Review of Iberia flight from Dakar to Madrid in Economy

A fascinating blend

Hello and welcome to another Flight Report!! 

This is the final FR from my Senegal trip and will cover the flight back to Europe with Iberia and British Airways. There aren't any direct flights between the UK and Senegal, as most of the demand comes from Francophone countries (mainly France). However, it's still surprising considering there are weekly flights to Rome (on ITA), Barcelona (on Vueling), and New York (on Delta and United). Ultimately, Iberia and BA were chosen as it was (by far) the cheapest option at €180 (£160), although that was without checked luggage, which set me back a further £50 (or something like that… I can't remember how much it actually was).

I aim to offset all of my CO2 emissions from flights. All emissions are calculated using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and I will be funding projects approved by The Gold Standard.

Dakar Blaise Diagne International Airport (DSS)

You join me in the departures lobby right after my flight from Cap Skirring - arrivals is just at the bottom of that staircase. 

Departures for tonight/tomorrow - most flights to Europe leave in the evening. 

A ton of ticket counters, including some lesser-known airlines like Air Côte d'Ivoire and Asky Airlines. 

Check-in took around 10 minutes with immigration right next to it.

On the left are some automatic barriers - they work for some European passports, although it appears that no one knows which ones exactly. An agent was there asking people to try it and hope for the best. Unfortunately, my passport didn't work, although it seems like Spanish and French passports did. 

The duty-free area. 

It's a standard copy-and-paste store with some Senegalese specialities. 

The gates with a restaurant/bar, although it looks to be closed. 

Having not eaten anything since leaving Cap Skirring, I opted to grab a pizza. For some reason, I tend to gravitate towards pizza whenever I'm flying  - I've only just realized this after noticing how many pizza photos show up in my FRs haha.

Another photo of the gates. 

There's also a kids' play area here, which I can imagine is a huge relief for parents haha. 

The flight

Flight time tonight to Madrid will be 4 hours and here's our route: 

The interior is in a standard European configuration - the plane is mainly used to fly European routes with trips to Africa being a rarity. In fact, I think this is the only non-European route flown on the A321ceo.

And yes, the coat hook is broken, although does anyone actually use it?

Legroom is actually pretty good, especially for a short/medium-haul plane. 

What you don't get on European routes, however, is a blanket. 

First view out of the window with an Air France Boeing 777-300ER heading to Paris (CDG) and a Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-300 heading to Brussels (BRU).

Some trash in the seatback pocket. It's almost impossible to properly check these pockets during a tight turnover, which is why some LCCs (like Ryanair) have removed them completely. 

Pushback around 10 minutes late. 

And takeoff! Bye bye Senegal, thanks for the amazing week! 

Dakar can be seen in the distance. 

Let's have a look at the contents of the seatback pocket. It includes an air-sickness bag…

… a safety card…

And a buy-onboard menu. I'm quite sure BOB isn't available on this flight (as we'll see later on), but it's available on all European routes. 

Wi-Fi should also be available. However, it's not on this flight as we're in a 'low coverage area', which isn't surprising considering we're over the largest hot desert in the world.

The inflight magazine is only available digitally.

No weather info either due to the lack of Wi-Fi. 

Surprisingly, Iberia actually offers meals on this flight. At only 4 hours, it's not much longer than their longest European routes (Madrid to Helsinki is only 15 mins shorter). It's interesting to see how differently they treat European vs non-European routes despite having similar flight times. 

Here it is - it looks absolutely amazing! There was only one option and it was chicken with couscous. Alongside it came some fresh fruit, a sponge cake, and a piece of bread with metal cutlery. It's clearly the same quality they'd serve on their long-haul routes and tastes just as good as it looks. 

This is the first time I've had to eat a meal from these tiny tray tables on these ironing-board seats. I can see Iberia clearly designed their tray around it but even with that, it was hard to juggle everything around haha. 

After that, I spent the rest of the flight sleeping and admiring the stars. The Sahara is an amazing place to stargaze as it has no light pollution. I went to Morocco a few years ago with family and stargazing in the Sahara will be an experience I'll never forget. Sadly, while I did try to take a photo of the sky, it was so dim and blurry you couldn't see a thing. 

Descending into Madrid. 

On final approach. 

Welcome to Madrid!! At 4 am, we're one of the first arrivals of the day.  

Parked at T4S (the non-Schengen terminal with some Schengen flights… confusing, I know). 

Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)

One last photo of our plane. 

I have around 6 hours before my flight to London - I have no idea why I picked the midday BA flight and not one of the many Iberia flights in the morning… 

Departures for the morning. 

I'll end this FR here. There won't be one for the BA flight to London - I didn't bother paying for a seat so I got a 'window' seat in the last row… which just happened to be the only row that didn't have a window (it was an A321neo). But anyways, thanks for following me on this adventure and I'll see you in the next one!! ;)