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Madrid to Frankfurt Business Class on Latam

April 16, 2017

Flight Review: Madrid (MAD) – Frankfurt (FRA) in mid 2016

Carrier: Latam, Boeing 787 (Dreamliner) Business Class
Flight Duration: 2h 30m

In september 2016 a friend and I decided to go on a weekend-trip to Madrid. We chose to fly Latam (former Lan) , which is by the way the only airline serving this route with one of their fairly new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Latam offers incredibly competitive Business Class fares for especially this exact routing -we paid roughly 200 Euros each for a roundtrip- and is also the only airline to do so by using a longhaul aircraft, a fairly new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Those offers seem to be available because Latam continues flying out from Madrid to Santiago de Chile just an hour after coming in from Frankfurt. So the airline maximizes capacity on their daily FRA-MAD and MAD-FRA flights by offering very cheap Economy Class and Business Class roundtrips, which we took advantage of.

The flight from Madrid to Frankfurt usually departs at around 2pm, so we went to the airport 2 hours before departure to grab some lunch in the lounge. Latam Business Class passengers and Oneworld Sapphire members are given access to the Iberia Lounge in the Sattelite Terminal (T4S) of Barajas Airport, which is the non-Schengen Area of T4. Although we haven’t had any trouble checking in, we noticed that we should have come a little earlier to fully enjoy and relax at the lounge. The Sattelite Terminal can only be reached by a skytrain and there is quite a distance to walk to reach your departure gate if you’re unlucky. So in the end we had a not very relaxing 20-minutes stay at the Iberia Lounge to grab some food and beverages before we left for our flight back to Frankfurt.

Passengers flying from Frankfurt to Madrid are given acces to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge.

Iberia Lounge T4S seating area Madrid Barajas Airport

Although the lounge was filled with many transiting passengers, there was still plenty of sitting space left for us. The buffet offered a variety of cold and hot dishes, right next to the buffet was an open fridge with many non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages (mostly beers). Unfortunately we weren’t able to fully enjoy our lounge visit and left after having a small lunch. Well, at least we took an ice cream dessert to-go each, right before leaving for our gate, which was something!

Complimentary Ice Cream at Iberia Lounge T4S

After rushing to our departure gate – while eating our Ice Cream, we must have looked way too funny – we found ourselves being the last passengers to board the aircraft.

Business Class on Latam’s 787 Dreamliner features a 2-2-2 lieflat seat configuration, which are great when flying with a friend or partner. Due to the fact that all windowseats do not have direct aisle acces and therefore limited privacy, they may not be the favorable option for passengers traveling by themselves. We chose to sit in 2A and 2C, which are a window- and an aisleseat right next to each other.

Latam Business Class seats on 787 Dreamliner

Latam Business Class lieflat seat on 787 Dreamliner

The seats are spacious and convert into a fully lieflat bed with the option of getting bedding and a nice blanket from your flightattendant, which we obviously didn’t need to use on our roughly 2,5h flight to Frankfurt. But I can imagine it being a very comfortable spot to sleep on a 10 hour redeye-flight from Madrid to Santiago de Chile.

We definitely enjoyed the view through the much larger 787 windows during our flight though, which by the way don’t have classical windowshades anymore but some built-in hightech glasses which darken by pressing a button under the windows.

Windows on 787 Dreamliner

Sunset view while aircraft is tilted to the right (FRA-MAD flight)

An inflight meal, declared as “snack”, was served about an hour after take off. As you can see, the meal included european bread with butter, beef carpaccio served cold on a plate with salad, olive oil, some sort of salsa sauce and a chocolate cake for dessert. It was a delicious gourmet snack we both really enjoyed.

Latam Business Class inflight meal MAD-FRA

Bottom Line:
Overall, flying Business Class on Latam’s 787 Dreamliner was a unique experience that doesn’t break the bank. I definitely recommend it, especially on this route which is usually flown on shorthaul aircrafts like the 737 or A320 by other airlines. In Addition to this fact comes that those Latam Economy and Business Class fares are incredibly competitive.

So why fly intra-european Business Class on an A320, which we all know are basically Economy Class seats in the front of the plane combined with Business Class service, when you can have the “real” Business Class experience for the same price or sometimes even less money?

Sydney to Melbourne Business Class on Qantas

April 16, 2017

Flight Review: Sydney (SYD) – Melbourne (MEL) in early 2016

Carrier: Qantas , Airbus A330 Business Class
Flight Duration: 1h
Price Paid: 60 EUR + 5.000 Avios (miles)

While being on a 5-week backpacking-vacation inbetween my studies I got the opportunity to fly from Sydney to Melbourne in one of their (at that time) newly remodelled A330´s. To book this flight I used my Avios (Miles) from my British Airways Executive Club account. So in the end a oneway-trip in Business Class cost me around 5000 Avios plus an additional 60 Euros in fees and taxes. The cost for this ticket without using miles would have been a whopping 900 AUD. So the use of my Avios wasn’t bad at all.

To get more information on how to earn and use miles just check out my beginners tutorial on how to plan and book your journey here!

So when I arrived at the airport in Sydney I checked in my backpack at the empty Business Class counter and proceeded through security. One of the amazing perks of flying Business Class are the lounges you are allowed to access before departure. And that’s exactly what I did. (I must admit, I did even skip having lunch in Sydney to come to the airport 2-3 h before departure to have it in the Qantas lounge).

Qantas Business Class Lounge

The lounge is spacious and there was quite a good choice of hot and cold food at their selfservice buffet. Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were available at the bar right next to the buffet. There is also the opportunity to have a quick shower in one of the lounge’s private shower rooms, which I didn’t take advantage of though.

For aviationgeeks this lounge features a fairly nice view onto the tarmac with a lot of qantas planes waiting to be boarded right next to the windows of the lounge.

Qantas Lounge food and view

After having a nice lunch -it was more like a brunch- I headed to the gates to board my rather short flight in Qantas’ new A330 Business Class.
I assigned myself seat 4A which is a window seat on the left side of the plane, obviously. Business Class is configured in a 1-2-1 layout with direct aisle acces for every seat. I really liked the level of privacy given on a window seat.

Qantas Business Class seat A330

For the first time in my life (yes, this was actually my first Business Class flight ever) I felt like being on a private jet. The seat certainly felt like it and also the service was amazing, especially for a short flight like this. Even though the flight-time was just under 1 hour the crew managed to serve a full meal in Business Class, which I wasn’t even expecting. The meal included a chickencornsoup, some bread (which unfortunately I ate before taking the picture), some sort of sweet cake for dessert, water and white wine. I was quite impressed by that.

Qantas Business Class food and entertainment system

So despite this being an extremly short flight to fly Business Class on, it was definitely still worth using my avios for. I had a great experience flying their new product at that time but I would certainly not spend 900 AUD for a oneway-ticket. Though again, the option of using my avios made this a very reasonable and unique experience.