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349 reviews
Hello amigos!
This is the last part of a 4-part series on a trip between Madrid and Washington DC back in 2022. The previous flights are:
Without further ado…let's get it on!
I pick up where we left in our previous episode, just of the very delayed flight from DCA to JFK.
Now the task was to get to T7, and I didn't have much time for that task (about 90 mins before boarding time). This involved, walking al the way from the extreme of the concourse, going through the tunnnel…which I didn't notice it was so deep until I had to endure the escalators on the way up…
Then cross the main T8
Then head down again, cross the baggage delivery area. Catch an elevator up to the AirTrain level….walk to the AirTrain Station
Ride the AirTrain (happily only one station away)
Down one level
Cross the street
And…I made it
I saw on the maps there was an "express security lane" but it was shut. When I finally made it to the main TSA Check area, the TSA agent told me I had to get a new boarding pass from IB. Bloody hell… back to the IB counter. I got my BP in a couple of minutes, the agent told me to rush as boarding was about to begin.
Back through the TSA
A few flights were leaving at the time, so it was a basically dead building….and a mass of people waiting for their flights to Warsaw and Madrid.
A view to our ride in the distance
At this point I just wanted to board the plane and sit in peace till I got to Madrid. But no, now they were announcing a slight delay (come on! at least this should mean my bags could make it home, right?)
IB operates an all Airbus fleet. Their long haul fleet is composed of A330-200s, A330-300s and A350-900s.
Since the route I travel the most is MAD-BOG, I have mainly used the A350. So now it was time to check how the "older" A330 checked against its newer sibling.
First…I got a glimpse of Business Class. Almost the same seats as the older A350s
Premium Economy (I couldn't book PE, as this flight was supposed to be operated by an A332…)
And my cabin, good old "Turista". Check the faulty lighting.
On my seat, a pillow and blanket were waiting for me
Pitch was okay for the short hop to Madrid. It is way tighter on the A350s!
It's crazy how flying Business or Premium Economy distorts our sense of size. The PTV seemed miniscule
As I was one of the first to board, it feelt like quite a while until the A330 was filled and ready to go (full flight tonight). I hope my bags made it, but the AA app didn't say much
A view to the fellow aircraft on the tarmac. An Alaska 737-900 and the LOT 787 to Warsaw
The crew fired up the PTV safety video (filled with views of dear Madrid)
And we were good to go!
Views while taking off were gorgeous…I felt a bit of FOMO not to have visited NY during this stay, what a great city.
As this was a late departure, and a short flight, we had our dinner served quite fast.
Options were chicken curry or pasta.
Overall, the meal was good. The portion a bit on the small side, but it did the job. I wonder if serving us curry and chickpeas would be a good idea for 200+ people canned in tube across the ocean for 6 hours (but well, here I am 2 years later after that chemical war went on).
Done with the food, it was time to "imagine, vuela, fly".
And so I did until we were iminently over Portugal
This is what we got for "breakfast"…mediocre doesn't even make it. BTW, what's the deal with giving us only sugary stuff?
After that, it was all clear skies on our way to the middle of Iberia.
And thus the best part of the flight, a scenic arrival into Madrid!
Starting with a view to Miraflores de la Sierra (?) and the Cruz de los Caídos (150m high cross)
Then, El Escorial and San Lorenzo del Escorial, and the Sierra de Guadarrama
The northwestern suburbs of Majadahonda, Pozuelo and so on appear…the Cuatro Torres area is visible to the right
zoom in to the towers
Then, the Plaza de Castilla with its iconic towers. Tetuán District, and the Ciudad Universitaria to the bottom and you can spot Barajas' T4 complex on top
Now, AZCA
Then the city centre. You can also make out Las Ventas Bullring, Plaza Colón, Gran Vía, the Teatro Real and the Royal Palace
Zoom into El Retiro
Zoom out to appreciate Madrid…All the green area to its west is a park called Casa de Campo
Now, Cuatro Vientos airport
Another zoom, now to AZCA and the Santiago Bernabeu stadium
Now, la Castellana ….almost all touristy landmarks are visible in these two shots:
Now the T1,T2,T3 complex at MAD
And Torrejón AFB
Now its time for a open U turn to intersect the runways
Last glimpses of the city before landing
Landing and tour over…it was so exciting!
The sierra and T4
Heading to what appears to be the A330 corner
It turns out our plane was named "El Salvador"…
One could tell air traffic was catching up (but governmental actions didn't) because of the long queues at the immigration control
Once I made it to the bag area, I waited more than usual for my bag.
It didn't make it to "El Salvador"'s belly. It would be sent to Madrid on "today"'s flight and be at my door next day.
OK I guess… I forgot to ask for compensation though.
IB did a good job. It was confortable enough and I was able to have a good rest on the short hop across the Atlantic. The first meal was good, but the "breakfast" is less-than-lame, that' why I take some points off.
The arrival to Madrid from the northwest is amazing when the runway configuration leads to these scenic approach, highly recommended! (I actually chose the A side seat because I knew I had high chances of this approach from JFK).
The JFK connection was a bit too stressfull for my taste, and the T7 was too dead... thank god IB and BA have now moved to T8.
MAD was dissapointing this time. Immigration took way too long. But other than that, it was great as usual.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another adventure, ¡saludos!
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 6 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne New York (JFK) → Madrid (MAD).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Delta Air Lines avec 7.4/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 7 heures et 13 minutes.
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3 Comments
That is so silly...I've had this happen as well when connecting between IB and AA...I don't know why IB/AA can't figure out their IT issues....they're Joint-venture partners for crying out loud. So annoying!
Lucky you...I'm always doing TATL between the US and Spain and it's always A330s....I only got an A350 once in the last 3 years lol
Yeah IB really need to add a PE cabin to the 332s to avoid these issues whenever there's an a/c swap. The other way around would not be good for a W pax finding themselves stuck in Y. I wonder who they ended up being able to sit in the W seats....I assume they were being sold as XL seats when not being commercialised as W, as is the case on short-haul routes operated by 350s and 330s.
Honestly I like the colour palette and look of the Y and W cabins better than the J cabin. I don't know why they decided on having so much drab grey and no colour in J.
Thanks for sharing!
Does that mean Elites get free upgrades?
The suspense!!😅
Was the blanket comfortable?
Even if your bag didn’t make it, props to Iberia for delviering it to your house!!
Have to say the breakfst is a poor offering, very poor.
Thanks so much for sharing!!! Looking forward to the next trip!
I guess not, since I was IB+ Gold back then and they didn't bump me up. I don't know how they determined how to fill those seats.
Yes, it did the job. Not as good and nice as the ones up front, but they are fine.
Saludos!
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