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Connections through Madrid Airport

Old Feb 15, 2016, 2:13 pm
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Last edit by: JDiver
Connecting at MAD / Madrid Barajas International Airport
FEEL FREE TO EDIT OR ADD TO THIS WIKIPOST



Madrid airport layout

Terminals include

Terminal 1: International. Star Alliance primarily (also the only non-Schengen area outside of T4)

Terminal 2: Domestic mostly. SkyTeam primarily

Terminal 3: Schengen and some Domestic mostly. Air France/KLM/Lufthansa usually leave from here, but really it's just a slight extension on T2

Terminals 1-2-3 are adjacent and host Star and SkyTeam alliances and are all connected airside.

Terminal 4: one world including Iberia
Domestic and Schengen mostly from Terminal 4
International from Terminal 4-S (satellite) (Except IB or I2 operated flights to UK and Ireland as well as BA CityFlyer flights to LCY that operate out of T4 Main, though note that usually one IB flight to LHR daily is operated by an A330 or A340, these flights go from T4-S).
Both connected by an underground train, though going from T4-S to T4 requires going landside and re-clearing security in order to access T4.

Terminals are connected by a landside shuttle bus service.

Connecting from non-Schengen to Schengen (or departing the airport) one must process immigration in T-4S. Queues can be lengthy at times; if you are an EU citizen, you wil lfind the kiosk to your right in the queues. If you are not, keep to the right of the general queues anyway, as the EU queues can empty and they begin waving non-EU passengers into the EU lines.

The train connecting the T4-S satellite to T4 must be accessed via lifts or stairs; the lifts are faster. A non-Schengen to Schengen connection can take an hour or longer - A 1.5 hours is recommended as minimum connect times, and possibly more for Schengen to non-Schengen if during busy hours due to security procedures, particularly for US flights. Status passengers on Iberia flights to the US have access to a separate priority queue to clear the extra US screening.

Connections to other terminals are by a landside shuttle bus located, and can take rather longer than one might think as T4 is quite far away from T1/2/3. There is a metro link between the two, however you will have to pay full fare and even for a single rider a taxi is pretty competitive on price when the airport supplement is included.

Resources:

Link to Madrid Barajas Airport (World Airport Guides)

Link to AENA official MAD Madrid Barajas website by airport operator AENA

Wikipedia decent article on Madrid Barajas (with listings of airline gates and terminals - BUT caveat - it fails to differentiate between Terminal 4 and Terminal 4-S!)

Schengen Agreements nations information (with maps, etc.)
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Connections through Madrid Airport

Old Apr 16, 2019, 9:14 pm
  #526  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
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T4S arrival on AV, T4S departure on BA, I'm guessing I will have to clear immigration in order to get my bags and recheck? Will I be able to stop at T4S lounge to shower before heading to immigration check?
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 10:49 am
  #527  
 
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Originally Posted by theboss7593
T4S arrival on AV, T4S departure on BA, I'm guessing I will have to clear immigration in order to get my bags and recheck? Will I be able to stop at T4S lounge to shower before heading to immigration check?
It will take a while to enter Schengen, train to T4, pick up bags, check in with BA, train back to T4S, go through security, and exit Schengen. It might be possible to take a quick shower and still beat the bags to the belt, just to work up a sweat in the rest of the process.

This would be so much simpler without checked luggage and with an online boarding pass from BA.
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 1:20 pm
  #528  
 
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Originally Posted by SkyBuck
It will take a while to enter Schengen, train to T4, pick up bags, check in with BA, train back to T4S, go through security, and exit Schengen. It might be possible to take a quick shower and still beat the bags to the belt, just to work up a sweat in the rest of the process.

This would be so much simpler without checked luggage and with an online boarding pass from BA.
Yeah I know but we are traveling for 4 weeks, checked bag kinda needed.. I don't mind the having the luggage wait for us... and hitting the showers first. (another thread poster stated not a problem to go direct from plane to lounge) I keep nothing valuable in my luggage just my carry on.. I may have a nice house and nice car but I wear cheap clothes, if someone wants to steal my $20 pair of jeans knock themselves out...

