Thanks for the quite replies.

Yes I read somewhere that there was no lounge access at MAD but I thought that MUST be a mistake. Even Star Alliances's own Lounge Finder webpage says there are two lounges which can be used - The Sala VIP Puerta de Alcala and Puerta del Sol. Is that really becoming a thing now with Star Alliance? Surely it's a given - *Gold, on a *A flight = lounge access.