The day had come for our long awaited New Years jaunt to Buenos Aires. Pausing only briefly to grab a handful of indigestion tablets we rushed out of the door and into the waiting car (thanks Dad for the lift to the station). We had planned to leave _ and hour later but reports of 22miles of queues on the M25 caused by post Christmas sale traffic forced us, at very short notice, to reconsider our plan to drive to Heathrow. We were happily surprised at the ease of the journey to Heathrow using a combination of First Capital Connect, Circle line and HEX, although I doubt it would be this easy on a normal working day. Anyway, we arrived at T2 with plenty of time to spare and got checked-in for the first leg of the journey on Iberia (IB3167, IB6843). Luckily the seats we had requested for both flights were available 22 D&E on the LHR-MAD sector and 22 J&L on the MAD-EZE sector.
T2 appeared remarkably quiet on the 27th and there were no queues for security and plenty of space in the departure lounge. We had a quick mooch round the shops, bought a couple of mags, water and then opted for the opulence of the seafood bar this is a well rehearsed routine for us when the facilities of the club house, or equivalent, are not at our disposal.
We boarded the Madrid flight on time (IB 3167 at 18:50) and pushed back 5 minutes early. Also with Heathrow being quiet we didnt have to wait for take off. The flight was fairly full, lots of families, we guessed going away for the new year. The aircraft was a fairly dated 757, liveried in IB colours but according to our confirmation was operated by Gestair. The cabin service was limited to sale of food, drink and gifts, typical of many European carriers now. The flight itself was uneventful, touching down early Madrid early at 21.55CET. Upon disembarkation at T4, transfer pax transferring to T4S (which included us) were asked to remain seated then exit via the rear door onto an awaiting coach. We couldnt work out if this was standard procedure, or whether it was because there were so many transfer pax, but we were coached to T4S. My only complaint is the stupid cheesy Christmas carols that were piped through the cabin while parked on stand and during taxi, landing and take-off [n]
Once in T4S we had to go through the obligatory security checks, which proved to be an absolute joke as they had completely undermanned the checkpoint. Only 2 staff were operating the baggage scanner and AMD between them, generating a huge queue given the number of transfer pax entering the terminal. Anyway, with this formality completed we went up to the concourse. We were somewhat disappointed to find that although the duty free shops had remained open most of the food and drink outlets were closed or closing some before their published hours. My general observation about Madrid T4 is that whilst its a great looking terminal, its completely soulless, understaffed and isnt really geared up for transfer pax.
We loitered at our gate, U43 as our departure time (IB 6842 @01:25CET) approached and when the boarding announcement came we just joined the m_l_e with everyone else. The gate staff tried in vain to get pax to board by seat row number and eventually gave up. Once on board we made our way to 22J&L, next to the over wing exit in Iberias A340-600 front economy (Turista) cabin. This was to be our home for the next 12.5 hours and very spacious it proved to be toowith more legroom that the folks in Business Plus! This was all thanks to Vegascrazys research. Same cheesy Christmas carols as the LHR-MAD sector [n]
The flight was full but we managed to push back on the dot and were in the air in next to no time, our routing taking us out over Faro, The Canaries, Sau Paulo and Montevideo. The cabin service was professional and efficient, if a little lacking in the niceties of other airlines. In economy though there is no personal entertainment system which on a long haul flight is a bit of a drag. The meal which was dinner (at 3am CET) could have come out sooner after take off, and I must admit although edible was really rather bland serves us right for cheap-skating Tourista class in suppose.
The flight itself was really uneventful; I even slept for good length of time. It was a little rough after The Canaries, but nothing to get overexcited about. We made excellent time overall only 15 minutes late, having to hold over Uruguay because the preceding aircraft was too close (probably the BA flight via Sau Paulo which landed just before us). Even though it was a full flight I noticed there were not the usual queues for the washroom, probably because not many people were drinking alcohol (the difference between Spanish and British cultures methinks).
Landing was pretty cool when the Captain turned on the feed to the tailfin camera, giving us a perfect view of the aircraft from above [y] We got to see the whole landing this way and I have to say it was an amazing view [:D] We taxied to stand and disembarked through a jetty into the hot and sticky air of the terminal at EZE. Through passport control, baggage claim and into chaos of arrivals where we met up with 4 other members our New Years party, each arriving from either London or New York on different airlines taking different (and in some cases obscure routes)! From home to the Hotel this trip took me and Vegascrazy just about 24 hours, but Buenos Aries for New Year is certainly worth it [:)]
