Review of Iberia flight from Bogota to Madrid in Business

Travel to the airport

In Bogota I'm staying at the Hilton Garden Inn El Dorado. The hotel provides a complimentary shuttle to the airport every hour on the hour. The journey to the airport takes roughly 15 minutes.

Check-in

With three daily departures to Madrid, Iberia has quite a huge operation here in Bogota. There are two check-in counters for Business Class passengers, and six for Economy Class.

Airside

By the time I'm through immigration and security, I have about two hours to go to departure. The boarding card says that boarding starts at 17h20, one hour before departure - which seems a bit excessive. 

In Bogota, Iberia uses the LATAM lounge opposite gate A2. However, given that the lounge has no views worth mentioning, I decide to head for my gate at A7 to watch the inbound from Madrid arrive.

boarding

Boarding starts at 17:30, which is still quite early for our 18h20 departure. Or maybe not…

The boarding process takes for ever, mainly because passengers and their bags are only allowed into the airbridge in groups, where they and their bags are checked for narcotics by the police. It's all rather unpleasant.

The Cabin & Seat

The cabin is laid out in a 1 + 2 + 1 configuration. Seats on the uneven rows are on the aisle, whereas seats on the even rows are by the window.

The seat is brilliant and offers a lot of private storage space. 

I am seated on 1C, which means I have even more storage space in the bulkhead, which is rather convenient.

The seat offers a lot of privacy. In addition to the sliding doors, the seats have been arranged to maximize privacy, so that even with the door open, you can't actually see your neighbors.

At my seat when I arrive is a mattress, a pillow and a blanket. A vanity kit is also provided.

The crew

The crew on this flight are really great, friendly and very helpful. While boarding is still underway, a selection of cava, orange juice or water is served.

Followed by the menu.

departure

Eventually, we push back from our stand thirty minutes late. No wonder with such a boarding process. We take off toward the south and then make a wide-sweeping left turn to point us in the general direction of Madrid.

inflight catering - dinner

The meal service starts as soon as the take-off sign is turned off. The crew are clearly on a mission to keep the service short, so that passengers can maximize their rest. The service begins with an unscented hot towel.

For the starter, I have the guacamole with bread.

The tray is served with the cheese on it to save time later on.

For the main course, I have the spinach ravioli filled with ricotta in a rich, tangy tomato sauce. This is really a very good dish and probably the best thing I've eaten all week in Bogota.

For dessert I have a small apple tart served with dulce de leche, which hits the spot nicely.

And then I go off to sleep

breakfast

I awake ninety minutes out of Madrid, which means I slept for a solid six hours. The seat is really very comfortable in the bed position. As soon as the crew see me stir, they come to take my order for breakfast. I go with the omelette. which is served with pastries and rolls.

The second meal service is as efficient as the first one. As soon as I'm done, the tray is taken away and shortly after that we start the descent into Madrid's satellite Terminal 4S.

Arrival in Madrid

We land and make the short taxi to our stand. And that brings to an end my first Iberia experience on long-haul.

Immigration is very quick. I then take the metro to the main terminal and make my way outside to take the landside shuttle to Terminal 2.