introduction
Hola amigos!
This once, we'll cover the MAD-BOG hop in IB's business class. I had originally bought this ticket on Premium Economy, but I got a last minute upgrade offer for 200 €, couldn't say no!
at MAdrid-Barajas
I took a Cabify to the airport from my flat and left me at T4 in less than 20 minutes (talk about convenience).
I then made it to the dedicated Business Class counters, where I was checked in in no time.
After a swift pass through security, I went for some last minute shopping at El Ganso
Then I took the APM to T4S where I went for lunch at the Velázquez lounge
Where I got close and personal with this Plus Ultra A343…
I wonder whom it use to fly for?
This was the best I could get from the food buffet, at firist try.
I then went to the WCs, very well kept btw
And moved to the dining area, with better seating and food options.
Leisure planes weren't flying a lot those days…
It turned out the A350 in front would be my ride to Bogotá
One last Tercio for the year!
AF's A220s were a novelty back then…
Done with my beer, I went to board my flight
boarding and into the a350
IB had a hit/miss policy on boarding. Sometimes it boarded from back to front…sometimes it did it by groups. Luckily I made it in quickly.
The big red screen welcomed me in
IB seemed to have trouble with its amenity kit suppliers that month…I got this "amenity kit". Awfully cheap.
I got some cava while we got set up for the hop over the Pond
enroute to bogotá
Once boarding was completed, it was time to go to RWY 36L, the regular runway for America-bound departures when using the north configuration.
Avianca still had A332s and sent them to MAD to cover for the 788s that were facing some trouble back then…
We waited for a UX 789 to take off, and then it was our turn to go. We turned left towards the west, which allowed some nice views of Madrid and the northern suburbs while ascending
Even when "all" seats on the sides have windows, the aisle seats are very unconfortable for sightseeing… but we left Iberia in no time, and there wasn't much to see other than the sea…so no big loss.
I had left "Antidisturbios" unfinished in my previous flights on IB, so I watched the episodes I had left to spend the time…
Then lunch came. I don't recoll which were the options (no menu was given)
I was offered several options of Spanish red wine…it was good.
The Entree was some salad with roast beef. It was better than it looked. For dessert we had passion fruit mousse, it was delicious.
For main it was pork with mashed green beans and peppers. Quite good as well.
Some cheeses with quince jelly and grapes to close.
The meal was nothing extraordinary. I expected better (as the catering ex-MAD on Premium Economy is quite good).
It was time to sleep. IB provides a nice pluffy pillow and duvet. But there is no turn-down service
A few ZZZs later I was offered a pre arrival diner. This time, some pasta. WAY better than what you get in the back.
It was dark outside, but our nice map feature told us where we were…just about to arrive!
We had a very soft landing (IB pilots are great at landing…I'm surprised how they manage to land these beasts so softly).
Once I left the plane I was faced with this silly chaos:
And after around 90 minutes I was able to get into my own country and wait some more to pick my bags. Fortunately I now have access to BioMIG that allows Colombians to enter or leave the country without passing through an agent.
Wow 200€ for an upgrade on such a long flight is a steal! I usually buy business outright in Iberia but whenever I do buy Y I’ve never gotten an upgrade offer except one time and it was weird and complicated through email and then it ended up that they didn’t have availability. It was only a short haul flight so I didn’t care, but I really don’t get how it works for buying upgrades. Was the offer during online check-in?
I’m surprised the Velazquez lounge was so empty at the time you were there. Normally it’s busy around lunch time with all the TATL flights going out early to mid afternoon. Though I guess it was 2021 so less travel than now.
Yeah they really were hit or miss with boarding in those days. Technically they had already stopped the covid back to front boarding officially, but some agents were still doing it that way out of habit I think. I hated it. I thought it was so dumb for Business passengers to have to board last when they should have priority.
Looks like the catering was still the simplified Covid-era service. It’s gotten much better since then.
I wonder if these kinds of upgrade deals still happen. I assume the price has gone up a lot since.
Thanks for sharing!
Hello Kevin
Indeed many things such as the pricing and how few people were at the lounge may be explained by the Pandemic.
Re: upgrade, I usually get the offer whilst checking in..is one of their steps. Last week I got an offer to upgrade for €370 on a MAD-BOG flight. It isn't much of a "chollo" as it used to be.
Thanks for passing by!
I guess since I usually only buy short haul flights in Economy I don’t get the offer at check in because you can check in months and months ahead of time on the app on short haul.
€370 isn’t too bad considering inflation since 2021 and the explosion in demand…it’s about what I expected…roughly double the pandemic era pricing. Nice to have that data point, thanks!