introduction
Hello amigos!
Today's FR is on a more mundane intra-Iberian route between Madrid and Porto. IB every now and then has very cheap fares to Portugal, and so…you end up in an unplanned weekend getaway, because…why not?
at madrid barajas
We took our ride to Barajas and brought us in almost no time (this airport is unbeatable in this aspect) …traffic was slowly catching up…
As an IB+ gold, I could use the preferential check in counters.
Check in done, it was time to hang around and have breakfast at the Sala Dalí. Because of my status I was able to skip the queues at the security check. It must have been less than 15 minutes from the car to the lounge. Amazing!
The lounge was on breakfast mode:
Our picks
Thankfully the lounge wasn't too full and we were able to find a good spot by the "window".
Boarding time came and we went to our gate to board our A320 to dear Porto
This may be old news now…but at what point "bud" became "budweiser" in Spain?
into IBeria'S a320
We boarded one of IB's newer A320CEO, with winglets. In the end it doesn't make much difference if you score a months old A320N or a 30 year old one….they all have IB's ghastly short haul interiors
IB was in full swing that morning!
The non-schengen side seemed equally busy
enroute to Porto!
We swiftly taxied to RWY 36L and took off to the west (OPO is almost on a straight line to MAD)
The Sierra de Guadarrama still had some snow on its tops
We passed over Segovia
Castille moved from its regular yellow to green as the days became warmer…
Hey there!
Is this the Douro (?)
This may be Salamanca
And this Vila Real
The Douro now is clearly visible…fingers crossed for a scenic approach over the city!
Porto in sight!
Over the southern suburbs
Oi Porto!
Over Boavista Avenue
Landing iminient
We taxied to our gate…and the sexiest toilet paper welcomed us to Portugal!
There is a bit of nonsensical walk to the baggage claim…it seems to be a trend in Portuguese airports
We collected our bags and then it was time to go to the Metro. There were huge queues as the ticket machines weren't working correctly and tourists were having a tough time dealing with them. It was a bit overwhelming.
And so our weekend getaway began, and this FR comes to an end.
Thanks for reading!
Fast Track is great when there's no queue. I'm glad I get to used the Emerald lane at the Business counters because there's never a wait there either.
Yeah, it's only bearable in the forward rows with the different seats. Those recaro ironing boards are hell, even on short flights. And the pitch is just too tight for anyone over 1m75.
That's definitely true in Y...in J there's quite good with some of the best catering in Europe. But yeah, short haul Y is even worse than some LCCs...Ryanair has way more legroom...which is so sad.
Thanks for sharing!
What life is all about! An aspect I love about Europe is the fact you can hop on a plane for cheap and go away to a different country for the weekend.
Amazing!
No way!! The Euroatlantic plane!
Sad to see Iberia Y being not that great. Haven’t flown them in a while but it especially seems like their shorthaul aircrafts just aren’t great at all.
Thanks for sharing Chibcha! Would love to see a couple of picture of Porto! Have a great day