TheFlyingDoctor

IB3604, 17th June 2016
Dep: LPA Gran Canaria Las Palmas 11:25 (local time)
Arr: LHR London Heathrow Terminal 5 15:45 (local time)
Flight length: 1801 miles, 4 hours 20 minutes
Operated by: Iberia Express (Airbus A320)
Seat: 1A (business bulkhead)
Trivia: My partner’s first business class flight

Bussing back to the airport, we realised we’d made a hash of it on arrival, both paying more than we needed to, and walking far further than necessary after bailing out too early. So Gold is more conveniently located than we thought: it’s sub 10 minutes to the correct bus stop, even with luggage; and the fare is €7 for the two of us.

Fortunately we left plenty of padding as the bus left ahead of schedule, delivering us to LPA in half an hour. It took another ten minutes to reach the Iberia desks – I still don’t understand why this airport is so huge – where most of the queues were at least half a dozen deep. Fortunately there was a business desk that quickly dealt with a family and then us.

It took 7 minutes to clear the security proceedings, then it was the inevitable snaking gauntlet of duty free offerings before emerging into the terminal proper. Two left turns and a set of stairs gets you away from the main crowds and up to a rooftop terrace and the Sala Galdos lounge. Iberia used to operate their own lounge here, but now share this airport-run facility with everyone else. As such, the staff weren’t completely convinced by our U-class redemption tickets, but they got the beep of approval from the computer so all was well (plus the lounge accepts priority pass anyway).




Inside, the lounge is light and airy, with mercifully strong air conditioning. The back half feels a bit sparse, but the seats are comfy and you get plenty of space as a result. Apart from some warm Spanish omelette, the food was restricted to light snacks, but the drinks range (soft and hard) was more impressive, and a fridge of chilled bottled water was appreciated. In the bathroom you could pick up amenity kits with travel essentials such as miniature toothpaste and brush. WiFi was free and very fast, although there weren’t many people around to use it.




The main highlight – for this avgeek, anyway – was that the lounge also had its own open air terrace, allowing for views of all the activity on the apron and runway. However, with temperatures already soaring I had to limit my time out of the protective bubble of air conditioning to when a take-off was about to occur!






An hour and a half later we made our way to the boarding gate, to find ourselves at the back of a deep queue for a single passport point. Fortunately we notice a call (in Spanish) for passengers with priority boarding and get to awkwardly jump the line.

We had front row seats, but we’d not have had far to walk regardless – there were just three rows of business class today, with 8 passengers in total. Although booked onto an IB code when redeeming through BA, this was actually an Iberia Express service rather than mainline. Since I didn’t catch the tail number I can’t tell if the plane was fairly new or just recently refurbed, but it was configured with the newer slimline seating and the cabin looked clean and smart. As is usually the case for European shorthaul, the main benefit seating-wise of business over economy is the blocked middle seat. But we identified another advantage here – whilst the entire plane has 5V USB power at each seat, we also had 110V European sockets to keep devices topped up in flight. There was also plenty of legroom in row 1, with a whole window space before the bulkhead.




We didn’t have everyone aboard until 11:30, when the airbridge was detached and an extra pillow handed out to each of us in business. The safety briefing was delivered with a heavy accent and rapid pace, alternating each line between Spanish and English. If you weren’t a native speaker of one or the other I imagine you’d struggle to get much from it. Still, there was plenty of time to seek clarification: at 11:38 the flight deck announced that although they were ready to go, we had to be held at stand for at least ten more minutes due to ‘a regulation’.

True to their word, we pushed back at 11:48, and quarter of an hour later had punched our way into the clouds. At half 12 we were offered a choice of pasta or sandwiches; we opted for the latter, which arrived half an hour later alongside a choice of warm bread from a basket.



It might seem strange to describe a meal as tasty when you can’t actually identify what the taste was, but nonetheless that’s the situation I find myself in! Both pasta (whatever its mystery filling) and sauce were cooked well and offered flavour rather than the blandness that can often occur on an airplane. It was a decent portion size even ignoring the salad (as is my right on holiday), and receiving both a chocolate cake and a piece of chocolate does no harm either. Staff were very attentive, clearing away the trays as soon as they spotted we were finished.

Other than that, there is as usual little to report other than the route – around 13:20 we first made sight of Europe, with a somewhat turbulent approach along the coast. But after that it settled down into smooth flying, with beautiful views of Portugal and Spain below. Despite the departure daily we were only 4 minutes late into London, touching down at 15:49 – although it took another 20 minutes to reach a stand! Having been dropped off at Terminal B, we decided to stretch our legs and took the underground walkway instead of the shuttle to the main T5 building. That took ten minutes or so, but is far less busy than anywhere else in Heathrow:




Immigration was tedious as usual, taking 15 minutes even with the e-passport gates. Not that it really mattered as it took another ten minutes for bags to emerge from reclaim – as usual priority baggage means very little here.

Still, an almost entirely stress-free process from door to door, so I’d say the extra avios for business were worth it (not that redeeming for economy was an option). Whilst there are flashier ways to burn 40,000 avios, with access to staff fares I value them fairly low these days. As such, I would peg that many as comparable to what we paid in cash for the AMS-LPA leg in economy, which was definitely less comfortable.