Does anyone have experience has to how much time to allow between flights in Madrid airport? The flight I am looking at has a 70-minute layover before I need to connect with another flight to Jerez. (I will be flying from Newark to Madrid.) In the warning, it states that 70 mins. is a tight connection, and a missed flight will be very inconvenient. What has been your experience going from an international arrival to then departing to another Spanish city? Thank you for your help.
Which airline are you arriving on from EWR and what is your connecting airline? This will greatly impact how easy or difficult making your connecting Jerez flight will be.
The key idea here is that if you arrive T1 terminal and your
connecting airline departs from T2 terminal, your connection will be tight, but you should make your flight ( Spanair, Air Europa & other carriers fly out of T2 terminal ). If your
connecting flight is on Iberia (IB), your flight will depart from T4 terminal and a timely connection might be difficult to achieve ( most likely your bags will not make the connecting flight to Jerez ).
All trans-Atlantic flights to MAD on CO, US, DL etc. arrive at T1 terminal. Trans-Atlantic flights on AA and IB arrive at T4 terminal which is not physically connected to T1/2/3 terminals and requires a shuttle bus. Arriving T1 terminal and flying out of T4 terminal might not allow enough time to clear immigration in T1 and hop the shuttle bus to T4 and recheck your bags and make the flight ( or you will experience tremendous agida in the process ).
I would check your itinerary to see which airlines you're flying so that you can determine if you need to alter your connecting flight itinerary.
A few
hints.
- Try to find out if you can check your bags all the way to Jerez from EWR. This is not always possible because unless the airlines are partners or belong to the same alliance, they are not required to check bags to the final destination ( Jerez should have immigration & customs which allow your checked bag to arrive this way ).
- If your connecting airline is an alliance member, you should be able to check your bags all the way to Jerez and you should be able to get boarding passes for both flights ( either printing them at home or getting them in EWR ).
- If you arrive T1 terminal & have boarding passes for your connecting flight to T2 terminal, you can remain inside of security & take a shuttle bus to T2 where you can head straight to the gate. Otherwise, lacking a boarding pass, you must exit to the public side of T1 and walk some 7-10 minutes to T2 terminal where you check in and get boarding passes.
- If your connecting flight is out of T4 terminal, you will have to go outside of security & take a bus to T4 terminal, but you can proceed directly to security screening with your boarding passes at T4.
- If your bags are already checked to Jerez from EWR, you need only get to the gate to make your flight. If your bags do not make your flight, the airline will deliver them to you later.
I'd look closely at your itinerary, especially if you're flying in the summer when thunderstorms can delay flight departures and create late arrivals.
In our experience flying into MAD T1 terminal on US Air, passport control is usually a brief 10 minute or less processs of queuing, baggage claim is right around the corner, and bags take 20 to 30 minutes to hit the belts after gate arrival. Airport signage is good at MAD and walking to T2 is quick and easy. Ckeck the monitors in the check-in area to find out which counters to check in at. Security at MAD is most usually efficient, requiring 5 to 10 miinutes of queuing at most. They don't remove shoes in Spain but you must remove your belts.
Presently, we usually fly our connecting flight to Malaga via Iberia out of T4 terminal. The shuttle busses are located 2 levels above T1 passport control & baggage reclaim ( keep walking to the right as you exit the front of the terminal and look for the green busses ). It's about a 10 minute ride to T4 terminal some 2 miles away. Once again, check monitors at T4 to find where to check in for your flight. Be sure to check the T&C of your connecting airline regarding baggage and check-in times before they no longer accept bags.
We've had some flawless 90 minute or less connections out of T2 terminal and done the same at T4 rechecking bags, but you always feel harried connecting out of T4 and heaven help you if your TA flight is delayed . But now, we allow more time for that connecting flight, usually arriving @ 0830 and catching an 11AM to noon flight out of T4. We use the time to wind down in a cafe in T4 ( which is a new terminal and spectacular piece of architecture ).
I hope that this gives you a better feel for MAD Barajas airport. Enjoy your trip.
Barry
