We are traveling from US through Heathrow to Madrid. It's a British Airways flight but the segment to Madrid is operated by Iberia. Our lay over is only 1 hour 25 mins. We arrive and depart from terminal 5.
Will this be enough time? I recall years ago that we had to get bags and take them through customs in London. We had to run through airport and cut lines to make a connection. .
Will we be able to check a bag on Iberia with this amount of time or at the gate if we are pressed for time?
I'm assuming you purchased your tickets through BA and they connected you through to Madrid on Iberia. If so, it's probably a "legal" connection in terms of time, but pretty tight. Any delays and you might miss it. The good news is that BA needs to get you on a flight so start looking at what else there is that day. Gate check: if you are carrying on your bags on the BA flight why do that? Gate checks are usually OK but if you are running to catch the flight, they have closed the cargo doors, they will take your bag but you may not see it come off that flight. Carry on is the way to go.
BA is a partner with Iberia they merged into one https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/about-ba/iag
so your bag you will not have to worry about it will be checked at your USA departure point all the way to Madrid.
My husband made reservation through Kayak (I think) but I believe it's a booking with BA. Has confirmation numbers from them for both segments. I'll have to look into it.
We aren't planning to do carry-on. Actually have disagreement. I want to try and have control of bag, but my husband thinks that's too light for this trip. We might end up with a mix of carry for valuables, etc and check one bag. But I remembered a trip with I thought we were required to clear bags at customs...i.e. not checked through I think it was to Turkey though so may not have been same airline or booked together.
If we check from US they will check through all the way to Madrid?
Thanks for your insights.
The minimum connection time on a single ticket for a T5-T5 connection is 60 minutes, so you should be fine airside and checked bags should be transferred without collection. Should your inbound flight be late you will be switched to a later IB or BA flight to Madrid - the two airlines share the route more or less 50/50.
If your flight arrives at T5B or T5C and your onward flight departs from one of these, there is no need to go right back to the main Terminal A - save a few minutes and clear security at your departure satellite. If either operates from the main building (T5A) you will need to clear security there. Gates change from day to day so check screen on arrival.
If you are all on one ticket, and it seems like you are, any checked bags will be checked through to Madrid. When you check in in the US, just make sure your bags are tagged MAD; you will then not see them until you get to Madrid.
Heathrow's website has a wonderful connection tool. Put in all your information, and it will give you all the required steps and estimated times: http://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections
Thank you everyone!
Tell hubby to read the packing light info on this site and others. Once you do it, it is liberating. You have control of your belongings and you have less to schlep around. We spent three days in Paris then two weeks on the RS Best of Spain tour last summer. One 21" rollaboard and a small personal bag each. We have done this for 3-4 week trips as well. You can do this!
