Landed in the day before from London City, it was really stormy. The thunderstorm and showers continued overnight and into the next day. It was very gloomy!
Air Europa flights depart from Barcelona's Terminal 1.
Security was quite congested today, around 20 minutes wait time. The staff were friendly and having a good laugh though - which made the process less annoying for a change!
Jamón Ibérico anyone?
Barcelona, to it's credit, does have some lovely eateries dotted around Terminal 1, including this market-style supermarket.
There's also an outdoor terrace complete with Starbucks coffee shop and cocktail bar to the left.
Lounge access even on this domestic hop is included in the cost of your ticket. It's the VIP Pau Casals lounge located on the upper floor of the Terminal 1 concourse.
It was very busy when I arrived but then became rather quiet as quite a few long-haul flights were called in rapid-succession.
The food was quite nice and served tapas-style of course! No complaints here.
There were also 'partial' apron views.
Today's ride, EC-NBX, this 6 year old Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Interesting fact, this is the same aircraft that was involved in an accident back in April 2024 at SDQ (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) when part of the runway surface broke up as the aircraft landed, causing debris damage to the belly. It returned to service 8 days later after repairs.
Boarding not boarding was in play today. As we boarded, I was told my seat had an issue and was moved to 1K. I found out upon entering the cabin that this was due to an aircraft swap and the lovely new-ish business class cabin I was hoping to review had actually been replaced by the older style cabin.
And here it is, my home for the next 49 minutes! Seat 1K.
As airy and light this cabin was, it did feel a bit outdated.
Lots of buttons, plugs, outlets and storage though!
There was even time for a pre-departure drink. Just orange juice on offer on this domestic hop. It was REALLY good!
The side of my seat was extremely dirty though!
The were these black stains everywhere on the seat frame.
And the filthy trend sadly continued in other areas of the cabin, too.
Climbing out of Barcelona. This felt rather surreal on a widebody jet for such a short flight!
The snack service then commenced. I didn't really get to see what was on offer with the Cabin Crew member assuming I wanted the 'chips'.
So it was a bag of ready salted Lays crisps for me…
…and another glass of that really good orange juice! (I'd love to know what brand this was - it was REALLY nice!)
The views on the way down to Madrid.
And we ended up racing an Emirates 777-300ER (Yes, Emirates won!)
Just had enough time to test out the fully lie-flat bed mode on the seat. It felt okay and I think you'd probably get some sleep here on a long-haul sector but this too, was filthy.
A sharp bank as we entered the hold over Madrid.
And just like that, 49 minutes later, we were on the ground taxiing towards Madrid-Barajas' Terminal 2.
My verdict: if you can snag this for the price I did, it's probably worth it. But don't pay over the odds. Oh and Air Europa… Have a word with your cleaning teams. This aircraft was filthy!
Thanks for sharing this FR. For some reason, I through UX had Aura Lite seats, didn't realize they had Equinox seats. The older UX version definitely looks more plasticky and less modern than the updated Elysium version CI has on its A321neos. A very generous rating for catering considering it was just a bag of Lays, a small tray of cold tapas would be more appropriate similar to what LH/LX do on their even shorter hub-to-hub shuttles.
Big thanks for reading. These seats are sadly still in play, with the newer config only on certain aircraft. I’m told a full retrofit will take place shortly though. Yes, still time for a cold plate or platter but I wasn’t too fussed as I’d eaten in the lounge.