LHR-MAD-SCL
About 6 months ago a colleague of mine asked me if Id like to join her on a cycle ride for charity. I stupidly agreed. At work my team are very supportive of a charity called Computer Aid International, they essentially refurbish old PCs and ship them off to underprivileged schools around the world. Part of the way you can get involved is by doing a long cycle ride through the country they are currently concentrating on with the ride being a challenge that you can raise some money for and you get to fly out and see where your money is going as one of the stops on the trip will be a school you are helping.
Each year they tend to focus on a different area, last year it was Madagascar and a group of our colleagues outfitted a couple of schools with complete PC labs and we also sent them a shipping container full of old books. Seeing the photos and video on their return was very inspirational, and so here I was agreeing to partake in Computer Aids next charity drive raising funds to outfit schools in Chile with computers, and agreeing to cycle 233 miles in the process. So fast forward 6 months and a group of 5 from my workplace were ready to fly to Santiago to begin the challenge.
The day started off with me having to dash to the office for a series of meetings then rushing out of a meeting and into a cab with three other colleagues to T3. As the charity arrange our travel its going to be the cheapest possible option, which is fair enough. Therefore we were flying Iberia VIA Madrid, and yes, I was going to be in Economy. I did ask what the upgrade price was and was quoted 1450 each way. Having seen IB business class, its really not worth it.
We arrived at the Iberia check-in desk and met the rest of the team that were joining us on the challenge. We had a good mix of corporate types like us, supporting the charity through their company, and also a few nomads that seemingly wanted to travel the world but also help others and find a personal challenge.
Check-in was a bit of a confusing affair. The flights and accommodation had all been arranged by an external travel company who were not particularly good. At one point before departure they would not even speak to me after Id had a conversation with them on how ticketing really worked, and when my colleague took over and asked them for the locator code for the booking he was told by the assistant no, its mine. Imagine our glee when that same woman was at the airport to ensure that we were all present and correct.
My colleagues and I went to a check-in desk to try and grab some seats together. We all checked in reasonably quickly given that Iberia had one young lad manning the row of check-in desks. The lad was very helpful in seating us all together at the back of the bus of the A340-600.
A chap who was with our party but who none of us really knew from Adam then appeared behind us and asked one of my colleagues if she would check in a small bag for him as hed reached his number of bags limit. She told the rest of the group as she wasnt comfortable with his request and immediately a few of us jumped in and reassured her that she was right, she couldnt check in someone elses bag the first question we are always asked at security is has anyone given you anything to carry on the flight and did you pack the bags yourself, etc. We were in disbelief that somebody honestly thought that it was okay to ask someone they didnt know to check a bag for them.
We took our boarding passes and headed off to security to be faced with a giant queue. I saw Fast Track and sneakily splinter-celled from my colleagues to use that lane. I noted that there were a few signs up displaying different frequent flyer cards that granted access to fast track to inform the staff there who was and wasnt allowed in.
Fast track was anything but and the queue moved at glacial pace. Eventually we were merged into the front of the queue of regular security.
I beeped going through the metal detector as usual and stood to one side to be wanded. I had a very thorough wanding and the security lady gave me a very close physical search. It was apparent that my underwire was the cause of the beeping so the security lady decided to frisk my breasts infront of everybody in the security channel. Fortunately Im not easily offended or embarrassed. Sadly this didnt satisfy her and she uttered the words I have always dreaded; Im going to have to do a physical search. And there I was, being led into a very small room (with my colleague stood outside!) so that the security lady could get a proper feel of my baps. Thankfully she was assured that I wasnt smuggling any drugs or whatever else and I was allowed to go.
With that, heading to the lounge was my first priority. I took my colleague to the newly opened Galleries, and it is very much like the new lounges in T5. We managed to grab a couple of hours and a few beers and snacks before the flight to Madrid was called.
The internal 17:50 flight to MAD was pretty uneventful and we arrived on time in Madrid. Transfer to the Iberia lounge for a few more beers, and I managed to empty their bottle of Baileys. I figured that if I must sit in economy for 13 hours 30 minutes that I might as well be plastered.
The 00:30 flight to SCL was called and we trundled down to the gate. Sadly it wasnt boarding our section and we had to wait another 30 minutes before we could board. They didnt board by row, just large sections and these didnt seem to have any logical order.
We got on board and the myth that I had heard about was indeed true there are no PTVs on the Iberia A340-600. I really could not believe it who orders an A346 with no PTVs in this day and age? Fortunately I had brought a number of books with me and my iPod, but man, it would be a long flight.
[img]http://www.v-flyer.com/photos/3954.jpg[/img]
We took off on time and the crew were pleasant enough, one of them teaching me a few Spanish words such as Buenas noches.
The meal service started, and normally I wouldnt have had it as it was around 1am local time by now but with little else to do I thought id partake. My colleague infront asked the crew member what the choices were. She replied with Meat or pasta, so he asked her what is the meat? and she shrugged her shoulders and said I dont know, just meat. Mmm ... nice. Mystery meat. This had us in stitches. I went for the pasta. The pasta was essentially wet pasta shapes with some chewy mushrooms on top, no sauce. It was pretty awful to be honest. I cant remember an airplane meal that was much worse. One of my colleagues had the mystery meat and couldnt tell what the meat was. Final choices were Pork or Chicken, it was too hard to tell. Not good. There was a salad and a cake on the tray, but I didnt really fancy either.
