Introduction

I’m rather looking forward to this trip. It’s been quite a while since I last visited Madrid. Admittedly, my timing for a visit at the height of summer in the blistering Spanish sun is not ideal.

I’m also looking forward to my flight with Iberia. I like Iberia, and ever since my fabulous flight with them from Bogota to Madrid, which I booked after Lufthansa cancelled my First Class ticket unexpectedly, I’m a big fan.

Getting to the Airport

The flight to Madrid departs at 19h45. However, by 16h it’s just me in the office, so I decide to call it a day. I walk to the station carting my luggage behind me and catch the train to the airport, where I arrive at around 16h20.

Check-In

Check-in on the app opens one day before departure. I’ve already preselected my seat. The check-in process is swift, literally just one click.

For airport check-in, Iberia uses row 2 in Check-In 2 and has dedicated counters. However, they only open two hours and thirty minutes before departure. Iberia is handled by DNATA in Zürich.

Airside

Behind the security checkpoint, I figure it might be a good idea to head out to the airside terrace of the sports bar. It’s not raining today and the weather has been rather mild.

Much to my surprise, though, it’s unexpectedly warm out there in the broad sunshine, maybe I’m just not used to it, so that eventually I head back inside and find a place to sit near the windows from where I can still watch the traffic on the ramp.

Iberia uses the Aspire Lounge in Zürich, which is operated by Swissport and is much, much nicer than that horrible shoebox sized Merhaba Lounge. However, while it is substantially larger than the Merhaba Lounge, it still gets very full and crowded at peak times, which is why I refrain from taking any photos in the lounge.

Boarding

I’ve been monitoring my flight to Madrid for a few weeks now on Flightradar24, and there are a few things I find interesting about it. The first is that there seems to be considerable variance in the equipment deployed on the service. Basically, it could be anything from a CRJ-1000 to an A 321. When the CRJ operates the flight, the flight number switches, which is just a bit unusual. A further observation is that Iberia regularly subs one of its own aircraft for a wetlease operated by a company called PrivilegeStyle. When the flight is operated by PrivilegeStyle, the aircraft always does a return run from Madrid to Dubrovnik before operating the service to Zürich, also for Iberia. It usually arrives in Zürich about thirty to 45 minutes late, but ends up leaving Zürich with a delay of at least one hour, but usually over two hours. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be an Iberia aircraft this evening. Fortunately, when I check Flightradar24 just after 17h, the inbound is already airborne and en route to Zürich. I seem to have had a lucky escape because the flight is operated by an Airbus A 320 NEO today.

Boarding is by groups, starting with passengers in group 0, which, apparently, is for the top tier frequent flyers, passengers with children, and passengers with disabilities. Business Class passengers are in group 1 and board next.

The Cabin & Seat

The cabin is attractive and looks brand new. There are no signs at all of any wear and tear. As usual in Eurobusiness, the middle seat is kept empty. The headrests are not adjustable in height, but they have foldable ears for better support. In addition, there are two power ports on each row of three that are active throughout the flight.

Today I’m seated on 1C, an aisle seat that gives me a perfect view of the galley. Although, there isn’t that much to see during the flight as the crew are quite disciplined and make sure to keep the curtain drawn. Seat pitch is good and rather comfortable on 1C.

This being a fairly new aircraft, it comes with funky mood lighting. The blue light, in case you’re wondering, is the call buttom for the cabin crew. During boarding and deboarding the cabin light is set to pink, although I guess the fashionable term would be to call it magenta.

Wifi is available throughout the flight. Passengers in Business Class get complimentary access for messaging. All you need to do is to correctly enter your booking details.

And I should also like to mention that the overhead bins on this aircraft are substantially larger that those on an A 320 CEO.

The Service & Crew

The crew on this flight are excellent. They’re polished, professional, pay attention to detail and are just really friendly. As I enter the aircraft, the purser is standing by the door greeting passengers and looking dapper in his uniform.

I find it a bit unusual that all the announcements made on the ground are purely for instructional purposes and delivered from a recording – for both Spanish and English. The purser’s personal welcome aboard announcement is only made after take-off. The flight time is one hour and fifty minutes.

The Meal

As soon as the cabin crew are released, the young man working the Business Class cabin with the purser passes through the cabin handing out the menus for this evening’s flight, which is always a nice touch, I think. There are two options for the main course, one with meat and the other vegetarian. It’s an appealing looking tray, and the portions are quite substantial.

For the first course, we have seafood salad with mussels, shrimps and octopus with grilled tomato, a slice of lemon and a padron chili. I’m quite surprised by this dish. First, because I’m not sure how many people enjoy seafood. And second, because it doesn’t take much with seafood for it to cause belly trouble – which I would have thought no airline would be willing to risk.

For the main course, I have the vegetarian dish, which is the pasta. It’s good, the tomato sauce is rich and tangy. Perhaps a better ratio of sauce to pasta might have improved the dish further.

With the meal, the crew serve warm bread rolls.There’s a choice of olive oil or butter.

And then for dessert I have the cheesecake with mango coulis, chocolate, and a strawberry.

Once the meal is done, the crew pass through the cabin with tea and coffee, which is served with little squares of dark chocolate.

During the meal I just have sparkling water, which the crew top up several times during the flight, each time inquiring if I’d like more ice or lemon. They also insist on using a new glass each time. I jokingly tell the crew they’ll run out of glasses at this rate. But the young flight attendant just smiles and tells me that, “señor, I have honestly never had that happen to me”.

Arrival in Madrid

25 minutes out of Madrid, the throttle is eased back and we start our descent. It’s a smooth appoach, with just a few small turns to line us up with the runway. We land five minutes ahead of schedule, but it then takes us full eleven minutes to taxi from the runway to our stand at the Terminal 4 Schengen terminal. It’s just incredible how much space they have at Barajas Airports. At 22h06 we pull onto our stand, one minute behind schedule. Not bad at all!

Getting into Town

Considering just how big the place is, once you’re off the plane, Terminal 4 is surprisingly easy and quick to navigate. I follow the signs for the metro. My Madrid travel card is still valid, so basically, all I need to do is to buy the airport supplement and load it onto the card. And then I’m good to go. The journey from the airport to the centre of town takes about 40 minutes.

Conclusion

What a pleasant flight that was, even though it was busy, with occupancy in the Business Class cabin at 100% or 20/20. One of the things I appreciate in an airline, is consistency, and that is where I think Iberia really shines. The crew were quite serious as they went about their duties, I think. Even so, their engagement with the passengers was professional, friendly and oriented to passengers’ needs. Now I can’t wait for the next leg on Iberia, which will be a slighly longer flight, coming up in a few days.