Review: Air Europa 737 Economy Class (ALC-MAD)

In November 2025, I took an Air Europa flight from Alicante to Madrid. Air Europa is Spain’s third largest airline, after Iberia and Vueling, and I had the opportunity to fly them for the first time. Admittedly I booked this Air Europa flight after being frustrated at Iberia’s IT system (I wanted to redeem 1,400 Avios for Iberia economy class, though faced huge troubles transferring my British Airways Avios over to Iberia, to the point where I gave up and booked the cheapest ticket I could find), though I was also excited to fly a new airline.

If anyone following along my mad trip to Asia wondered why I didn’t fly directly from London to Madrid (especially given that Air Europa also operates that flight), I wanted to redeem a flight using Avios, and the only flight available was to Alicante at the time. Low-cost airline prices were also running really high out of London for the afternoon I was flying.

I don’t normally write reviews of flights that are this uneventful, as the flight itself was barely an hour long, and I didn’t eat anything on the flight. However, I figured this would be worth a review, mainly to show the booking process, as well as how the airline handled their 2h delay in Alicante.

Booking Air Europa 737 Economy Class

Air Europa isn’t a low-cost airline in the traditional sense – they’re fully part of SkyTeam, and their longhaul routes fall squarely in the full-service category. My flight was also said to be operated by Air Europa Express, the airline’s low-cost offshoot, despite having an Air Europa flight number – not that you can really tell the difference intra-Europe nowadays, as it’s not like airlines offer catering in economy or anything.

Air Europa’s intra-Spain flights vary wildly in price – my flight cost £28.30 (HK$290), though economy fares can run way higher, as you can see below (this isn’t even for a last-minute fare).

Even on these flights operated by Air Europa Express, the most basic economy fare comes with a carry-on bag, as well as an underseat bag. This probably places the airline squarely in the “full-service” category for me, as far as intra-Europe flying goes (what a change from flying intra-China…)

The Economy Lite fare bucket books you into the “Z” fare bucket. Air Europa allows you to earn on a revenue basis (5 miles per €1 spent), so my Economy Lite ticket would’ve gained me 160 miles. Alternatively, Flying Blue allows you to earn 15% of the distance flown, so 33 miles. Either way, this domestic economy flight would’ve earned me a punitive number of miles.

In terms of other add-ons, selecting a seat cost £4 (HK$41). In my case, I also added priority boarding for £9 (HK$92), mainly so I could get good pictures for the review. Priority boarding also ensures that your bag won’t be gate-checked.

Other add-ons in this stage include baggage, sports equipment, as well as pets.

I found the booking process to be smooth throughout, though did struggle to change my frequent flyer number after the booking, and found that process rather finicky (not that this mattered, since I wasn’t earning many miles anyway).

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Ground Experience

A few hours before my flight, I received a Flighty notification that my flight would be delayed for a few hours. This relieved pressure on my 1h 30m connection in Alicante on separate tickets, though the delay was quite substantial. I ended up going out to dinner in Alicante, before returning to the airport at around 9:30 PM to make my now 11 PM flight. If you’re wondering, security still easily let me through.

Alicante Airport Check-In Hall

Speaking of security, this was deserted during this time, and I very easily made it out onto the other side.

Alicante Airport Security

While Alicante Airport isn’t particularly big, there are a good number of food options, including a couple of food court areas. The catch is that they all close at 9 PM, with the exception of very few food outlets.

When our flight was delayed past two hours, we were sent a food voucher, which we could redeem at one of a list of selected outlets. The catch is that we could only spend up to €6 (£5.27/HK$54), which really isn’t a lot of money – we had to top up the difference. The Pret A Manger was open at this time and taking vouchers, so I decided to pick up a Damm Lemon beer, which I don’t see much on shelves in the UK.

Wine sold at a Pret at Alicante Airport!

The reason our Air Europa flight was delayed was because the entire fleet of 737s were facing delays that day. I know our tail number was reassigned due to how far delayed our original tail number was (we briefly posted a delay of five hours), and even the preceding flights run by our new aircraft were running up to 3h late. From a quick spot check, Air Europa’s operational reliability seems good – we just happened to be flying on a rather messy day.

The gate was set up at around 10:30 PM, with a dedicated lane for SkyPriority members, as well as those who had purchased priority boarding.

Air Europa gate at Alicante Airport

Our aircraft was coming in from Palma de Mallorca (on a flight running 2h 45m late), and it was EC-LVR, a 12-year-old 737 that had spent its entire life with Air Europa. It finally pulled into the gate at around 10:45 PM, where we were queued up to board not long after.

Air Europa 737 at Alicante Airport

Boarding started at more or less 11 PM sharp, starting with infirm passengers, and followed by the priority lane.

