Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar - Madrid Airport Baggage Claim

Does anyone know about baggage claim at Madrid Airport Terminal 1? I keep reading there is a Sala 1 and Sala 2. Is there any way to know ahead of time which one Delta uses? I have to get to Terminal 4 in a hurry and would like to be as prepaired as possible. Thanks!!

Does anyone know about baggage claim at Madrid Airport Terminal 1? I keep reading there is a Sala 1 and Sala 2. Is there any way to know ahead of time which one Delta uses? I have to get to Terminal 4 in a hurry and would like to be as prepaired as possible. Thanks!!

When you exit the aircraft there is a monitor which shows the sala and belt. It is easy to miss, so pay attention.

I can't really remember this precisely but I recall that there are 2 arrival areas, one for schengen flights (sala 2) and one for non-schengen (with immigration agents before baggage claim - sala 1). In any case, I think that they'll direct you to the right one and not let you exit without going through immigration first...
Good Luck!

Map (http://www.aena.es/cartografia/terminal.jsp?id=24&poi=3668&t=1&p=0&swidth=873&sheight=533)

You go through immigration, and straight into the bag claim. I don't know the number, but you'll walk straight into it when you exit immigration.

We fly out of T1 to T4 terminal a couple of times each year, but with over 3 hours to make our connection. If you're on a tight connection from T1 to T4 terminals, you'll want to move quickly and efficiently.
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As noted, you'll debark your Delta flight and make your way straight to immigrations ( which is the middle white area in the map that andrea so kindly links to).
From here you'll clear immigrations where you will walk straight ahead & see the monitors with flight and baggage info ( from here you can also see the baggage reclaim area below you through the glass ).
Proceed down the stairs to the baggage reclaim area.
Anticipate that from the time that you finally grab your bag, it will take you some 15 to 20 minutes from this moment until you actually get to the T4 terminal itself.
After exiting baggage reclaim to the non-secure side, look to your right & nearby you should see a large flat-belt escalator leading up to the next level ( plantas 1 ).
On plantas 1 you'll continue walking to the right as when you exited baggage claim ( be careful not to get turned around in the wrong direction as the belt escalator will bring you up to plantas 1 moving in the opposite direction ).
Keep walking in this direction and look for the signs that say T4 terminal busses. These busses are located towards the far end of T1 terminal building. When you see the US Airways check-in counters ( I think their counters number in the 240s ) you can finally step outside towards the curb.
Keep walking in this direction until you see the green busses which say T4.
Once at T4 terminal walk straight in. There are monitor banks which have airline and check-in counter information.


Just curious about how much time you have between your DL T1 arrival and your T4 departure. 90 minutes is tight, but should be OK provided the DL bags hit the T1 belt in a timely manner and you present yourself asap at T4 check-in. Less than 90 minutes is agida time and can turn out any number of ways depending upon the travel gods that day. The trick is to find your check-in counter and queue up quickly to get your bags checked.

Have a nice fight.

Barry

Thanks Everyone!
Barry - your info is really helpful! We have 2 hours between flights but i think vueling check-in closes 40mins pre flight. I've been reading lots of comments about the bus from T1-T4 and it seems like it can take anywhere from 20-45mins. I was wondering if we could take a Taxi from T1 but maybe they wouldn't consider that a good fare?