Review of Iberia flight from Bogota to Madrid in Economy

Introduction

Hola amigos!

The route between Bogotá and Madrid is one of the busiest between South America and Europe. (Before the Pandemic) it used to have up to 7 flights a day, between Avianca, Iberia and Air Europa. AV and UX fly on 787-8s, while IB flew A340-600.

I was moving to Madrid, so I had to pick between the 3 carriers…or try a connecting flight (but I didn't feel like it). 
I had already tried the route with AV, and I didn't feel like trying UX…So it was basically a non-brainer: flying IB longhaul for the first time, and on one of my favourite planes, without knowing it, it's likely to be the last time.

So here goes the report on Iberia's A346 on the BOG-MAD route.

in BOGOTÁ ELDORAdo airport

I made it to the airport with my ton of bags…and surprise surprise, the queue was huge!

Checkin in took quite a while, and since I had to pay for extra baggage (I couldn't buy it online beforehand) I wasted a whole couple of hours in this.

Done with this it was time to say adiós to my country 

Done with passport control and security I passed through the Duty Free, I bought a couple of perfumes as BOG's Duty Free's prices were quite good.

Then it was time to go to El dorado Lounge, it was too gold for my taste, I prefer the LAN Lounge, but I just wanted to know the new lounge. (sorry for the blurry pics)

I just had enough time to drink something quick and then it was time to board the A340

boarding

This was the third airline I had tried the A346 on. This wasn't the coolest one…but an A346 is an A346.

Before I boarded the plane I was stopped by one of the ground crew who told me the flight would be packed and there wouldn't be space for my carry-on. I told her I rather not since I was carrying some delicate stuff on it. She didn't care and forced me to check it in. 

When you boarded the plane you turned left and you'd see the Business and Premium Economy cabins 

But this once I'll turn right to Economy Class. The seats were even better than on AV's 788.

And this…just made me furious. It remained empty for this flight (probably because of the idiot forcing us to check in our carry-ons.)

Back in the day seatbacks had more than safety cards and barf bags…

The crew went through the cabin handing newspapers…I asked for Marca, given that the super Final for the Libertadores cup would be that weekend in Madrid

We were given pillows and blankets. I'm still haven't made my mind about the "inspirational" motif in the pillow…

ENROUTE to bogota

We took off southward and made a 270° wide turn to head north.
Thanks to my crappy camera no pics are available.

So 30 mins or so after take off, we were given our dinner. There was an offer of beef or pasta. This was the first chance for a series of cultural shocks moving to Spain. While in America we call beef "carne" or "carne de res/vaca", in Spain they call it "ternera"…that is how we call "veal".  It was quite strange for me to be offered veal in a plane…but I didn't feel like having pasta.  I ordered a Lemon Fanta to go along ith the meal. 

Food was tasty and of appropriate quantity. Much better than Avianca in 2016.

Done with the food, i went to sleep.

By the time we were woken up, we were just about to make it to Europe. 

It was time for a visit to the WC…not at its best shape.

We were handed our breakfast boxes…if my memory doesn't fail me, it was a muffin, a chocolate bar and that's about it.

By then we were well over Castille…Salamanca was visible in the distance.

We spent some time circling…

We had an almost imperceptible landing…into IB land, or Madrid Adolfo Suarez as it is officialy known

One last view to our ride…I wish I had the chance to fly more on the A346, sigh

Immigration took no time, and then in less than 30 mins I rode the train to T4 to wait for my bags,

And so my new life in Spain begun…