Review of American Airlines flight from Madrid to Miami in Business

Hi there, after a while of not having reported my flights (unintentionally though, there were some flights I was willing to report, but wasn’t in the mood on the actual flight) I am back on track.
I currently go to Uni in the UK and had to fly home back for Christmas. I wanted these flights to be special for me since I love flying and I’d rather by 35,000 feet above the ground than anywhere else to be fair and wanted to give some special treat for myself that I would not easily forget. I started to look flights in J and after lots of thinking and debating whether this was worth doing or not (as always I took too long to book the flights), I finally booked an ex EU fare flying out of MAD to LIM via MIA with AA and flying back to LHR with AA and BA. I booked an economy BA flight to position myself from LHR to MAD for the night before and booked a room at the Crowne Plaza near MAD for the night, for almost the same price than hostels in the area were charging.
The flight from LHR to MAD was operated by Iberia on a beautiful A340, it got delayed for almost three hours due to fog over Heathrow. The flight was alright and the captain managed to reduce the flying time significantly in order to minimize the delay.
I managed to doze off for about six hours before my alarm set off at 8 to get ready for the big flights.

I took the hotel shuttle to MAD only to realize I had left my passport in the hotel. Taxi back and thankfully it was still in the room. I was back at the airport roughly two hours before my flight. The priority check in was really packed so they sent some of us to the regular lanes. The check in lady was extremely friendly, kind and chatty, possibly the best check in service I have encountered so far. She asked me what I was doing in Spain and didn’t seem thrilled when I answered I had arrived from LHR last night and was flying to LIM via MIA. Perfect!

I passed security through the fast track which was done in a jiffy and took the train to T4S where I had to do passport control before being released into the duty free maze. I went straight to the lounge. AA as all oneworld airlines operating in MAD use the IB lounges. The airside lounge is gorgeous and has amazing views towards the platform.

The lounge was packed but after some searching I managed to find a seat. I had some breakfast and then served myself a glass of cava and some tortilla de patatas. I was slightly disappointed by the fact that there was no jamon serrano, but oh well! Too soon, they announced boarding for my flight so I started to make my way to the gate.

Turns out we were way early cause the crew wasn’t even there. It took about 15 minutes for boarding to be announced which was unnecessary. I would have been much happier enjoying the lounge for some more time.

I simply love the architecture of MAD's T4.

IB A333

CX 77W
The flight was completely full, mostly with people going to spend the Christmas break in Florida.
I was greeted by a cheery female FA and directed myself to seat 11J. My seatmate was already there and seemed mildly annoyed by the fact that I opened up the window blind as soon as I sat down.

They passed the welcome drinks in plastic cups and we took off without having to wait for much longer.

Once in the air, they took some time to came across asking for lunch orders. The choices were steak, chicken, halibut or pasta. I chose the former which was a bit dry. The sauce helped improve the dish a little but it was not a very good meal overall.

starting up with some warm nuts and a coke

starter, don't know what it was but it wasn't good at all.

Then the crew passed back offering dessert to which of course I chose the sundae and with all the toppings.

After lunch I reclined my seat into a more comfortable position, started to watch some chapters of The Bing Bang theory and managed to snooze off for a couple of hours.

Accidentally when folding the tray table my phone slipped through the gap between the seat and the central console. Since there was no way I was going to be able to retrieve it myself, I decided to wait until landing and ask the crew for help once in the ground in order not to bother my seat mate.
One hour before landing the crew came offering a pre arrival snack which consisted of either a Thai Salad or a Croque monsieur. I chose the latter which was very good. The dish came with a Greek salad and a chocolate pudding similar to those that BA gives back in economy. It was very tasty though!
We had a smooth-ish landing in Miami and I regretted not having my phone with me to take some pictures.
After landing I asked a female FA if she could help me retrieve my phone. The thing was that my phone was way under the seat and I couldn’t even see it when trying to look it up. We spent about twenty minutes trying to retrieve it until after doing some gymnastics I managed to grab it. They did call a mechanic for help, but apparently since it was a Sunday there was none available.

AA 772 from MIA. The bird in the left flew us from MAD.
I thanked the crew for their help and made my way out to passport control, but I’ll save that for another time. To sum all up, it was very good flight and I really enjoyed being up front and spending some relaxing time above the clouds. I will soon post the second part of this FR from MIA to LIM as soon as I have it ready.
Thanks for reading and merry Christmas!