6th July 2019
IB1331
BCN-MAD
1330-1455
Iberia A320
Seat 14A

Breathlessly I arrived at the check in counter and in my amazing broken Spanish explained I was going to Melilla
The lady told me the flight had already closed, which was quite correct as there was a direct BCN-MLN departing at 1250
(I suppose I should be grateful that I didn't decide to go for the bare minimum connection time here!!)
She was quite happy to hear that I was in fact going via Madrid!

I had accidentally booked a HBO fare but of course received the additional allowance for OWS
The lady was kind enough to also check in my cabin bag free of charge (this was some kind of manual system override, apparently I should have been charged EUR50)

I headed through security and as was feeling a bit peckish made for the lounge
Originally I went for the Sala Pau Casals, primarily because that was the one that I was able to find
The chap at the desk said I was welcome to come in but that the Madrid shuttle flights actually used the Sala VIP Colomer, nearer to the shuttle gates. He explained that there was no hot food there and no showers either
However knowing how crap I am at navigating airports, I decided it was probably smart to head off down there
I enjoyed a reasonable spread of sandwiches, yogurt and the like and headed off for boarding



As was to become something of a theme here, the flight was well endowed with dead heading Iberia crews, who took almost the entire business class cabin and most of the exit row seats
Originally it looked like 14B might remain empty and I got into a conversation with Mr 14C about my travel plans (quote: "Melilla? Why are you going to Melilla? It is not beautiful")- these are my favourite kind of conversations because when no one's heard of the place or thinks you're bonkers for going there, you know you're onto something

Unfortunately before the doors closed, there was further boarding and 14B, the only remaining seat on the plane was taken by....another dead heading flight crew person!!

Happily it was only an hour's flight and I'm fairly little
IB, similar to BA, operated BoB on short flights
I browsed the menu but had filled up on snacks and wasn't that fussed for anything
The chap in 14C bought about EUR50 worth of items so was presumably either extremely hungry or perhaps on some kind of expenses racket


6th July 2019
IB8790
MAD-MLN
ATR72 operated by CanaryFly on behalf of Air Nostrum for Iberia (confused yet?)
1825-2015
Seat 1A

We arrived 12 minutes late and I headed off to the Velazquez lounge. For almost 3 hours...
I initially planned to have a snooze in the amazing nap room, however it rapidly became apparent tis was a non starter due to the sauna like atmosphere in there and...yet another small child who wanted to experiment with opening and closing the door
Nap abandoned, I decided to try and get something to eat. It being an awkward time of day for meals in Spain, there wasn't a lot to eat beyond some wraps, yogurts etc. But the space was clean and calm and the drinks were free flowing

At 1800 or so "final call" flashed up on the screen, I made my way to the gate
Unfortunately it emerged at this point that I had totally miscalculated and the flight was departing from just about the furthest away gate from the lounge, K98
I found myself sprinting, but slowed down when I spotted a fairly substantial queue still waiting to pass through the gate



Once on board there was an unusual seating arrangement



There was also and extreme shortage of people who spoke sufficient english/spanish, french or german to sit in the exit rows, and the people both next to me and across the aisle changed multiple times

As anyone who flies ATRs regularly knows, 1A (up the front) is a pretty terrible seat. It has great legroom but is about as far away from the boarding door as is possible

You'll be pleased to hear there was at least one deadheading crew present at all times though

The crew had those slightly creepy black leather gloves that seem to perhaps be SOP for ATR cabin crew in Europe but make them look a bit like they're going to do a spot of strangling...

We ended up pushing back 7 minutes behind schedule. The creepy gloves were removed once the seatbelt sign was turned off and cabin service got underway
​​​​​​​As previously, there was no included service and a BoB menu. This one seemed to be slightly more reasonably priced? But having already filled up in the lounge I passed

The windows were insanely scratched but there was an interesting view of the Tibouda peninsula (Morocco) on approach



The weather was pretty grim but there were at least 3 ATRs and a couple of helicopters in- who knew Melilla was such a thriving transportation hub?!




Bags were fairly promptly delivered and off I went to find a taxi after the rush had died down

Melilla doesn't seem to have a huge amount of accomodation, essentially a Parador and a couple of small places pre-bookable online. I was staying at the Hotel Anfora which was cheap as chips and doesn't really require any comment beyond that it was super cheap but also super adequate for a one night stay