HELP! I leave in 3 weeks! Just found out that our flight from Boston in US arrives in Madrid with a 1 hr and 20 min stop for "equipment change" then on to Barcelona (final destination). "Equipment change" means we will change planes in Madrid and I was told by my travel agent that we would not have a problem making the Barcelona flight and would not have to go through Customs in Madrid. Can anyone enlighten me about this?
Posted by
San Jose, CA, USA
423 posts
Sally - this shouldn't be an issue. You should not have to go through customs until you arrive at your final destination. You can do a bit of homework to ease your mind.
Here's what I would do. Note the 2 flight numbers. Go on the airline's website and do a query on departure/arrivals for today, for example. You can check to see what time and gate your Boston to Madrid flight arrived at in Madrid. Then query the next flight to see which gate your next flight to Barcelona leaves from. Then, go on the airport's website, and get a map of their terminals gates. You should get some sort of an idea of how long it will take you to get to the next plane. Now of course, flights don't always arrive and depart from the same gates - this just gives you a feel. You can also note if flights are typically on time, or not. I watch my connections a day or two before I leave to see what the pattern is. I also say.. What if I don't make it - what's plan b (have a flight in mind to request).
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
If you're on two different airlines, ask if they code share (i.e. can issue your Madrid boarding pass in Boston). That will allow you to go directly to the next gate. If they don't code share, you will need to check in again in Madrid and the connection time might not be long enough. There are probably several Madrid to Barcelona flights throughout the day, so worst case is they'd put you and a later flight. Return connection is the bigger worry, as check in for flights to U.S. closes around 12:30. I had a connection problem flying from Nice to Philadelphia via Madrid. Luckily, the airline put me up in a nice hotel and bumped me to business class next day, so not exactly a bad experience.