An Iberia Passenger Finds Himself Sitting Next to Angela Merkel

An Iberia passenger had a sudden brush with fame late last week after he found himself seated next to Angela Merkel. The German chancellor had to take a commercial airliner to the G20 in Buenos Aires due to a technical issue that was spotted on the Konrad Adenauer, Merkel’s official state aircraft.

An Iberia Airlines passenger had a sudden brush with fame after he found himself seated next to Angela Merkel on a recent flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires, the Daily Mail reports. Merkel was forced to take an alternative route to the G20 summit in Argentina last week following technical issues with her official craft.

According to German news agency DPA International, the plane – named after Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany – initially departed from Berlin late last Thursday but had to make a sudden landing in Cologne.

After spending the evening in a hotel, she had to make her way to Buenos Aires via Madrid on a commercial airliner service.

Traveler Agustin Aguero was sitting next to Merkel in business class during the course of the 13-hour flight to the Argentinian capital. Speaking of his experience, Aguero was quoted by DW.com as saying that Merkel behaved just like any other passenger during the course of a long-haul flight.

“She ate yogurt, read a book and slept a little bit,” he said.

Merkel also apparently took the time to visit the cockpit and pose for a photo with the crew of the flight prior to landing. Despite their apparent proximity to each other during the course of the journey, Aguero says that he did not manage to pluck up the courage to speak to the German chancellor.

“I didn’t dare speak to her. But she looked over and smiled a few times. She was very relaxed,” he said.

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