Transfer from IB to BA at Madrid
Jun 16, 2022, 12:45 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 456
Transfer from IB to BA at Madrid
Does anyone know the procedure for arriving at Madrid from the US on Iberia and transferring onto BA for an onward flight to LHR? Is it straightforward to recheck baggage ir is there a terminal change etc?
Jun 16, 2022, 12:48 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1,110
It’ll be the same terminal 4S. This should be more straight forward as it’s a non-Schengen to non-Schengen transfer. It’s all rather well signposted and you shouldn’t have any difficulties.
Jun 16, 2022, 1:05 pm
#3
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: E14
Programs: BA GGL, Marriott, IHG, Sirius, Dusit, Thai, Virgin, Hyatt, BAA, AS, AA(both)
Posts: 1,237
Why are you asking about rechecking baggage ? are you on two PNR's as this is a whole different ball game !
Jun 16, 2022, 3:29 pm
#5
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: London UK
Programs: BA Gold Guest List & GfL, Accor Gold, Hilton Diamond, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 186
As noted already, Iberia flights from US use Terminal 4S, as do BA and IB flights to London. But check-in and baggage services are in the main terminal 4 building. So, if you need to recheck bags, on arrival, you will need to clear immigration, take the transit to the main terminal (takes about 10 minutes), collect you bags, check back in with the BA, then go back through security and take the transit back to Terminal 4S for departures.
Jun 16, 2022, 3:41 pm
#6
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire
Posts: 1,242
As noted already, Iberia flights from US use Terminal 4S, as do BA and IB flights to London. But check-in and baggage services are in the main terminal 4 building. So, if you need to recheck bags, on arrival, you will need to clear immigration, take the transit to the main terminal (takes about 10 minutes), collect you bags, check back in with the BA, then go back through security and take the transit back to Terminal 4S for departures.
let us know how many hours you have between the two flights but you should prepare loads of walking, queuing, waiting for checkin, waiting for bags.
in my opinion MAD won’t be a nice experience. If you could ask the agent in the us to through check your bag even bribing them (kidding) would make a huge difference in experience point of view.
mid you have many hours you might want to stay in the Terminal 4 lounge as the 4s one is rubbish to be honest. Food and drinks limited options. So I would stay in Terminal 4 let say 1 hours or maybe 1 hours and 15 min before departure. Then push through passport control in 4s.
Jun 16, 2022, 4:04 pm
#7
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,769
If your connection turns out to be under 2 hours on the day, I can't see it working. You would need 3 to 4 hours to be comfortable. Hand luggage you'd be down to sub 1 hour, so that shows the scale of the difference here. I would only book this if you could afford to rebook the London service if things go wrong.
Jun 17, 2022, 2:12 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 456
Thanks to everyone for your input. When I saw Raffle's article on the potential savings on taxes and fees when taking a one way reward flight UA-UK, I realised that an IB flight in J ORD-MAD coupled with a BA flight MAD-LHR is £1120 cheaper than a direct BA-ORD flight. Sadly, when I explained the process of claiming bags and going in and out through immigration, the idea was vetoed. Unfortunately, we can’t spend any time in Madrid due to other commitments so I’ll have to shelve the idea for now.
Jun 17, 2022, 4:14 am
#10
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: E14
Programs: BA GGL, Marriott, IHG, Sirius, Dusit, Thai, Virgin, Hyatt, BAA, AS, AA(both)
Posts: 1,237
Thanks to everyone for your input. When I saw Raffle's article on the potential savings on taxes and fees when taking a one way reward flight UA-UK, I realised that an IB flight in J ORD-MAD coupled with a BA flight MAD-LHR is £1120 cheaper than a direct BA-ORD flight. Sadly, when I explained the process of claiming bags and going in and out through immigration, the idea was vetoed. Unfortunately, we can’t spend any time in Madrid due to other commitments so I’ll have to shelve the idea for now.
Jun 17, 2022, 4:24 am
#11
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,769
Indeed, and you probably would have to call up to book that. But there are heaps of ways to handle the high surcharges on redemptions, e.g. flying AA to somewhere else or using Iberia or using Aer Lingus or Level via Iberia - but they do not make for ease of travel.