#49 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
346 reviews
Here is the return trip for my flash visit to London. Same routing as for the way in, but leaving from LHR (which is arguably better than LGW).
I was dropped at Terminal 3 by a colleague (and to be honest it was my first time on the outside of the terminal, as I usually take public transport to get there). I think that the terminal looks fancier on the outside than it does on the inside.
It seems that IB will be rejoining BA on Terminal 5 soon, so it seems I won't be coming here as often. I have mixed feeling about this, as at Terminal 5 there is much better connectivity to BA flights… but I really like the lounge choice of Terminal 3!
The inside of the terminal is covered in panels due to the current works.
I arrive to IB's check in desks, which are quiet (even if it is less than 2 hours to the next flight). There is a dedicated lane for priority customers, so there I go…
IB's check in at Terminal 3 used to be handled by AA, original reason for the move to Terminal 3, but this has changed back to BA (hence, I imagine, the soon to happen move to Terminal 5).
I go straight to security, which seems to be quiet today. This is not always the case for fast track at LHR… I have waited up to 45 minutes here!
Airside, the terminal is as busy as usually.
As I said, one of my favourite things at LHR at Terminal 3 is the great choice of lounges for OneWorld passengers. I am not visiting all today, but this is my experience here:
* The Centurion Lounge: is nice and has good food offering, but, for me, it has a major issue, as it has no windows.
* Qantas Lounge: pleasant and quiet, though food offering is often mediocre. More info on this one below.
* Cathay Pacific Lounge: looooooove this lounge! Especially the food offering and the on-demand dim sums. Reported below.
* Club Aspire: not worth it. Usually packed with people, with questionable cleanliness and below average food.
* British Airways Lounge: this is a smaller and more humble version of the galleries in Terminal 5. Usually quite full.
* Admirals Club: really underwhelming! Especially if we compare it to the nice Flagship Lounges AA has in JFK or MIA. Given that this is a focus city for AA I would expect an upgrade happening here.
I head to the CX Lounge :)
Welcome is always warm and with clear Asian touches (as the way the boarding pass is handed back to you).
The J lounge is at the back. I really like the wood touches here.
Even though we are close to a CX departure, the lounge is nice and quiet.
I go straight to the Noodle Bar to order my lunch.
When you place your order you get a buzzer to pick it up once it is ready.
There is a nice variety of tea and coffee.
And a good buffet as well.
My buzzer goes on and I go to pick up my order at the Noodle Bar, where there is a nice selection of sauces and toppings.
This is my selection. The soup was average but the dim sum and pad thai were really good!
And the view during lunch was not bad either!
My boarding card for the flight.
I did not need to shower, but I wanted to change to more travel-appropriate attire than my business clothes, so I requested a shower.
As I had a few minutes to spare I went to the "down-under" QF lounge for a coffee. They have a barista there and coffee is usually quite good.
This lounge is usally very quiet and pleasant. As you enter, there is an a-la-carte restaurant, though I have never found it open!
ther eis a upstairs area, where the rest of the lounge is located.
I did not stop to look at the food, but usually is nothing to write home about. I went straight to the bar for my macchiato.
My flight has been assigned gate 3… so there I go!
At LHR there is always a bit of a walk.
At the gate, they pre-check your documents and boarding pass, making the whole boarding process quite seamless.
The plane is here! Today is EC-NCM, named "Amelia Earhart", one of IB's A20N that I've flown 6 times in its 4 years since joining IBs fleet. Getting an A20N is always a surprise, as IB does not differentiate between these and the A320s in the flight planning… so you don't know what your getting until last minute.
Boarding started on time.
Enter text here…
I'm one of the first into the cabin. Surprisingly, there is no separation between J and Y.
My seat for the next couple of hours.
Leg space is tight, even if I am not massive (1,80m). I regret not having taken an emergency exit seat.
The content of the seat pocket.
The views from my window.
The captain informs that the flight is suffering a delay of 30 minutes due to air traffic limitations over France, due to the current strikes.
After the expected delay we taxi to our take off position, which at LHR always takes a while.
We take off.
The only in-flight picture I took, as I slept throughout most of the flight.
Approximation and on-time landing in MAD.
Views of T4S at MAD.
We quickly started deboarding. There is a surprisingly long way from the jet bridge to the terminal at MAD.
Finally in the terminal.
You will see the continuation of my trip, including the IB lounge at MAD, in the following report.
Enter text here…
IB: Same as always, though I do not recall at all anything about the cabin crew, so they were just not memorable (neither in a positive or negative way).
LHR: I like terminal 3, mainly because of the lounges. For the rest, same old LHR... slow and overcrowded.
MAD: I like it. Nice architecture, full of light and easy to connect at.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 36 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne London (LHR) → Madrid (MAD).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est British Airways avec 7.3/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 19 minutes.
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2 Comments
HAH, that is EXACTLY what I thought last time I was through T3. It looked especially pretty outside with the violet lighting, but is always so blah inside.
When I flew from T5 last July there were waits over an hour at the South Fast track...luckily the North checkpoint was empty so I ran there
T3 is definitely one of the best places for lounge-hopping with oneworld Status. So much choice! HKG and SIN also come to mind as having great OW lounge options.
Yup, very basic. Mostly because there's a separate First lounge, so the Admirals Club is not as nice. The one in CDG is much better by comparison. I believe both the AA F lounge and Admirals club will be getting upgrades at LHR soon.
Hah funny and I've only seen it open, but I still prefer to go upstairs (for the kids playroom)
Weird, never seen that before!
Yeah, seat pitch in standard Y seats is only 28"...the strict minimum you can have. Were there no XL seats available for you, or maybe the J cabin went all the way back to the last row of "good" seats?
Thanks for sharing!
I can feel your pain... LHR is always a gamble when it comes to security queues!
I used to be gold for Star Alliance and T2 was a similar experience. You could spend hours roaming from one lounge to another.
The is one of the few things where Iberia Plus Gold falls short! As gold you can get free of charge only regular and emergency exit seats, XL seats are exclusive for Platinum Card holders.
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