Vincci The Mint Hotel, Madrid
I had "been" to Madrid a number of times, but never actually been to Madrid. Previous stops were connections or quick overnights where I was so exhausted that I just went from the airport to a hotel to sleep, then from the hotel back to the airport to fly out. I had close to 20 hours on this stop, but as I would be returning to Madrid for three nights with my girlfriend on the back end of this mileage run, I told her I wouldn't run through any of the tourist stuff without her.
After landing from Algiers, I grabbed an Uber and headed for hotel. I was not expecting much, since it was very cheap and I was pleasantly surprised. The check-in girl was very cheerful, my room was ready and it was surprisingly spacious and had big windows facing Gran Via. I was expecting a cramped, double bed sort of situation, but this was a massive king. With my bags stowed, I popped outside and set off down Gran Via. I was horrified to pass a number of Taco Bell locations, as I thought these were U.S. only. I walked down to Plaza Espana, then over towards Palacio Real before turning back and walking the length of Gran Via in the opposite direction. By the time I wrapped all of this up, it was starting to get late. Since I'd already been fed on the flight in from Algiers, I went up to my room, verified some details regarding my flights the following day, I would be flying MAD-LHR-LAX, and figured out just how early I would have to wake up...before 5am, not ideal. I drew the curtains, since it was still light out, and did my best to fall asleep early, hoping to make the next day slightly less painful.
IB 3170
MAD-LHR
Airbus A320-200
EC-MXU
Seat 2F (J)
Flight #39 of 2019
The fun began at check-in. My AA FF# wasn't on the BP. I added it, then when I had my BP's in hand, the FF # was only showing on one of them. The agent assured me I'd be credited for both. I suppose no choice but to trust it will work out. I noticed that my pre-selected seat for LHR-LAX (3J) had been moved to 4J, I asked the agent why, she couldn't tell me. I later called AA from the lounge and the EXP desk said they could see that AA had for some reason changed my seat without any input from me and without telling me, but couldn't figure out why. Guess someone more important wanted it.
With my BPs in hand, I went to fast track security, loljk it was closed. Back on the regular security line. Surprisingly long for slightly after 5am. Once through security, I saw Starbucks at the end of the hall and figured some coffee would wake me up, loljk Starbucks was closed also. I walked all the way back to the other end of the hall where signs indicated the Iberia lounge was located, figured I could get some coffee and breakfast there, loljk the lounge wasn't open either.
I stood out in front of the lounge with a half dozen others until Iberia finally decided to open. There was still no breakfast as they hadn't bothered to put anything out, but at least there was coffee. No ice, so I had to drink it hot, like a normal person, not great but it kept me awake. After a long walk to the gate, boarding began and I was in my incredibly uncomfortable seat. The legroom on the BA flight to Stockholm had been bad, but this IB "biz" seat was closer to the wet leased Norwegian economy seat. Just awful. The plane was a brand new A320NEO so I am guessing these are some "enhanced" new seats that are even less comfortable and spacious than the usual eurobiz.
From my brief stroll up and down Gran Via, Madrid looked amazing, and I was eager to return, but now it was time for lots of flying. We got off on time, but the first 60% of the flight was quite bumpy, either ATC couldn't find a smooth FL, or one didn't exist. Breakfast looked vile, and I planned to ball out of control at the OW Lounges at T3 LHR, so I passed and tried to sleep when not being smacked around by turbulence or driven to the brink by the obligatory shrieking baby. We had a tailwind and got to LHR early, so of course we were put in a 20 minute holding pattern by ATC to ensure that we wouldn't actually get off the plane early. This Iberia flight was arriving into T5 which seemed odd, because I thought (I guess incorrectly) that T5 was BA only.
After arrival I made my way to the shuttle bus from T5 to T3, which of course is always a very pleasant experience and then through transit security.
AA109
LHR-LAX
Boeing 777-300ER
N722AN
Seat 4J (J)
Flight #40 of 2019
Obviously this flight # conjures up images of Messerschmitts to any obsessive airplane aficionado. I hadn't flown through LHR T3 in ages, and I had forgotten how many OW Lounge options there are. There's a Cathay Pacific Lounge with a biz AND separate F section, a Qantas Lounge, BA Galleries AND an AA Lounge. The choice seemed clear for a OWE...Cathay Pacific First Class.
I popped in and went to the a la carte dining area to have some noodle soup for breakfast. I asked for iced coffee, and received a small coffee cup with 2-3 sad, wilting cubes. After eating, I decided to scan the other options and bounced next door to the Qantas lounge. They have a lovely bar on the ground floor and another great bar with ample seating upstairs. I asked the barman for a proper iced coffee there and he complied. Viva Oz! I slammed the coffee as I was short on time and went down to the gate, no time for AA or BA galleries. At least I THOUGHT I was short for time. I got to the gate and boarding time came and went with no announcement. Finally AFTER boarding should have already started we were informed it would be delayed because the crew didn't show up on time. Very professional. Finally we boarded, perhaps an hour late.
They pre-boarded Concierge Key, as they often do, and no joke there must have been 20-30 CK on this flight, I have never seen so many. The guy next to me was complaining that he's a MM EXP flying Biz and he has to wait, everyone's a snowflake. Once on board, I found 4J to be rather agreeable except for the proximity to the lav. Some guy felt the need to perpetrate a pre-departure terror bombing of that lav and I was worried I would be traveling in a cloud of stench for the next 10 hours, but thankfully the smell was cancelled out by some sort of spray very quickly and no one else committed crimes of this nature during our journey.
As this was a very long haul, I watched a lot of movies.
First, I watched "Holmes & Watson." I figured HOW BAD could a movie with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly be? They're both funny, Step Brothers was great, right!? No...this movie was horrible I mean one or two mild chuckles, but overall just a steaming pile of crap like that the one that assaulted my senses before departure.
***of PARTICULAR interest to Flyertalkers*** after the long debate about airlines and lav policy, I would like to offer a data point. The AA crew made an announcement telling passengers NOT to cross the curtain dividers between cabins and to only use the lavs in their ticketed cabin.
Moving back to less contentious matters, the next movie up was "First Man." I had put off watching this movie for a long time, because I viewed the refusal to show the flag being planted as some sort of lib nonsense that would make an otherwise compelling story unwatchable. My fears were unfounded. I did not find any political slant to this movie. It was mildly entertaining, but what made it mediocre was that it was overly long, slow and Ryan Gossling plays every character as "quiet, emotionally reserved and at least mildly autistic." It was a quasi-Neil Armstrong biopic, and I learned things about him I didn't previously know. It was good but could have been better if it was a little tighter.
3rd up, I watched "The Upside" with Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston. It's a remake a French movie. It was OK, but so very by the numbers, safe and predictable that it was nothing more than a forgettable and mild distraction.
Oh, I almost forgot about the food, the focus of most trip reports. The meal started with a surprisingly good shrimp starter and salad. Very decent braised beef followed, then the AA ice cream sundae. Overall a very solid airplane meal, nothing to gripe about, AA catering is certainly not bad.
Finished with one final movie. Vice. I thought it was good as a movie, maybe not as a historical piece. I will avoid delving into how slanted it was and how hard it was trying to lead people to a desired conclusion because we avoid politics here.
I slept on and off but really couldn't pass out. Before landing, the 2nd meal with a chicken mini pot pie and a mushroom mini pot pie, both were really good. We landed a bit late due to our late departure, but it was a pleasant if sleepless flight. AA's J seats on the 773 are really top notch, and I would choose them over any other OneWorld product across the Atlantic (unless we're going WAY across the Atlantic and continuing to Qatar).