Originally Posted by
Yllanes
AENA is the organisation that manages Spanish airports. They operate a lounge in each MAD terminal, separate from the IB lounges.
You cannot pay to enter the IB lounges (which do have wines, of course), you can only get in with status or a business class ticket.
You can pay about 25 € for a pass to get in the AENA lounges (which are also associated with Priority Pass).
What people are saying is that, if you only want lounge access, it is cheaper to buy the pass for the AENA lounge than to buy the upgrade to get in the (nicer) IB lounge.
Personally, rather than pay for the lounge I would spend my money to eat something in the terminal, and then find a quiet bench to wait.
Thanks for the explanation.
My original plan was to get into the Iberia lounge by way of the doing a business class upgrade but won't be doing it anymore based on what everyone here has said. Esp since there's no upgrades with extra points.
I don't think I'll be eating much before so the thought of eat a LOT was tempting as well. I've had tagine (last nights especially was really good) the past 3 nights so I'm ready for something else.