Review of Air Europa flight Amsterdam → Madrid in Business

introduction

Iberia, KLM and Air Europa are all offering nonstop connections between AMS and MAD. While IB and KL are solely using aircraft of the A320 and B737 family, UX offers one daily with a B787-8 / B787-9. Both of these wide-body aircraft  ome with lie-flat seats, with some 787-9 featuring the newer 1-2-1 configured cabin.
Back in September 2022 I booked this flight for 220€, which was cheaper than what the competition was offering at that time. So taking this specific flight was not up for debate.

ground experience

Traveling through Amsterdam Schiphol was a complete mess in late 2022. Due to staff shortages, there were reports of passengers waiting up to four hours, just to get checked-in and get through security and immigration.

I was glad to have flown in from MUC on that morning and to connect in the transit area. The single terminal was already crowded with passengers. 

Airport Lounge

As Air Europa is part of Skyteam, business class passengers and status holders can access the KLM lounges at the airport.

Me and a colleague wanted to check out to the bigger KLM Crown Lounge No.52 (Non-Schengen), but upon seeing the hoard of people waiting at passport control, decided to use the KLM Crown Lounge No.25 (Schengen) instead.
While there surely is a reason why KLM named their lounges 52 and 25, I found this a bit confusing from the passengers’ perspective. 

The KLM Crown Lounge 25 is located in concourse D.  

Despite the size of the lounge, it was crowded. Finding two seats proved to be challenging at the start. The lounge felt very quiet, once we’ve moved away from the buffet area. 

The breakfast buffet was sufficient and there were various options. The food tasted fresh. 

There was a serviced bar with alcoholic beverages.

In terms of design, this lounge was nice and felt inviting. 

The main seating area in the back looked cramped and felt more like a chicken coop. 

The lounge itself isn’t all that bad. It is just that it cannot keep up with the demand, resulting in overcrowding. I don’t know if KLM is planning to build another lounge to solve the capacity issues. It was not as bad as during peak hours in the Al-Mourjan Lounge in DOH for example, but QR has recently expanded their lounge network in DOH.

Let’s hope KLM follows as well. It is the carriers hub airport afterall. 

Aircraft

Carrier:                       Air Europa
Type:                           Boeing 787-9
Registration:              EC-NCY
First flight:                  31/08/2019
Cabin configuration: 32J / 307Y

Cabin / seat

The UX 787-9 come with two different business class configurations. The older models feature the 2-2-2 configuration, also found on the 787-8. This aircraft however came with reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The 32 lie-flat seats are located in a single cabin in the front of the aircraft.

Every passenger has direct aisle access.  

Air Europa Boeing 787-9 business class layout @aerolopa

What are the best seats for couples?
All the center seats (D and G) are created equal. The seats face eachother, making it easier to talk to eachother. Be aware of the two lavatories behind the middle seats in row 8.

What are the best seats for solo travelers?
For solo travelers, picking any window seat is a good choice. As the seats face towards the cabin, the privacy is quite good. Row 5 is missing a window though. 

All the seats have overhead lockers. The cabin felt clean and modern.  

My seat for this flight was 7K. The seat was made out of a dark-grey leather. The IFE controler was located right next to the seat. Seat controls are located further along the side console. 

The seat controls are touch sensitive…. very touch sensitive. I inadvertently put my seat in lounge and bed mode on several occasions. 

The tray table is located under the seat controls and swivels out.

Middle seats come with a movable privacy divider, in case you are not traveling with a companion. 

food / beverages

There were no menu cards distributed on this flight. 

 There was a welcome drink during boarding. Passengers could chose between water and orange juice.
Although having an orange juice is not the most exiting pre-departure drink in the world, it surely is something to feel welcome onboard in my opinion.

The majority of European carriers don’t offer a welcome drink on a flight of this length at all.

The inflight meal was served on one tray. Although it was not presented very elegantly, it tasted better than it looked. The dessert was especially good, which was some kind of mouse with chocolate crumbles.

The Rioja proved to be an excellent choice for the meal.  

Overall I was quite impressed by the quality of the food served onboard. 
Nothing really to complain about on this flight. 

lie-FLAT BED

The bed on this aircraft goes fully-flat. I noticed that the surface of the bed was not very comfortable. The cushion was too hard in my opinion. The seat is fine to sit in, but might be bothersome on a 12-hour long-haul flight. I also noticed that there is not a lot of shoulder space. It doesn't appear that way from the photo below, but lying down felt a bit tight.

But since this was a two hours flight, I should be thankful that this seat even goes fully flat. This product is still vastly superior to the competitions economy recliner seat in business class. 

Foot space was okay. Not the biggest, not the smallest foot cubby in the world. Since the table is not located under the IFE screen, the cubby provides enough space for side sleepers.

service

The female flight attendant assigned to my seat was very friendly and kind. After the meal service, the cabin crew offered some more beverages and blankets for resting.

IFE

The IFE screen size was about 15 inches. I didn’t play with it much, as this was a rather short flight.