This series covers a two week vacation to Europe that will feature stops in SOF, BEG, TIV, LIS, ARN, and ATH. For background and planning, please refer back to Part 1. As a reminder, the routing for this series is:
Part 1 – IAH-IAD [UA 373, Boeing B767-300ER, Economy] – Here Part 2 – IAD-MUC [UA 106, Boeing B767-400ER, Economy] – Here Part 3 – MUC-SOF [LH 1702, Airbus A321, Economy] – Here Part 4 – SOF-BEG [JU 123, Aérospatiale/Alenia ATR 72-200, Economy] – Here Part 5 – BEG-TIV [YM 201, Fokker F100, Economy] – Here Part 6 – TIV-BEG [YM 202, Fokker F100, Economy] – Here Part 7 – BEG-LHR [JU 380, Airbus A319, Business] – Here Part 8 – LHR-MAD [IB 3167, Airbus A330-300, Business] – Here Part 9 – MAD-LIS [IB 3118, Airbus A321, Business] – You are here Part 10 – LIS-LHR [BA 499, Airbus A320, Business] – Here Part 11 – LHR-ARN [BA 780, Boeing B767-300ER, Business] – Here Part 12 – ARN-BEG [JU 411, Airbus A319, Business] – Here Part 13 – BEG-ATH [JU 512, Airbus A319, Business] – Here Part 14 – ATH-IST [TK 1850, Boeing B737-900ER, Economy] – Here Part 15 – IST-ATH [TK 1843, Boeing B737-800, Economy] – Here Part 16 – ATH-FRA [A3 830, Airbus A321, Economy] – Here Part 17 – FRA-IAH [UA 47, Boeing B787-900, EconomyPlus] – Here
Tourist Bonuses:
Sofia – Part 4 Kotor – Part 6 Belgrade – Part 7 Lisbon – Part 9 Sintra – Part 10 Stockholm – Part 12 Athens – Part 16
This report will cover the trans-Iberian flight from MAD to LIS on IB. Since there was a short connection in MAD and a nighttime flight, this will be a short and sweet report.
Pre-flight:
Since I had a 55-minute layover in MAD, there was no time to doddle. I left off the last series as I rushed to immigration and cleared security. After taking the elevator up to the main concourse, I still had a ~7 minute walk to my gate. MAD is a ghost town at this hour.
The awesome ceiling in MAD T4.
By the time I finally reach my gate, boarding is well under way. I decide to just wait and board last.
I just grab a seat by my gate and admire the terminal while I take a breather.
My boarding pass for this flight.
My plane waiting outside, it will be in the new livery.
When last call is made, I join the queue and head down the jetbridge.
Traffic jam.
Fuselage shot.
Finally entering the galley, the male FA greets me in Spanish, followed by English (after seeing my blank stare). The male FA working the F cabin was actually British and had been working with IB for over 5 years now. A picture of the bulkhead row and my seat.
Seat pitch is generous in the bulkhead for European J standards.
Our next door neighbor is a BA ERJ-190.
The bulkhead has a “You are here” sign.
The bulkhead pocket in dated grey leather.
Safety card for this A321.
The FA then came through and offered me an English newspaper.
He also offered a pillow.
We fired up on time and were quickly leaving MAD on this quiet night.
The J cabin was only 2 rows on this flight and the load was 3/8. The 2nd row remained empty. The only other passengers were seated in 1A and 1C. The FA asked if one of them wanted to move back to Row 2, but they both declined and talked to each other the entire flight over whiskey.
As soon as signaled, the FA immediately was up and taking drink/dinner orders. There was no option for main. The tray as delivered.
I asked for water and Irish cream. He returned with my water glass, he set up the tray table next to me for my drinks, and poured the Irish cream in front of me. This seems to be a service protocol on IB, where they show the bottle and pour the liquor in front of you.
The salad was the same as on the last flight.
The main was better than the tasteless pasta served LHR-MAD, but the green beans were very dry. The chicken was stuffed with some sort of olive and apricot filling?
Two pieces of cheese and ONE grape comprised the cheese plate.
The dessert. I didn’t even try and open this up to see what it was, I didn’t want to touch it.
Bread was offered from a basket.
Instead of the separate coffee/tea service, the coffee cup and chocolate was pre-placed on the tray and filled immediately.
I didn’t finish the meal by the time we started our final descent. Before I knew it, we were dropping into LIS on a clear night.
We touched down on time and had a short taxi to our gate.
We pulled into the last gate, to our right was some TP A320s at remote stands.
Deplaning into the neon LIS terminal.
Following the signage to the baggage claim.
After collecting my bag, I went straight to the subway station where I bought and charged an IC card and took the subway to my hotel. The Lisbon metro is very clean, convenient, and cheap.
