#904544 by Fuzzy14
02 Jun 2015, 15:04
After a working week in Madrid on business it’s time to return home, or at least to an airport closer to my home than previously. For reasons in my outbound trip I’m flying direct with EasyJet rather than via London.

Madrid really surprised me, I think it’s totally overlooked by tourists going to Barcelona but I thought it just as good, excellent bars and restaurants. I would like to go back and the way this project is going I probably will be.

After experiencing Madrid traffic jams all week on the way to the clients offices I decided that the Metro will be the best solution to get me from the hotel in the centre of town to the airport. I got to Goma station at 8.40am and bought my ticket for 5 Euros. Worked out which of the 4 platforms I was meant to be on and the train arrived instantaneously. I thought the Metro system was excellent, very clean, new trains. They don’t have many seats due to 3 sets of doors per carriage, and the trains aren’t that long but the service is very frequent. Things got pretty busy at Ave de America (interchange station) and it was getting pretty warm onboard, but most of my fellow passengers then piled off at Alfonso XIII. I changed trains at Mar de Cristal and the airport was well signposted. There are notices saying there is an additional charge for using the airport station, if (like me) you’ve bought a single ticket this charge had already been applied. I got off the train at 9.15.

The T1-T2-T3 station appears be located between T2 and T3 so it’s actually quite a walk to reach T1 with the usual mix of travellators. Having already checked in using the EasyJet phone app I made my way through security. It took 40 minutes to get from Metro to gate.

Once through security I went shopping for some presents then checked my gate, B22. But all the gates around me were Cxx gates. I could see signs for Bxx gates through a window but couldn’t work out how to get past the window until it dawned on me I’d walked out the shop through a different route. So I had to cut back through the shop to find the signs for Bxx gates, there was a passport control barrier to negotiate. I noted the shops after the passport control were perhaps better than the ones before. Finally made it to B22 and sat down only to watch the arriving plane park at a different gate. Everybody up!

Sat down at the new gate while my fellow passengers insisted on queuing up even though people were still disembarking from the incoming flight. Curious behaviour especially given its allocated seats. Twenty minutes later when the queue had finally started to reduce I joined it. As per the outbound flight they’d put out calls asking people to surrender their cabin baggage, as I was being naughty with both a cabin bag and duty free bag I offered it to the gate staff but they declined! Boarding took longer than usual as they seemed to be doing it manually (pen/paper) with no electronic scanning of boarding passes.

I’d been allocated seat 25B (same as I ended up on the outbound although I hadn’t been allocated it). There was a Spanish gent with a 2 year old on his lap in 25C and nobody in 25A which was a bit of a result seeing as the flight was pretty full. I offered the chap the window seat but he declined so I took it. I didn’t mind having the kid next to me, he was good fun and I played and chatted with them (he was off to Edinburgh to run the marathon.)

It seemed to take an age to get the paperwork complete and load the last minute bags from the gate, the flight due to leave at 1045 finally got pushed back at 1115 and then took a grand tour of Barajas before finally ending up past T4 onto runway 36L taking off at 1130.

Once in the air I entertained myself with podcasts and a newspaper. While glancing out the window I was shocked to see a Norwegian 737 pass under our left wing somewhere over the Bay of Biscay. And I mean very close, looked like only a few hundred feet of separation. I’m sure the TCAS was on top of the situation but it was far closer than I was comfortable seeing. Generally the only pilot I expect to see on a flight is the one driving my plane. I played it back later on Flightradar24, my EasyJet was at 38,000, the Norwegian at 37,000 and an Airbus A320neo test flight above us on 39,000. An EasyJet sandwich.

Return flight much more comfortable than the way out thanks to the vacant seat. Unfortunately the crew didn’t seem as good, I saw one crew member speak sharply to a customer telling them she didn’t speak Spanish, no apology, no attempt at Spanglish or fetching a crew member who could speak it.

Approached into EDI over Prestonpans and out over the Forth giving wonderful views of the Auld Grey Toon, landed 10 minutes late at 1250 (remembering EasyJet build in a large contingency into timings) but that was no big deal for my afternoon plans. There was a hailstorm in Edinburgh greeting our arrival and no airbridge so all our Spanish passengers put on jumpers and jackets while I had to wait as my bag was somewhere down at row 13 due to lack of overhead space.

The Qatar Dreamliner that had followed us in was already unloading so passport control was fairly busy, I tried out the automated service which in my opinion was a better layout than Madrid. Walked out and over to the coach station, waited a few minutes for the car park bus. Next time I’ll remember to give the correct car registration number but I got out after showing my pre-booked confirmation. Very happy with the PremiAir service, 40 minutes from plane to M8 motorway.

Much better flight on the way home and it’s a formula that seemed to work so I’ll do it again if BA prices are unreasonable.
#904547 by Concorde RIP
02 Jun 2015, 15:42
Hi Fuzzy - thanks for this and the outbound TR.

I've never flown EZY, but read TRs on them as well as any others I see come up with great interest.

I've heard Madrid is a great place to visit, couple of friends have done a city break there and have plans to return.

Seems like your return flight was a little more comfortable than the outbound - but as you say, it get's you from A to B and is a competitive price.

Cheers,
#904552 by gumshoe
02 Jun 2015, 16:20
Fuzzy14 wrote:Sat down at the new gate while my fellow passengers insisted on queuing up even though people were still disembarking from the incoming flight. Curious behaviour especially given its allocated seats.


Fuzzy14 wrote:I had to wait as my bag was somewhere down at row 13 due to lack of overhead space.


There's your answer!
#904597 by Fuzzy14
03 Jun 2015, 08:45
Thanks for the comments! y) Always pleased people take the time to read my ramblings.

stevebrass wrote:I like Madrid. The art galleries are superb. We use easyjet a lot to get to Prague. Flights have always been on time and uneventful.


We went to restaurant at 8pm and had the place to ourselves. They didn't start cooking until 8.30pm and the place was only starting to fill up at 9.30pm.

gumshoe wrote:There's your answer!


Touché! Yes you're probably right but it's not really needed for the majority of pax, overhead space is only limited for those at the front and back due to crew equipment. I'll always have a seat rather than queue.
#904625 by pjh
03 Jun 2015, 14:43
Thanks for the TR.

I have never quite got used to the continental timings for dinner. 8 to 9 pm I can manage, but later than that starts to become uncomfortable. Probably my northern upbringing when ate dinner at one and tea at six.

The final leg of the flight into Edinburgh was always one of the bright spots of my journey when I flew there weekly. Nine times out of ten it was over the Forth. Once in a while it was from the west and rather dull, and a couple of times it was rather excitingly over Edinburgh itself, following the 22 bus route out to the Gyle.
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