Israel & back
In the air Tickets were for Iberia (Spanish airline) flight. From Miami (MIA) to Barcelona (BCN) the flight was in an American Airlines (AA) ice box. Aside from being super-cool - blankets and sweaters to the rescue - the flight was uneventful. Left on time, arrived on time. Flight attendants (FAs) attended.
Arrived at BCN for a short layover. Nice airport, relatively small, meaning that passengers don't have to run a mile between gates. Once again the security check.
I fail to understand why passengers who got off one flight at an international terminal and are boarding another flight in the same terminal - that is, no mingling with the possibly uninspected masses in the main terminal - need to be body searched again.
From BCN to Lod (TLV) the flight was with El Al, another Iberia code share. Like the flight from MIA to BCN, this segment was uneventful.
Lod used to be a nice compact airport, back before "jet ways" kept passengers out of the elements. Now it's a long hike to passport control (went smoothly), baggage collection (not bad since the BCN>TLV plane was relatively small - at least compared to a Boeing jumbo), then a breeze through the customs green line. The customs guy in the red line (for inspections) was a lonely as the Maytag repairman (when Maytag still was Maytag).
For all that, the chauffer (son-in-law) didn't spend a lot of time in wait mode.
On the return trip is was Iberia all the way.
Iberia buys and flies Airbus jets. I am not a fan of Airbus, an airplane built by a committee of Brits, French, Germans, and Spaniards (which probably is why Spain's national airline uses Airbus aircraft).
From TLV to Madrid (MAD) passengers were treated to the narrow, and hard, seats of an A (for Airbus) 319. I was more comfortable in a USAF C-119 "Flying Boxcar" than the A319. But we left on time and arrived on time.
The TLV flight docked at the "R" side of Terminal 4S. This terminal has gateways for R, S, and U docks. My flight to MIA was at gate S67 - the far end of the terminal.
While MAD has some moving walkways, there still is some hiking to be done, so I was ready to rest when I encountered - surprise - another security check.
Mind, Israeli security already allowed me on a plane (profiling seems to have been replaced - unfortunately with electronics; it may be faster, but is it as good? - and I had neither time nor inclination to exit the international terminal, but once again, removed computer, empty pockets, remove belt, etc. and et al. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.
I got to the MAD departure gate as the first passengers for the A-330/300 jumbo were heading down the jet way.
My turn came and I found my seat.
And waited.
And waited.
Seems an Iberia inbound flight with passengers slated for the MAD>MIA trip was delayed. To its credit, Iberia delayed the U.S.-bound flight until the late arrivals were aboard. Iberia joins KLM and United in accommodating connecting-flight passengers; all deserve a tip of the hat for patience. In the end, most of the delay was made up as we crossed the Atlantic - to be held up by a typical south Florida afternoon deluge.
MIA is not the airport where I hung out as a teen (Civil Air Patrol Miami Composite Squadron 2) back in the day when Pan Am, Eastern, and National had a major presence there.
MIA is huge and even with moving walkways, there is a lot of hiking to be done.
MIA has introduced a self-check-in for arriving U.S. citizens. Stick your passport onto a reader, follow the directions on the monitor, have your picture taken and you're on your way to baggage claim in only a matter of minutes. Passengers till need to fill out the immigration form on board the airplane so a pen is a must for all travels to the U.S. - the airlines don't seem to have pens for passengers. (I might add that handing out cheap ball points with the airline's logo or name would be good advertising for future flights. Me? I carry several inexpensive ball point pens when I fly.)
Iberia is a "code chare" with El Al and a number of other airlines. Basically, that means is you buy a ticket on Iberia, which often has the lowest price tickets to Israel, you could end up flying in any of a number of different carriers.
Funny thing about the Iberia-El Al code share. It's a secret known only to El Al.
The Iberia code share page in its in-flight magazine lists almost all of its code share partners except El Al.
