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Old Feb 9, 2009, 10:00 am
  #1  
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MAD Airport Transfer: LH to Air Europa

Hi,

I'll be traveling to Barcelona this summer. Unfortunately, a quirk of the ticket I booked required me to fly into Madrid via Frankfurt on Lufthansa. The plan is to buy a separate ticket from MAD to BCN. Currently, I'm set to arrive at 12pm on the LH flight.

How long should I allow to transfer from whichever terminal LH from FRA will arrive in to the Air Europa intra-Spain departure? There is a flight at 1:50pm as well as one at 4:00pm. I know the safest thing to do is take the 4pm, but based on experience here, is that necessary?

Also, any experience with Air Europa and standby? If I book the 4:00pm and could possibly stand by for the 1:50, that would be ideal.

Cheers.
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Old Feb 9, 2009, 4:35 pm
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Lufthansa and Air Europa both operate out of T1 in MAD, which should save you a bit of time. I had a connection in MAD a few weeks ago and had to go from T1 to T4, which is quite a trek (although the new T4 is a fantastic building).

I would always recommend taking the latest flight possible. Remember that because you're flying on two separate itineraries, Air Europa is under no obligation to help you out if you miss the flight because your Lufthansa flight was delayed. Probably not worth the risk, no matter how minor it is.
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Old Feb 9, 2009, 8:40 pm
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Originally Posted by Tifosi
I would always recommend taking the latest flight possible. Remember that because you're flying on two separate itineraries, Air Europa is under no obligation to help you out if you miss the flight because your Lufthansa flight was delayed. Probably not worth the risk, no matter how minor it is.
Even if the OP is on a totally inflex ticket that allows no changes whatsoever, the full fare is only 200 Euros. You can't lose any more than that, and the chances of losing that are quite small...

Personally I would take the 13:50 flight, but that's assuming that you are travelling handluggage only and with a comfortably long FRA connection.

If you're travelling with checked luggage, choose JK for MAD-BCN in order to get your stuff checked through by LH.
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Old Feb 10, 2009, 9:43 am
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Thanks for the responses.

I took another look on the Madrid Airport site. It looks like LH flies into T1 and Air Europa internal Spain flights depart from T2. So I will have to make a terminal connection. Any thoughts on how long this will take and security/customs concerns?

We will have carry ons only and will have a 2 hour connection in FRA (arriving F, departing C).
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Old Feb 10, 2009, 9:52 am
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Originally Posted by graraps
Even if the OP is on a totally inflex ticket that allows no changes whatsoever, the full fare is only 200 Euros. You can't lose any more than that, and the chances of losing that are quite small...
Maybe I'm just cheap, but 200 Euros is enough that I wouldn't want to risk it.

Originally Posted by troyb
Thanks for the responses.

I took another look on the Madrid Airport site. It looks like LH flies into T1 and Air Europa internal Spain flights depart from T2. So I will have to make a terminal connection. Any thoughts on how long this will take and security/customs concerns?

We will have carry ons only and will have a 2 hour connection in FRA (arriving F, departing C).
Sorry for the misinformation, I didn't realize Air Europa flew out of T1 and T2. a 2 hour connection in FRA and only carry-on makes the 13:50 flight more feasible.

There's a good chance I'm wrong about this, so hopefully someone either confirms or corrects me, but wouldn't you clear customs in FRA since that's the point that you enter the Schengen Zone, as you'll be disembarking an international flight to board an intra-Schengen flight? That should also speed things up in MAD.
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Old Feb 10, 2009, 4:01 pm
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Originally Posted by Tifosi
There's a good chance I'm wrong about this, so hopefully someone either confirms or corrects me, but wouldn't you clear customs in FRA since that's the point that you enter the Schengen Zone, as you'll be disembarking an international flight to board an intra-Schengen flight?
You are wrong, but not too far off. You indeed clear immigration at FRA.

