Review: Air Europa Business Class 737 London To Madrid

Guessing you arrived at a Schengen gate where flights from the UK are non-Schengen so need to be bussed to immigration.

Nice cheeky shot of the BA 100 BEA livery aircraft takeing pride of place at the front

It looks like the (blocked) middle sear has a central section that pulls down and possibly becomes a table. Is that the case Lucky?

So what are your thoughts on MAD’s T2? I’d say for me it is one (of many) cons of UX. It’s dark, particularly narrow, gets extremely crowded (at least during rush hour) easily and the lounge is pretty bad. IB is not my cup of tea, but I’ll give them credit where credit is due. T4 and (-S) have a lot of natural light, the lounge selection is fairly decent and although it can get crowded, never to the point where you have trouble navigating through the terminal due to boarding lines.

I admire Richard Rogers’ sculptural architecture for T4 and S, but T2 is just so much more user-friendly - including not having to walk for km from one end to the other.

(They once had just a single security officer checking a queue of hundreds of people trying to enter S - after that I literally had to run from the start of that terminal to the non-Schengen bit at the far end. It was like running a marathon. Give me T2 anyday.)

Amusing about air Europa is that they fly intra-eu with dreamliners between their long haul roulations.

The early flights to Amsterdam are dreamliners, as are the first flights to gran canaria. Quite a threat.

"...anxious to start with a few drinks early in the morning."

I don't get this idea with people (and it seems to be a British/Irish thing) that regardless of the time of your holiday flight, you HAVE to start with drinks in the airport bar. I'll have champagne if I have lounge access and flying after midday (I don't have status yet with any airline, so only when in J or F) but if I'm in Y then I would never think of going to a bar first. Friends of mine will not start a holiday without an airport bar drink, even at 5am.

Lucky, you arrived at a T3 gate (E gates, which are really part of T2). The only gates in the old terminals at MAD that are non-Schengen are in T1 (gates A and B).

Yes, I agree that AirEuropa (UX) offers a solid Business Class product, better than the average EU airline - but not fully at IB levels (which in view has the best EU Business Class).

As others said, the gate issue was most likely related that you parked at a Schengen gate (for the next flight), but the UK is non-Schengen.

You probably got the best end of the deal on arrival since the bus could depart as soon as all of the J pax got on, instead of getting on the bus first and then having to wait 15 minutes for everyone else to deplane.

@The nice Paul, ok I'll give you that the long distances within the terminals are tedious (and can get stressful if you have a tight connection). I've personally rarely experienced long lines at T4S (not that I use it frequently either), longest I've ever waited was ~30 mins at T4 security due to some sort of staff shortage/strike. Haven't gone through T2 recently, but last time I was there security took 15-20 mins.

Far too many irrelevant pictures! We don’t need pictures of several other planes at Gatwick or Madrid. Yes they are pretty but not really relevant to an airline review.

You could have commented on the following -

What was your check-in experience like

Did flying in business get you access to premium security ( not all airlines offer it)

Did you get priority boarding.

What is their carry on policy / did the cabin crew stop Y passengers using the J overheads?

Did you use the IFE if so how was it.

I flew them in economy MAD-ORY. As a SkyTeam elite+, I got priority security, lounge access and exit row for free.
Seat was fine, flight was fine. Service was pay-only on board, so the lounge was extra nice for preboarding snacks and drinks.

Love my fellow Brits getting on the beers ASAP as a start to a holiday. Trust me, if you get the 6am LBA to DUB for work any pub is full with Yorkshire Folk hitting the beers on a trip to LPA. Love it !!

I'm not convinced that on a short flight such as this, the big difference in price between business and economy is worth paying.

Coffee/tea in a disposable paper cup in business class....just wrong.

@Ben Holz
I disagree with your negative assessment of Terminal 2 at Madrid Barajas. I use it for MAD-FRA and MAD-MUC flights and find it to be less stressful than Terminal 1 because the walking distances are shorter. The Puerta de Alcala lounge in Terminal 2 is about the same quality as the Cibeles lounge in Terminal 1. Of course Terminal 4 is better than Terminals 1, 2, and 3, but that's because it is so much newer.

@Charlie, T2 is definately better than T1 and T3; my main point was that T4 is in a league of its own despite the long distances within the terminal itself. Sure, it is newer, but that doesn’t take away from it being superior.

@BrightonReader...
There are clearly a number of things that Lucky "could" have written but he chose not to. Lucky's reviews (of which there are hundreds, thousands even?) appear to be highly consistent (and IMO excellent). Since you clearly disapprove of his Lucky's reviews and they don't meet your particular standards you "could":
a) find another travel blog that meets you particular demanding standards (there are many out there to choose from)
b) start your own since you are clearly such an expert
c) learn some manners

Does anyone else have any suggestions as to what BrightonReader could do instead of reading this site?

I think my questions were very apt for inclusion in any review of an airline these days. I never said I disproved of the review (other than too many irrelevant photos of planes) but want Lucky to improve them.

The questions I asked aren't very demanding and are just the normal expectations of many travellers these day. It wouldn't have required Lucky to go out of his way to include because he would have experienced them (or not because those things aren't provided) himself directly.

And suggesting that I 'go elsewhere' and should 'learn some manners' just because I made some comments on improving the review shows a lack of manners on the part of the previous poster.

I flew Air Europa in business class from Amsterdam to Madrid on the Dreamliner back in January this year and I didn’t like the food. Seems like the food is better on this flight.

If the photo was of business class I'd hate to think what economy is like.
Paper cups just not done
I sure wouldn't waste my money.

the last link of the review flight from Madrid to Miami linked to diff review, not about the flight, please check

The link for the 787 flight also doesn't work if you go into the Airline Reviews menu and click directly on it.