Transfer in London Heathrow

I arrive in Heathrow on a Japan Airlines A 350 from Haneda. The flight terminates at Heathrows’s Terminal 3 at 15h30. My onward connection to Madrid is with Iberia from Terminal 5. The transfer is easy enough. I have just a short wait at the bus stop before the shuttle arrives to take me to Terminal 5. It’s a journey of about seven minutes.

I’ll have to go through security again, but the security checkpoint is surprisingly quiet, so I’m through quickly. By 16h05 I’m already entering the lounge.

The British Airways Club Lounge

Once I’m in the lounge, I need to make one quick phone call – which turns into a not quite so brief phone call. By the time I’m done, it’s already time to head over to the C satellite for boarding. So, I don’t manage to take any photos. I don’t even manage to have a scone – which is infinitely worse!

Boarding

Boarding for our 18h45 departure starts at 18h05. It’s a very orderly, structured process with Iberia/BA, but without being as cumbersome and tedious as it is with JAL.

The Cabin & Seat

Unfortunately, there appears to have been an aircraft change, though I’m still not entirely sure what the change was. The upshot is that nobody is seated where they originally were, and nobody is seated where they would actually want to be seated. For example, there’s an elderly couple travelling on to Lima that has been separated from her husband, she’s on 5D and he’s on 6F. Inversely, there’s a mother on 5F, while her daughter has ended up on 6D.

Alas, I’ve also been moved from a window on 2A to an aisle on 5C. The seat is okay for a short flight to Madrid, but I wouldn’t have wanted to fly all the way to Tokyo like this. You’re very exposed in the seat, so you’re not likely to get any restful sleep.

The Service & Crew

The crew are great. They’ve obviously been made aware of the seating situation, and they do a great job in helping passengers reseat so that at least they can sit with their travel companions. Other than that, there is no interaction with the crew, no welcome drinks or anything of the sort – except for the menus, which are handed out just before we push back.

There’s quite a queue for departures, mainly because one taxiway is blocked by a BA B 787 which appears to have some issue. The door is open, with stairs attached to it and a whole group of people standing around staring at the right main landing gear.

The Meal – Dinner

There are two choices for the main course, and I go with the vegetarian dish, which is pasta. I’m not sure how good of an idea it is to serve noodles like this, mainly because they have congealed into one big lump with the cheese, making them quite challenging to eat. The dessert is not so nice and just tastes artificial.

The trays are quickly removed, and then I go off to sleep until we reach the top of descent.

Arrival in Madrid

Approaches are from the north this evening. As a result, we’re given a straight in approach which has us arriving in Madrid at 21h55, fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. I must say that it feels rather strange to be back here in Madrid after my time in Australia.

Conclusion

I was hoping to take a few photos of the lounge in Heathrow this time. But that was thwarted again. This flight with Iberia seemed rather nondescript. To be fair, though, I suspect that may have to do with the fact that I’ve recently done mainly long-haul flights. The A 350 is a great aircraft, but stripped of those nice little extras like pillows or blankets kind of dampens the experience.