[img]http://www.v-flyer.com/photos/3953.jpg[/img]
The dinner trays were cleared away quite quickly and the lights went off shortly after the meal service. Then began the task of trying to pass the flight.
I had my book with me and managed to get through it all. The fight was quite busy, with only a couple of free seats across the whole plane. Therefore we had a large number of people walking up and down the aisles, stretching their legs, talking to friends, and generally a lot of disturbance. Being at the back of the plane didnt help as we were very close to the toilets so there was a lot of traffic.
The thing that struck me was how utterly dull the flight was. There really was nothing to do. There were a few overhead monitors showing a film but I couldnt see a screen properly from where I was sitting. And then I had the seat mate woes.
I had insisted on an aisle seat earlier in the day as I cant stand being trapped in the window seat (as I dont sleep on flights and need the toilet quite often). Id let the other 4 sit together and grabbed an aisle behind them so I was sitting with a stranger. The chap was nice enough, offering me his bit of cake during the meal and so on. Fast forward to this part of the flight, he wants to sleep, rightly so, and so he lifts up the arm rest between us, turns on his side and dozes off. Unfortunately for me his mass has encroached onto my seat, and we all know how little room there is in a Y seat as it is! The icing on the cake is that he has put his headphones on for the movie and plugged them into the port on the middle arm rest which is my port, his is the one on his arm rest by the window, so not only can I not watch the film if I wanted to, I have to put up with the tss-tss-tss sound coming from his headphones. My colleague who was sat infront could hear it, it was that loud!
I put my iPod on and tried to get some rest, though largely unsuccessfully. I listened to a few audio books and desperately tried to doze off but every time I just drifted off I would wake up, either because of passenger traffic or a dead arm or some other reason. Its so frustrating. In the end I decided not to bother and just laid there with my eyes closed listening to Michael Palins autobiography in audio book form. Very good it is too.
There isnt much else to say about the flight, other than that it felt like sheer hell. As this was a night flight the cabin was dark for pretty much 10 hours and you are trying to be quiet to allow others to rest so we didnt talk much to each other, with everyone trying what they could do to sleep, albeit unsuccessfully.
Sunrise started to appear outside the window so our group and many other passengers threw in the towel and started to move about the cabin, all commenting how little sleep theyd managed to get. Sunrise outside looked beautiful though.
The crew came around with coffee and tea and a little later with some food as the cabin lights went on. I asked the crew what it was (as we were just being given a box) but my crew member shrugged her shoulders at me and said it was breakfast, she looked at the underside of the box and said it was a sandwich of some kind. It would be nice if the IB crew knew what they were serving.
I opened the box and there was a little cake and a roll with cheese and ham even though the ingredients said Pollo which is chicken (so I thought). The meat certainly didnt look like chicken so that was extracted and left in the box.
At this stage we had started to fly over the Andes, and my oh my they were breathtaking. Naturally after taking several photos the conversation switched to the topic of the film Alive, and who we would eat if the plane crashed. Im not a nervous flyer but flying over such an expanse of mountain range really does make you wonder.
[img]http://www.v-flyer.com/photos/3955.jpg[/img]
We slowly made our decent into Santiago and were on the ground in no time. The flight was nicely on time. Unfortuantely, as I was in the back of the bus, the queue for immigration was over an hour, though the officials were very polite and friendly.
All in all, the flight didnt rank particularly highly, though I was prepared for it not be good as I am used to flying up the front and Iberia do tend to have a bit of a reputation as being not so good an airline in comparison to BA, Vs, etc. I think the lack of PTVs is dreadful, especially on a long flight, such as the ones IBs A346 serve (Santiago, Buenos Aires, etc). I really struggled to pass the time. That said, Im also very thankful that I do get to fly up the front when I am paying my own way and I am thankful to be reminded of it. Many of us do take for granted how luxurious our travel lifestyles are to the average Joe. I was on a flight with many families that were going home and happy to be able to travel to Spain and back. It made me feel very guilty for moaning and complaining about my lack of space.
I was also very grateful for my BA Silver card which allowed me to use the lounges in T3 and in Madrid. At no point was it an issue for me to enter the lounge with a guest, despite flying with a One world partner and not BA. I was very pleased to see how recognised the BAEC card was and that I didnt have any issues using it. The same goes for Fast Track in T3 with the agents knowing that a BAEC card or a Centurion card will grant you access to the lane, not just holding an F or J boarding pass.
So here I am in Chile, and my, what an amazing country. It is stunning. Think Yosemite but even better. We are about 200 miles through our cycle ride with the last stretch to do today. Tomorrow we arrive at one of the schools we are equipping with a 20-PC lab. These schools are in rural areas and the children will likely have never used a computer before. This means that when these kids leave school they really do leave with a basic computer literacy and can get a job in the city of apply to Santiago college, giving them the choice if they wish to further their education or work in the cities.
Then on Saturday, its back to Santiago airport for the flight home .... only 12 hours in IB Y ... I cant wait!