I’ll leave off this series here as I begin my 3-night stay in LIS. I’ll pick up this series as I begin the BA portion of the itinerary up to ARN.
—————————— Lisboa Tourist Bonus:
Padrão dos Descobrimentos
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
Raccoon Graffiti
Torre de Belém
Marina.
Bright colored houses near Belém
Estádio do Restelo, the home of C.F. Os Belenenses
Jardim Afonso de Albuquerque and the Palácio de Belém
Câmara Municipal de Lisboa
Praça do Comércio and the Arco da Rua Augusta
Streets in downtown Lisboa.
Sé de Lisboa
Azulejos de Lisboa
Castelo de São Jorge
Peacock
Views of Lisboa from Castelo de São Jorge
Igreja de São Vicente de Fora
Sunset from Igreja e Convento da Graça
Estátua de D. Pedro IV
Estátua de Dom João I
See more
Verdict
Iberia
6.5/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi3.0
Meal/catering7.0
Madrid - MAD
8.6/10
Efficiency9.5
Access7.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0
Lisbon - LIS
8.5/10
Efficiency9.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0
Conclusion
A decent performance by IB on this short hop. The catering is abundant, but lacks quality. The crew was pleasant and that made it a good flight.
Cabin comfort: The older A321 was pretty average. The seats are what they are, but at least I had the row to myself and the bulkhead legroom is decent.
Crew: A pretty chatty British FA on this flight. He was very attentive and smiling. Probably not a normal experience on IB, but this crew was at least very good.
Meal and catering: No menu or PDB. For a <1 hour flight departing at 23:00, a full meal tray is a job well done by IB. That said, quantity and quality are two very different things. I wasn't so impressed by the quality of what they put on the tray.
Entertainment: Newspaper offered. Standard seatback literature. No IFE.
0 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
It's a short flight and you can't expect a choice of a hot meal. I would have eaten the dessert, and possibly regretted that I had ;) A splendid view of Lisbon upon arrival - on par with the cityscape when descending on daytime. (Great view of MAD's terminal too). You did not identify your title picture, but most people know this monument (I do!) Thanks for sharing !
A splendid view of Lisbon upon arrival - on par with the cityscape when descending on daytime." - The Fake Golden Gate Bridge was hard to get in focus when we crossed the Tagus River.
"You did not identify your title picture, but most people know this monument (I do!)" - The bonus has been added just for you ;)
"MAD makes me think of ZRH after 10pm : Closed shops and nobody in sight." - Or most airports, lol^^
"The catering looks decent for such a short flight." - The quantity was impressive given the flight time and duration, but it didn't really taste that great.
"A very interesting design inside MAD's T4." - Probably the most beautiful airports architecturally. Can't wait to go back for New Year's for a proper stay.
"The quantity was definitely great for such a short flight, I didn't excpect a full meal. Quality wasn't the best but still better than a snack." - It's the same amount as food as served on LHR-MAD, which is considerably longer.
"Beautiful bonus from the Portuguese capital!" - I also realized I never finished reading your series to LIS, I'll get on that this week ;)
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344 reviews
7 Comments
A splendid view of Lisbon upon arrival - on par with the cityscape when descending on daytime. (Great view of MAD's terminal too).
You did not identify your title picture, but most people know this monument (I do!)
Thanks for sharing !
A splendid view of Lisbon upon arrival - on par with the cityscape when descending on daytime."
- The Fake Golden Gate Bridge was hard to get in focus when we crossed the Tagus River.
"You did not identify your title picture, but most people know this monument (I do!)"
- The bonus has been added just for you ;)
MAD makes me think of ZRH after 10pm : Closed shops and nobody in sight.
The catering looks decent for such a short flight.
"MAD makes me think of ZRH after 10pm : Closed shops and nobody in sight."
- Or most airports, lol^^
"The catering looks decent for such a short flight."
- The quantity was impressive given the flight time and duration, but it didn't really taste that great.
A very interesting design inside MAD's T4.
Nice to get some 'proper' legroom on a European flight in J.
The quantity was definitely great for such a short flight, I didn't excpect a full meal. Quality wasn't the best but still better than a snack.
Absolutely fantastic shots of Lisbon before landing!
Beautiful bonus from the Portuguese capital!
Have a good one, see you!
"A very interesting design inside MAD's T4."
- Probably the most beautiful airports architecturally. Can't wait to go back for New Year's for a proper stay.
"The quantity was definitely great for such a short flight, I didn't excpect a full meal. Quality wasn't the best but still better than a snack."
- It's the same amount as food as served on LHR-MAD, which is considerably longer.
"Beautiful bonus from the Portuguese capital!"
- I also realized I never finished reading your series to LIS, I'll get on that this week ;)
Thanks for stopping by and reading my report!
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