I can certainly take care of the BA online boarding pass ahead of time...
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Old Apr 27, 2019, 9:37 am
  #529  
 
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Well, we just went VLC to MAD TO JFK on IB (Iberia) and we had a scheduled 1.5 hr connection time. Flight from VLC to MAD was late so we only had 54 minutes total from landing to take off of the next flight. We arrived from VLC at Terminal 4 all the way at the end of the terminal where a lot of the regional airplanes arrive. Then we mad dashed - ran all the way to the 4S train (had to go down two flights of escalators) and onto the LONG (but relatively quick) train ride and into T4S and through Immigration and then all the way to the other end (Gate 47) of T4S. We just got there just barely in time and we RAN fast! Our luggage was not so lucky and did not make the connection. The distance from T4 to T4S is really far so I imagine it takes them a long time to transfer luggage between the terminals. As others have posted, while we got our luggage delivered to us 30 hrs after we landed, dealing with IB customer service is a nightmare! They are impossible to deal with and at no time were able to tell us anything other than what was posted under our reference file number on the online tracking system which was "Delivery Process Initiated". They would not make any attempt to find out the status or when the bags would be delivered other than call us back in another 24 hrs. We are really thankful that we got our bags at home but dealing with IB is a horrible experience.

I would not check bags through MAD unless I had at least 3 hrs especially because flights can be late (like ours from VLC was).
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Old Apr 30, 2019, 9:42 pm
  #530  
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
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Transfer Time in Madrid Airport

Hi

I'm going to be landing at terminal 2 in Madrid at 3:40 pm and have a connecting flight from Terminal 4 at 5:30 pm. The airlines are not the same company. Questions are:

A) Will I need to go through immigration to make this transfer if I don't have checked bags?

B) Is there an internal way to get to terminal 4 and avoid immigration with just carry ons?

C) I was originally planning on checking luggage but now I'm wondering if I won't have enough time to claim bags if I have to do immigration AND wait for luggage. The transit like is 1 hour 50 minutes exactly.

In a bit of a tight spot so any info will help. Thanks!
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Old May 4, 2019, 2:00 am
  #531  
 
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What’s the minimum connecting time in MAD? Flying in with QR, connecting to SVQ with VY.

If ticketed under one PNR, will our luggage check through to SVQ or should we collect luggage at MAD and re-check? What terminals will be QR arrival and VY departure? How long is the walk between the terminals?
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Old May 4, 2019, 5:42 am
  #532  
 
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Originally Posted by Aash21
HiI'm going to be landing at terminal 2 in Madrid at 3:40 pm and have a connecting flight from Terminal 4 at 5:30 pm. The airlines are not the same company. Questions are:<br /><br />A) Will I need to go through immigration to make this transfer if I don't have checked bags?<br /><br />B) Is there an internal way to get to terminal 4 and avoid immigration with just carry ons?<br /><br />C) I was originally planning on checking luggage but now I'm wondering if I won't have enough time to claim bags if I have to do immigration AND wait for luggage. The transit like is 1 hour 50 minutes exactly.<br /><br />In a bit of a tight spot so any info will help. Thanks!

Terminal 2 is Schengen only so you if you arrive there you will already be in the Schengen area and not have any immigration.

If you are arriving from a non-Schengen destination, you will actually be arriving in T1 but the immigration line shouldn't be too long and shouldn't change the calculus too much. In theory there is a transfer bus to the non-Schengen part of T4 (T4S) but I haven't heard any reports of how well it works. It would probably be the best way if you are doing non-Schengen to non-Schengen

No terminal connection except for a shuttle bus that will take 20-25 minutes.

Checked luggage will be absolutely impossible. It's tight as is.
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Old May 4, 2019, 5:45 am
  #533  
 
Join Date: May 2013
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Originally Posted by boybi
Whats the minimum connecting time in MAD? Flying in with QR, connecting to SVQ with VY.

If ticketed under one PNR, will our luggage check through to SVQ or should we collect luggage at MAD and re-check? What terminals will be QR arrival and VY departure? How long is the walk between the terminals?
If on one PNR, luggage will be checked through. IIRC, MCT is 50 minutes for that itinerary. QR arrives into T4S and the VY flight will leave from T4, it's a pretty standard connection. You will have to take a train from T4S to T4, go through transit security and you will be landside again. QR tends to arrive at gates closest to immigration so I'll just say not that long of a walk and a tip for speed is to use lifts rather than escalators after immigration.
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Old May 5, 2019, 6:26 pm
  #534  
 
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Curious to see if this would be a connection that could be made. The ticket would be 2 reservations because Iberia will not sell it together as 1 ticket: MAN-MAD-NAP with a 70 minute connection in Madrid. We would be traveling with only hand luggage. I assume we would arrive in T4S and then assuming we would depart from T4. Is this doable? I think I also read that flights coming from the UK do not go through security again, so we would just have to deal with passport control, is that correct?
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Old May 7, 2019, 7:00 am
  #535  
 
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Originally Posted by creditcardgeek
Curious to see if this would be a connection that could be made. The ticket would be 2 reservations because Iberia will not sell it together as 1 ticket: MAN-MAD-NAP with a 70 minute connection in Madrid. We would be traveling with only hand luggage. I assume we would arrive in T4S and then assuming we would depart from T4. Is this doable? I think I also read that flights coming from the UK do not go through security again, so we would just have to deal with passport control, is that correct?
MAN would actually arrive to T4 Main so it's doable if all is on time. There is a possibility it could land at T4S and that would require reclearing security but I still think it would be doable if all on time.

