlines) either a faff or impossible.

    No fast track security (they would accept it when not on boarding pass), lounge access was ok when showing Alaska card, but boarding group number wrong.

    Any tricks to change the number on another oneworld airline I don’t think would work with Iberia’s different references. Anyone know any tricks on how to change the frequent flyer number on an Iberia Avios booking?

    • Throwawayname says:

      Have you tried ringing them? I had an issue with a recent award booking (BA-issued business ticket for IB flights came with 1*23 luggage allowance instead of 2*32 due to an IT issue) , and their phone agents were amazingly helpful and a lot more efficient and switched on than their colleagues at BA in terms of investigating the actual issue.

  • Ian says:

    What a strange title for this post…”How I got a flat bed on my Iberia flight from Madrid to London”. It makes it sound like some kind of insider information, when in fact Iberia has been operating a wide body aircraft on at least one daily rotation for years. The secret to getting a flat bed from MAD to LHR? Simply book it on Iberia’s website!

  • A Hay says:

    Good luck with the long haul aircraft ! Last year we were due to fly out of LHR on the 18:45 departure on an A35O and due to yet another technical issue with the aircraft, were bumped off, despite both my wife and I having Silver BAEC status. We were put on a single aisle aircraft later that evening still in business. Four weeks ago we were booked on the same flight in business and were notified at 11am that morning by email we had no seat and to get to the airport asap. Fortunately, I managed to get through to a sales office and found seats on an earlier flight, business but in a short haul aircraft. Annoyingly, I could see the long haul plane at the stand as we taxied to the runway. Coming back from Madrid to LHR, another technical issue and an A330 instead in economy. In short, Iberia seem to have very limited contingency where technical issues appear and these appear far too often.

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