I am sitting in seat 22C, an aisle seat, on this Azerbaijan Airlines Airbus A319 aircraft from Barcelona to Baku. Originally I was in middle seat 21B but when I saw this one available after all passengers had boarded, I quickly swapped. As did a few others.

The seat is narrow and has a slight recline – but also moves forward at the same time giving a feeling of more recline. There is no AV screen, internet, or charging sockets on the seat. Nor any other form of entertainment for that matter.

But a meal is served after a (surprising) hot ‘wet tissue’ service. There is a choice of chicken or beef – I choose the latter – beef stew – and it is quite tasty, served with rice and carrots, a bread roll with butter, a delicious nutty beetroot dip, a triangle of cheese, and a cake for dessert. It is served by efficient, yet after giving them a smile, friendly flight attendants.

The 5 1/2 hour flight goes by reasonably quickly, with me occupying my time reading a newspaper I had downloaded on my iPad, and trying to intermittently sleep.

We land on time.

Rating: 6/10