Of course there's not much room for error.
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Old May 8, 2019, 11:25 am
  #536  
 
Join Date: May 2019
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Newbie here, so apologies if anything is unclear!

I have separate tickets booked BOS to MAD (Norwegian) and then MAD to ATH (Aegean). According to my confirmations, DY7754 arrives into T2 at 11:30am May 17th, and A3703 departs from T2 at 1:45am May 18th. I have a few questions, mainly regarding the lengthy amount of time I will be spending there. (14 hours!)

1. I am assuming since everything was booked separately, I will need to go through Customs/Immigration upon my arrival from Boston which would put me outside of the secure area of T2. How early before my next flight would I be allowed back through security, assuming I can check in online? Hand baggage only.
2. If I cannot get back through security until much closer to my departing flight, is there anything to do in the landside area of T2 (restaurants, shops, lounges where I could buy a pass)? Ideally I'd love to be able to grab a shower and relax at some point but not sure whether or not I'd be permitted in a lounge until a few hours before my flight.
3. If I leave the airport, what would be a good way to kill time? I have never been to Spain.

Thanks all!
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Old May 8, 2019, 11:39 am
  #537  
 
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Originally Posted by megb89
Newbie here, so apologies if anything is unclear!

I have separate tickets booked BOS to MAD (Norwegian) and then MAD to ATH (Aegean). According to my confirmations, DY7754 arrives into T2 at 11:30am May 17th, and A3703 departs from T2 at 1:45am May 18th. I have a few questions, mainly regarding the lengthy amount of time I will be spending there. (14 hours!)

1. I am assuming since everything was booked separately, I will need to go through Customs/Immigration upon my arrival from Boston which would put me outside of the secure area of T2. How early before my next flight would I be allowed back through security, assuming I can check in online? Hand baggage only.
2. If I cannot get back through security until much closer to my departing flight, is there anything to do in the landside area of T2 (restaurants, shops, lounges where I could buy a pass)? Ideally I'd love to be able to grab a shower and relax at some point but not sure whether or not I'd be permitted in a lounge until a few hours before my flight.
3. If I leave the airport, what would be a good way to kill time? I have never been to Spain.

Thanks all!
Your flight from BOS will arrive into T1. If you have hand baggage only and a boarding pass, you can follow signs to connections and go straight into T2 after clearing passport control and security. You can go into T2 as early as you want, assuming your boarding pass is for the same day (1:45AM of the next day is considered the same day for all intents and purposes). Looks like Puerta de Alcal has showers.

With this much time, I'd suggest leaving your carry-ons at left luggage, catching the train or the bus to the center and exploring Madrid. If you have PriorityPass or *G you may want to stop by the lounge and have a shower. The lounges in T123 are not very special though.
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Old May 8, 2019, 12:37 pm
  #538  
 
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Yes, definitely take the train to the city centre, where there's much to do, rather than stay in the airport. Since you are in T1/T2, the easiest option is probably to take the subway, rather than go to T4 to take the commuter train (there is a landside arrivals lounge in T4 where you can pay to take a shower, but I think it will probably take too much time). There are left luggage facilities at MAD so your carry on is not a problem.

The lounge in T2 is in Priority Pass and you can usually buy day passes for it (the shower is probably extra, although I am not sure). They will only let you enter three hours before the flight.
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Old May 16, 2019, 2:00 pm
  #539  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
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My family of six is flying from EWR arriving Madrid terminal 2 on TAP and flying out of terminal 4S to Dakar (DSS) on a separate ticket (Iberia). We have US passports. We are not checking any bags (hand luggage only). We have 7 hours, but since we have young children who will be very tired, I'd like to get through to 4S as quickly as possible. Can you walk me through the route/steps that we should take?

Last edited by MelloChatt; May 16, 2019 at 2:16 pm
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Old May 16, 2019, 3:35 pm
  #540  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
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There is a transit bus, under request only, from baggage claim in T1 straight to T4S if you are doing a non-Schengen to non-Schengen connection (to avoid having to go through immigration).

However, if you are flying TAP I assume that you are actually flying EWR-LIS-MAD. In which case you will go through immigration in Lisbon and enter the Schengen space there. Then I believe in MAD you have to exit T2, take the transit bus to T4, go through security there and then take the transit to T4S.

At some point there was a transit bus from T2 baggage claim straight to T4S (only for passengers who do not need to check in). I do not know if it is still running.

Last edited by Yllanes; May 16, 2019 at 3:42 pm
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