Has anyone traveled through the Madrid Airport recently?

I’ll be flying into Madrid next week from Chicago. Yes, the new EES system has started. There is no
way to predict how long it will take. Passport control is always unpredictable. Can be 5 minutes or 2 hours.

I'm trying to decide whether to book a connecting flight on Iberia to Granada with 3 hours between flights

Will this be a separately booked/ticketed flight ?

Any checked bags?

Yes, separately booked. Carry on only from the US, but will have to check our bag for Iberia.

Do you know if your flight arrives at Terminal 4 or Terminal 4S? My flight from the US arrives in Terminal 4S. That will then involve an additional step of taking the train to Terminal 4, where passport control is located.

Hmmmm- Carrie, I will have to search for that as I don't know. It will be on American Air if that helps.

So, everything I can find just says Terminal 4. However it looks like Iberia might be in T4 or T4S.

Will you be able to gate check your bags, or will you have to leave the secured area to drop them and then go through security to get to the next flight?

Will weather at your US origin be a potential problem for when you will be flying?

I think EES is the least of your issues, not to say its a non-issue, but I see other factors that could have a greater likelihood of impacting your travel to/through Madrid airport.

Thanks Joe, but I have no idea on flight delays or weather issues at the end of April (hopefully none). Basically, it sounds like you are saying that 3 hours is not enough time to make a connection at the Madrid airport. Do I understand you correctly?

I think you'll be fine.

We just flew in there last week and the EES system was not activated. We breezed through customs.

I can't tell you about Madrid, but I came through this morning in Barcelona and had no wait.

EES started in 2025, for some areas. We flew into Madrid from the US (United, from Dulles) in early October 2025, about 2-3 days before the official phasing in of EES. The lines were long and slow at Immigrations, and some of us were taken to the new EES lanes to try them, and help get folks through Immigrations faster. We scanned our fingerprints and had a photo taken at that time. We flew out of Madrid a week later and EES was in full swing. Departing through EES was only maybe 20 minutes, if even that.

I passed through Barajas in 2024 on the way to northern Spain. No extra checks then, but transferring from international to domestic flights at Barajas, all on Iberia, wasn’t bad at all. You should be fine. The terrible line was for people staying in Madrid.

I will say that the airport is ridiculously large. There is a tram between the domestic and international terminals. It’s not terrible either, but does add time, and if I remember correctly, the terminals are in looooong straight lines. No silly dallying if time gets even a little tight.

EES is not active yet and won’t be for your April flight.

The new Entry/Exit System (EES) started to be operational on 12 October 2025. European countries using the EES are introducing the system gradually at their external borders. This means that data collection will be gradually introduced at border crossing points with full implementation by 10 April 2026

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees

The Entry/Exit System (EES) will be deployed gradually across the external borders of the 29 European countries over a period of 6 months. These European countries will introduce the different elements of the EES in phases, including the collection of biometric data, such as facial image and fingerprints. This means that travellers’ biometric data (facial image and fingerprints) might not be collected at every border crossing point right away, and their personal information may not be registered in the system. Passports will continue to be stamped as usual.

This progressive implementation will last until 9 April 2026. From 10 April 2026, the EES will be fully operational at all external border crossing points of the European countries using the system.

Hard to know what you might encounter on your arrival.

How well the machines are working and how well everyone can negotiate the process will likely affect how long you might be standing in a line.

In theory they have had 6 months to work out the bugs and everything is running smoothly; or going to "full throttle" could cause a massive pileup.

Thanks all! Jim and JL, I appreciate knowing that the new system was operating when you were there. Hopefully, by the end of April it will be it will be speedy. We have had our tickets from the US to Madrid for a long time. Now just trying to add the trip to Granada. We can always do the train, but I hate to leave the airport when there is a flight available. We will be using Avios points, so worst case we lose our points and head to the train station.

If anyone in the forum is heading to Madrid from the US in the near future, I would certainly appreciate hearing your experience.

Just keep in mind that's it not a difficult process...it just means having your photo taken at the machine, and putting four fingers down on a pad to scan your prints.

@ekscrunchy actually getting fingerprinted and photographed is easy. I believe people are concerned with lines to get access to the kiosks for that process, lines to e-gates and lines to passport control officers. From what I can tell, that's a function of how busy they are, how many border officers are on duty, etc. and can vary greatly in how long it takes.

That being said, three hours should be sufficient.

We flew in this morning 3/11/26 landing at 5:30 AM from the US. The system was not fully functioning. They had some terminals open but most passengers were directed to the immigration officials. It was unclear who was being directed to use the terminals and we could see several people struggling. That said, even though the lines were long we moved through within half an hour.

Turbocaleca, Thank you so much for the update! Enjoy your vacation.

I arrived in Madrid this am. We were bussed from tarmac to terminal 4s where passport control is. On first bus. No line at passport control. All US passport holders were directed to EES machines. Looked like about 35 - 40 machines. All working but they were finicky. Had to scan passport a couple times. Take multiple pics. Scanned fingerprints 4 times. Me and brother in law got questions, my sister did not. Are you here for an extended stay do you have a visa? No. Why are you here? Tourism. Do you have proof of financial means? Yes. Type of accommodation? Hotel. How long are you staying? Calendar popped up and we selected our departure date.

After that me and my sister got a message saying go see border officer. Brother in law got a message saying go to egates.

Next stage was egates for everyone so we all had to use those. Scan passport and get photo taken.

Next stage was border officer for everyone. We walked up together. He took our passports looked at our faces and stamped the passports.

I can see things getting backed up quickly if there are multiple flights arriving at the same time. We were very lucky today.

Carrie,

Thank you so much for the update. What airline from the US were you with? Enjoy your time in Spain!

We flew Iberia nonstop from Chicago.

I should have my trip report posted before you leave for your trip.

I wish we knew Spanish but we are managing.