You don't clear customs until your final destination, which is BCN.
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Old Feb 10, 2009, 6:57 pm
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Is there some kind of easy transfer between terminals?
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Old Feb 11, 2009, 5:12 am
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Originally Posted by troyb
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Is there some kind of easy transfer between terminals?
Terminals 1, 2, and 3 are essentially partitions of the same building. I think there may be an inter-terminal bus that helps you stay airside, but I find it easier to walk.
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Old Feb 11, 2009, 7:26 am
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Originally Posted by troyb
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Is there some kind of easy transfer between terminals?
walk! there's nu bus between terminals 1, 2 and 3...
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Old Feb 11, 2009, 7:38 am
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Originally Posted by graraps
Terminals 1, 2, and 3 are essentially partitions of the same building. I think there may be an inter-terminal bus that helps you stay airside, but I find it easier to walk.
Originally Posted by dragonfirebcn
walk! there's nu bus between terminals 1, 2 and 3...
Thanks for the help, so just to be clear - will I actually have to pop outside or is it all connected, just for my purposes, landside?

Also - I haven't able to discern any Air Europa standby rules. Do they exist? Just wanted to see if I would be able to catch the earlier flight if I book the later and vice versa, if it were necessary.
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Old Feb 11, 2009, 8:03 am
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Originally Posted by troyb
Thanks for the help, so just to be clear - will I actually have to pop outside or is it all connected, just for my purposes, landside?

Also - I haven't able to discern any Air Europa standby rules. Do they exist? Just wanted to see if I would be able to catch the earlier flight if I book the later and vice versa, if it were necessary.
It's all connected...you can walk outside if you want tho (is what smokers do!)

My experience with UX is that if you buy a discount fare you're pretty much sticked to it and don't expect to be rebooked in the late flight if you miss the earlier one. Don't know about stand-by policies in the opposite case. If you have an economy flex/plus or bussines fare, my guess is that you can reschedule paying the proper fees depending on the fare you got.

As someone asked before, wouldn't it be easier if you book the BCN leg with JK? If coming with LH it would be the natural option as they'll handle all the connection within *A
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Old Feb 11, 2009, 9:39 am
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Originally Posted by graraps
You are wrong, but not too far off. You indeed clear immigration at FRA.

You don't clear customs until your final destination, which is BCN.
Ahh, I had meant to type 'immigration', not 'customs'. That does it, I need another coffee.

Thanks for clarifying.
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Old Feb 11, 2009, 10:18 am
  #13  
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would seem easier to try and reroute the FRA-MAd leg into FRA-BCN.. at least see what the pricing difference is before booking this extra segment.
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Old Feb 11, 2009, 10:55 am
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Originally Posted by dragonfirebcn
It's all connected...you can walk outside if you want tho (is what smokers do!)

My experience with UX is that if you buy a discount fare you're pretty much sticked to it and don't expect to be rebooked in the late flight if you miss the earlier one. Don't know about stand-by policies in the opposite case. If you have an economy flex/plus or bussines fare, my guess is that you can reschedule paying the proper fees depending on the fare you got.

As someone asked before, wouldn't it be easier if you book the BCN leg with JK? If coming with LH it would be the natural option as they'll handle all the connection within *A
Thanks. Unfortunately, I can't book into BCN directly as this part of my trip is just a piece of a larger ticket and cannot have an open jaw at this stage. I'll check into the fares and fees of having a more flexible ticket.
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Old Feb 12, 2009, 10:56 am
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Originally Posted by dragonfirebcn
It's all connected...you can walk outside if you want tho (is what smokers do!)

My experience with UX is that if you buy a discount fare you're pretty much sticked to it and don't expect to be rebooked in the late flight if you miss the earlier one. Don't know about stand-by policies in the opposite case. If you have an economy flex/plus or bussines fare, my guess is that you can reschedule paying the proper fees depending on the fare you got.
AFAIK, UX don't do standby. You can, however, get a confirmed reservation on the earlier one if you pay the chg fee and, if applicable, fare difference.

The UX OLCI is quite good, so I would definitely be checked and with BP in hand- in this case, you only need to arrive at the gate at 13:35 for the 13:50 flight.
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