Air Europa Flight UX4050
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Origin: Alicante (ALC) Gate: C41 Dep: 20:45 (23:20)
Destination: Madrid (MAD) T: 2 Gate: Bus Arr: 21:55 (00:20+1)
Duration: 1 hr 10 min (1 hr)
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 Reg: EC-LVR
Seat: 28A (Economy Class)

Once boarded, we passed through the three-row business class cabin. I’m not sure how differentiated the service was on this ultra-short domestic flight, though this looked like a classic intra-European business class product, and even had tray tables on the “blocked” seats.

Air Europa 737 Business Class

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Cabin and Seat

Once we passed the business class cabin, I found an economy class cabin, featuring 28 rows (168 seats). Air Europa’s 737s feature 30″ of seat pitch, though these aren’t slimline seats by any stretch of the imagination.

Air Europa 737 Economy Class 

I selected seat 28A, located in the fourth last row of the cabin. I like selecting seats nearer to the back of the plane to maximise my chances of an empty seat next to me (my preference is usually the last row on longer flights, though I tend to find that on narrowbody planes it’s more likely that the last row has impeded recline). Unfortunately that wasn’t to be on this flight, as it went out full.

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Cabin and Seat 28A

The seats didn’t feature headrests, and had about as much recline as you’d expect from an intra-European cabin.

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Recline

However, the tray tables were among the sturdiest I’ve ever seen in narrowbody economy class. The hinges were incredibly robust, and the table was a good size as well. I wasn’t planning to do much work on this 50-minute flight leaving at 11 PM, though I’d certainly be thrilled with this on an earlier or longer flight.

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Tray Table

Due to the thick seatbacks, legroom otherwise isn’t particularly plentiful in this seat. I’m just 5’8″, so taller passengers may struggle to get comfortable.

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Legroom

It’s worth noting that despite the aircraft featuring Boeing Sky Interiors, there aren’t any power ports at this seat. There also isn’t any WiFi – Air Europa does have streaming entertainment on some of their 737s, though I don’t think it was turned on on this segment (unless it was post-takeoff, where I would’ve missed it).

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Lavatory

The 168 economy class passengers on this Air Europa 737 shared two lavatories, both located at the back of the cabin. These were in fair condition.

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Lavatory

Taking off from Alicante Airport

Boarding was completed swiftly on this delayed flight. Most seats were taken (including the ones next to mine), and at around 11:30 PM the safety video was screened on the overhead panels. It’s worth noting that the PA was quite weak, and I wasn’t really able to hear much of the content (surely that’s a safety concern).

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Safety Video Screening

We had a short taxi to runway 28, where we took off, getting a good view of neighbouring town Elche before adjusting our northwestern path slightly to head to Madrid.

Taking off from Alicante Airport

A very short flight to Madrid

I wish I had more to report on on this flight, though it was completely uneventful – the crew didn’t come round to perform a duty free service, and there was no extra entertainment or WiFi. I just spent the rest of the flight knocked out at my seat.

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Cabin during Cruising

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Buy-On-Board Menu

As aforementioned, the cabin crew didn’t even come around to offer a buy-on-board menu on this ultra-short flight. However, if you’re on a longer flight in Air Europa economy class, I’d say the prices are quite reasonable for a buy-on-board menu:

Air Europa 737 Economy Class Menu

Landing into Madrid Airport

Our actual air time was 38 minutes, and before we knew it, we landed at Madrid Airport on runway 32R.

Landing into Madrid Airport

While our taxi was short, go figure that we arrived at a remote stand. We parked next to a Binter Airlines E195 (they’re an airline based on the Canary Islands), and from there it took a further 20-30 minutes for us all to deplane, as we waited for buses to get to the plane.

The forward door was opened first, though after a while a second bus arrived, and the back door of the plane was also opened to load this bus.

Bus gate at Madrid Airport

While the last thing I was hoping for on this late evening was a bus gate, it was fun to have a view of our Air Europa 737.

Air Europa 737 at Madrid Airport

The actual bus journey was quick, and unloaded us to Madrid Airport’s Terminal 2. The only way to get to my hotel at this hour was via an Uber, though I was able to arrange this quite easily.

Conclusion: Air Europa 737 Economy Class

My flight from Alicante to Madrid was extremely uneventful – seating was pleasant and the aircraft was modern, though legroom was limited and there were no power ports or WiFi – even streaming entertainment on this short flight, though Air Europa does provide this on longer 737 flights. While I didn’t enjoy the 2.5h delay that came with my flight (which was also just short of the time needed for EU261 compensation), this seemed to be a one-off based on Air Europa’s track record, and delays do happen.

Have you flown Air Europa before? How was your experience?