We said goodbye to our 17 year old (who was babysitting her grandmother while we were gone – yes, I put it that way on purpose) and grabbed an Uber around 8:45 to ATL. I had signed us up for a free CLEAR trial just before this trip so we checked our bags at DL (free with DL credit card) and quickly got through security. We were flying out of B so we hit the B Sky Club for some breakfast.
DL 1795 ATL-MIA 11:45
We boarded on time and had an uneventful flight. We landed in MIA around 15 minutes early and grabbed our bags. We then had to hike around the upper level at MIA from J to E for Iberia check-in. Luckily, it was open even though it was still about 3 ½ hours until our flight.
I had noticed that our MAD-DBV flight had switched to an A321 with business class so I asked about sitting there given that we were on a business class award, but the agent cluelessly told me that the flight didn’t have business class (he was wrong) and I wasn’t in the mood to argue. I figured I would ask in Madrid at the lounge.
We went through CLEAR at E (although it didn’t really save any time) and walked through the connector to D where we entered the AA Flagship Lounge. It’s a huge space and never was crowded in the 2 hours we were there. The food and self-serve bar were excellent. There were also nice views of the runway and AA international gates. This was probably the nicest airline-flagged US domestic lounge I have been in so far and given the lack of crowds, better than the Centurion lounges I have visited (MIA/DFW/PHL). Even the wife was impressed with the food and she’s not one to care about airline lounges much.
Around 4, we headed back to E and took the people mover to the midfield gates. We boarded around 4:35.
IB 6124 MIA-MAD 17:10
We had seats in Row 3 in the middle section of the 1-2-1 configuration. Our seats were the closer together variety, both had a table between the aisle and the seat.
Our flight got off to a fantastic start when I accidentally knocked my wife’s cell phone into the gap behind the seat. It took two flight attendants and the purser (and most of the pre-flight boarding time) to retrieve the phone. I’m sure they were all thrilled with me.
We pushed back on time and business was full. Pre-departure beverage of water or orange juice as we pushed back. I didn’t ask for anything else as I figured I would be pushing my luck after the cell phone incident. We took off at 17:23, about 15 minutes after pushback. It’s pretty much a straight shot across the Atlantic from Miami to Madrid.
There was a 3 prong adapter for the headphones so my noise canceling earbuds didn’t work (they only have a 2 prong converter). I used the uncomfortable Iberia headphones and watched The Mule, a decently entertaining Clint Eastwood movie, during dinner. Good old Clint put his 80+ year old self in a threesome in this movie. I liked that the handset locked so you could not accidentally pause or FF the movie when banging into it. The WiFi was supposedly free for 30 minutes, but I could never get it to work anyway.
My wife got her menu around 17:50. I got nada. Here’s the menu:
She got a tablecloth around 18:00. I still got nada on my side.
Finally around 18:05 I got my tablecloth and we all got warm(ish) towels. My menu arrived at 18:15. About 2 minutes later, they took my order.
Drinks came around and I tried the 2014 Rioja. It was pretty good. It was served with nuts and olives (that I gave to my wife).
I realize this is only sort-of a redeye, given the early departure, but they could pick up the pace a little. Another round of drinks were served at 18:45 – still no actual food. Five minutes later, food! The appetizer, soup and salad were all very good. The cheese was served at the same time – it was a small portion but also tasty.
Around 19:05, we got our main course. The fish was not overly dry which, in my limited experience, is an achievement on a plane. Of course, the gobs of butter probably helped. It tasted better than it looked.
Cheesecake with raspberry sauce was also quite good. I asked if they had any fruit and the FA brought me some melon, which was nice.
The service, while slow, was attentive and friendly, if a bit unorganized. The quality of the food was good overall. Dinner ended at 19:30 so a little over two hours in the end.
Cabin lights were dimmed around 20:00 and I tried to sleep. Unfortunately, the cabin was way too warm and the lack of individual air vents did not help. It probably was exacerbated by the fact that we were so close together in these seats too.