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After a Pleasant flight to Madrid from Chicago on Iberia’s A330 in business class, I cleared passport control and headed to Terminal 4. Tucked away at the end of the terminal just past Starbucks and McDonald’s is the VIP Lounge Plaza Mayor. Since I had a few hours to kill before heading on down to Rome I thought I’d grab a snack and check it out.
The Deets:
- When: December 2018
- Where: Madrid, Spain T4, 1st Floor
- Access: Priority Pass
- Hours: 5am to 11pm
The Lounge is one big room
From the check-in counter you can essentially see the lounge in its entirety. However, because the walls are all floor to ceiling glass it doesn’t feel that confined and sure enough, I found seating quite easily at the work station.
Food:
I access the lounge during breakfast and there was a small spread of what I’d call continental options. A bit of fruit, cheese, pastries, cookies, coffee, and booze were available.
Showers:
There are two showers. Both were occupied when I showed up, but within 10 minutes one had freed up. Very clean and even included a nice robe!
Overall:
If you have a bit of time prior to departure, it’s a fine place to spend a bit of time. There’s Wifi, a shower, but the food is very sparse, and I’m not sure I would say there is a true meal replacement option…at least for breakfast.
- Review: Iberia Business Class Chicago to Madrid
- Review: Iberia Business Class Lounge Madrid
- Review: VIP Lounge Plaza Mayor Madrid
- Review: Iberia Business Class Madrid to Rome
- Review: St Regis Rome
- Review: Alitalia Economy Rome to Budapest
- Review: New York Palace Budapest, Autograph Collection
- Tip for visiting the Thermal baths in Budapest
- Don’t make this European train mistake like I did
- Review: Park Hyatt Vienna
- Review: Air Lounge Vienna Airport
- Review: British Airways Business Class Vienna to London
- Review: Kimpton London Fitzroy
- Tips before flying Flybe
- Review: Intercontinental Le Grand Paris
- Review: Air France Business Class Lounge CDG
- Review: Air France Business Class 777-300ER Paris to Washington D.C.
- How I utilized the transfer desk to make a tight international connection
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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