Intro
Hello amigos!
Welcome to this FR on IB's Premium Economy service between Madrid and Bogotá in the early post-pandemic days (2021).
My routing would be as follows:
Flight routing
- 1Iberia MAD-BOG Premium Economy
- 2Iberia BOG-MAD Business
Since things were easing up in Colombia after the nasty 2020, I had planned to spend Easter week over there.
Colombia requested 24h negative PCR tests before boarding. So I took my PCR test the morning before the flight. I did my check in right after I took my test and had a normal day at work.
Next morning I was ready to go to Barajas, but the first thing that showed up was my result: Positive.
F.ck
I had to spend Easter recovering from Covid, I had mild symptoms, I felt mostly tired and that was it. But my biggest scare was that I would be alone if things went south. Merrily they didn't and two weeks later I was ready for my trip to Colombia!
At madrid barajas
I grabbed a Cabify to MAD (it gives me Avios on IBPlus btw) planning to arrive over 3 hours before departure.
There was no sepparate queue for Economy Premium as advertised on IB's webpage. All non-business passengers flying abroad were sent to the same queue which was a total mess. With each country having different requisites and whatnot, it took ages for the IB people to check all requisites.
I took me about 2 hours to check in. The lady told me to go straight to the gate as more queues were expected.
I crossed quickly through security. And against the check in agent's advice, I went to take a peep into the VIP Lounge at T4, as the one in T4S was not
The plaza mayor lounge
The lounge entrance said there was limited capacity. I tried my luck nonetheless. If it took too much I would head to the T4S and that would be it.
The offering was pretty much as pre-Covid, but now someone would hand you the food and drinks. There were QR codes with the menu.
It was so odd to see UX at the T4.
The lounge was fine. Better than hanging with the crowds in the public areas. But waiting for your flight in T4 if you depart from T4S was a bit of a nuissance.
I finished my meal and went on to my gate.
boarding
Crossing the border wasn't much of a trouble. There weren't many flights to America that day as the departure board showed:
There was some crowd at the gate. IB crew were checking again for our documents. This made sense for connecting passengers, but it was totally silly for those who had been checked earlier during check-in.
This was my first time trying IB's Premium Economy product, and I was eager to see how it compared to the other two classes…
Boarding took place by row, back to front…so I was one of the last to board.
My first impression was positive. Wider seats, huge PTV. Nice legroom. The seat itself felt a bit battered (which is odd for a relatively new plane, and unused for almost a whole year).
Premium Economy also offered a "better" pillow and blanket. Nice and plushy for the 9 hour hop over the pond!
We were handed an amenity kit and noise-cancelling earphones
enroute to bogotá
As I was among the last to board, boarding was completed shortly after I was settled on my seat.
Our A350's RRs were fired up and ready to go!
So odd to see T4S so empty at its PM bank
Chao Madrid!
BA's A380s in storage
We taxied to RWY 14R and took off in no time
Film offerings weren't great for this flight. So I chose to listen to audiobooks and read.
BTW what's the deal with this camera on the PTV?
After we left Europe, lunch was served. It was top notch!
It was tasty and the portions generous. But I don't know if this was different to what they handed to the passengers in Economy (I know now IB does).
Food taken care of, I kept reading and sleeping.
IB's A350s do not have a dedicated WC for Premium Economy, so the nearest ones are in the middle of the Economy Class cabin, by the 3 doors.
These weren't kept in top shape for this flight.
And so, the flight and day passed by…
About an hour before reaching Bogotá we were handed our pre-arrival meals: a wrap and a muffin. It was okay. Nothing awesome.
The cabin was cleared and we neared Bogotá, we had a view of the city from the north
We then made a sort of U and lined up with one of the 13 Runways.
When we made it to Bogotá, it was a mess. It took over 2 hours to pass through the Colombian border. Thankfully we didn't have to wait much for the bags.
Hola Chibcha, nice to see a review on Iberia Premium Economy since there aren't that many out there!
Early 2021 was a stressful time to travel, I remember well--but at least we finally COULD travel again...a limited amount anyway, and as long as we tested Negative for Covid...
ARG NO! That was always my worst nightmare. I think it also discouraged a lot of people from flying for fear of getting stuck somewhere until they tested negative again! I always tested right at the MAD T4 clinic before flying out and luckily was always negative--always such a relief. Thank Goodness now that stress is gone!
Were Iberia pretty easy with changing the flights due to Covid, or was it a messy process? Stories from anyone in that situation have always varied wildly.
Oh yikes, there's definitely a separate Premium Economy check-in area now. I do remember how slow check-in was in those days with so many Covid entry requirement documents to check for so many different countries. Thank goodness planes were mostly half empty. I remember check-in being a mess, and then the gates were also a mess because you had to present Covid documents AGAIN at the gate and queue for another hour. I'm so glad MAD has gone back to being efficient and pleasant!
Yes, I've done it before (leaving from Schengen M gates at T4S which don't have access to the Velazquez lounge in non-Schengen area) and it's a bit stressful since it takes a while to get to T4S so you don't want to leave too late and miss your flight, but also not too early and then be bored at T4S. It's a fine balancing act haha
A very solid product on board! Nice, spacious seats, and food looks good...though I think it is exactly the same as Economy. Still looks good! IB Premium Economy is also a pretty good value much of the time as it's usually barely more than Economy whenever I look--maybe 300-400 EUR more Roundtrip on TATL, which is pretty decent considering the added confort with wider seats, especially considering that many airlines charge that much just for just Economy +/Extra Legroom seats.
Again, great to see a report on IB W, and a report from those days brings back a lot of memories of a time that MAD because my primary TATL departure airport.
Thanks for sharing!
If I'm not wrong, it was a mess. I had bought two separate tickets (because I was initially in Bogotá back in 2020), so this leg was my return to Bogota (BOG-MAD-BOG ticket) and my "return" to Madrid was another (BOG-MAD-BOG) ticket I bought afterwards....(all because IB was a huge mess during 2020 and I had to buy two tickets in 2020 so I could return to Madrid). So IB let me change my MAD-BOG flight, because of my positive test. But for the BOG-MAD they said I could not change tickets because my flight was scheduled beyond the 14 day thereshold they had set. I wrote back explaining the whole deal to them and they didn't budge, so I had to pay to change my BOG-MAD flight. (awful memory unblocked).
> Oh yikes, there's definitely a separate Premium Economy check-in area now. I do remember how slow check-in was in those days with so many Covid entry requirement documents to check for so many different countries. Thank goodness planes were mostly half empty. I remember check-in being a mess, and then the gates were also a mess because you had to present Covid documents AGAIN at the gate and queue for another hour. I'm so glad MAD has gone back to being efficient and pleasant!
I reckon it depended on the country of destination. Flights to Bogotá were packed as Colombia had a fairly "liberal" Covid policy.
Well, MAD had to have some flaws ? ...other than that I find it to be a fantastic airport.
Thanks for passing by!
Oops, didn't mean to open that can of worms, but thanks for the detailed response!
Indeed, I remember Colombia has he easiest Covid Entry requirements for Intl travellers for the longest time
Indeed! Tiny flaws IMO. Otherwise my favourite big airport in Europe!