Last minute work trip to England! As I had to fly over for a meeting and the dates were completely unflexible, I got very lucky, and the cheapest available fare was on Business on the way in.
Flight routing
- 1IB471 OVD ✈︎ MAD A320 Business
- 2I23714 MAD ✈︎ LGW A320 Business
- 3IB3177 LHR ✈︎ MAD A20N Economy
- 4IB482 MAD ✈︎ OVD A320 Economy
The drawback of this trip is that I had a very early flight, leaving from OVD at 6:40, as I had to be in London before lunch time and did not want to spend an extra night over there.
That early in the morning (or better said, in the middle of the night) the airport is very quiet. On this day mine was the first flight, and only one until an hour later.
The positive thing about this is that arriving one hour before departure is more than enough time to make it without any stress.
My home airport, OVD, is a very standard example of a small Spanish airport, as all of them have a similar structure and architechture.
Check in was smooth, as there was nearly no one in the priority queue.
Even though I knew I was going to get something during the flight, I needed some breakfast, and as we have no lounge here, I went to the pre-security bar (the one post-security is closed this early in the morning).
My breakfatst for the day:
The boearding pass for the flight:
The security check was as well very quiet, as most people for the flight were inside waiting to board.
These are the flights for the morning… and no surprises there, as IB always uses gate 8 at OVD. As you can see, V7 is one of the airlines with more presence at OVD (where is actually headquartered).
When I arrived to the gate, boarding was just starting, so I could jump to the end of the queue of the prority group, which was already moving.
The crowd at the door:
The beast of the day was EC-IEF, an A320 named "Castillo de Loarre", which is 21 years old and an old acquaintance of mine, as I have flown it already several times. Sorry I missed taking a picture of it!
IB offers for Business passengers and premium XL seats in Economy an improved version of the ironing board: with a headrest and a very humble recline.
Leg space is decent in the seats up front.
Content of the seat pocket:
View of the logistics corner from my window.
And bye bye home, see you in a couple of days.
View of the airport and one of V7 units getting ready for the day. Taxi is short.
We quickly take off and are above the clouds, were the sun is already rising.
Cabin crew in this flight was very nice. In fact, IB has been working a lot in the last few years to improve the customer experience. The crews seem to be getting friendlier, even though there are some old school ones that seem to be unable to smile.
Service starts shortly after take off. On morning domestic and Portuguese flights IB offers a full breakfast with a warm croissant and toast, tomato and Iberian cold cuts. In my opinion, there is a bit too much plastic going on in the tray, but overall, and for such a short flight, I think it is more than enough (though I miss the omelette they used to offer).
They were happy to bring me a second cup of coffee as well.
Seeing sunrise from the air is always nice!
Landed in Madrid from the south. In the third picture you can see the runway at TOJ, military airport in the Madrid area.
One of my favourite things of landing in MAD is all the spotting :)
Some images of the wonderful T4… though for spotting is on the dull side, as almost everything is IB or I2.
The very sunny air bridge.
First look into the terminal.
Many more pictures of MAD to come in my following report.
Hola Quicmann!
Qué placer encontrar un informe de OVD! Mi abuelo paterno (Salustiano Álvarez) era de Arroes, cerca de Villaviciosa, y emigró a Chile a principios del siglo pasado. Espero volver a Arroes, aunque allí ya no queda nadie de la familia. Todos emigraron o se fueron muriendo.
De IB prefiero ni comentar. Me alegra que estén mejorando su servicio, pero esa cabina se ve más Premium Economy que Business. En fin, nunca he volado en Business así que mejor me callo, jaja.
Voy a preguntar al admin por el nombre del aeropuerto. No creo que alguien encuentre rápidamente el aeropuerto de Oviedo buscando "Ranón"!
Gracias por las fotos desde el aire. Siempre son mi parte favorita de los informes!
Gracias por compartir! :)
¡Gracias por el comentario! Qué alegría que me comente un chileno-asturiano. Yo soy uruguayo, pero llevo un tiempo ya viviendo en Oviedo.
La zona de Arroes es preciosa. ¡Si vienes avisa que te hago la visita turística!
Iberia ha sido un mal necesario para mí, pero tengo que admitir que han mejorado mucho (aunque les quede). Las tripulaciones son más agradables, la comida (incluso en Y en los vuelos de largo radio) ha mejorado y la experiencia es mejor en general. La Business es una J estándar europea. Lamentablemente (que a mi me toca muy poco viajar en J) lo único que tenemos es la butaca libre del medio.
Esa es otra agradable sorpresa! Amo Uruguay. He estado tres veces allá y no me canso de Montevideo y la ciudad vieja y esas ramblas infinitas. Con un amigo (mi anfitrión de airbnb) fuimos a andar en bicicleta por ahí. Él vive (o vivía, porque vendió su departamento) en un bellísimo edificio antiguo frente al mar justo en el límite de la ciudad vieja, en una calle que baja de la plaza de la Independencia, a un par de pasos del palacio Salvo, y de ahí fuimos hasta el letrero de Montevideo. Subimos a la torre de telecomunicaciones. Muy bonita vista. Y es una ciudad tan tranquila para ser una capital que da gusto estar ahí. También conocí Punta del Este, la Casa Pueblo, Colonia... todo es tan lindo! Y quedé asombrado de los campos porque se parecen mucho al sur de Chile, con esos lomajes suaves y todo tan verde. Realmente bello.
Te lo voy a cobrar! Cuando fui recorrí desde Navia hasta Llanes, pero mis parientes se excedieron un poco y quedé tan cansado que en los últimos viajes ya me quedaba dormido de cansancio!! Así que vale la pena volver. Y cuando fuimos a Picos de Europa estaba nublado así que no vi el Naranjo de Bulnes. :(
Lo sé. Esas montañas deben estar en mi adn porque las extraño mucho. Menos mal que mi abuelo se vino a Chile, donde también las hay!
Parece que las aerolíneas de bander han tenido problemas para hacerle frente a las low cost. Aquí Latam también decepciona bastante comparada con las low cost locales. Debe ser que uno espera más de ellas por ser aerolíneas más grandes y con más tradición.