San Francisco to Madrid: which airport is best for connecting?

Based on my experiences, I'd avoid JFK and MIA, especially on the return trip but I have no idea about the others.

EDITED: When I flew through JFK in 2019, I wish I'd stayed at home. Traveling between at least some of the terminals(Delta, Virgin) requires walking outside and down some stairs with your luggage.

Here’s something else to consider. I suspect the Dallas to Madrid maybe longer than the other options. This may make for a better chance of getting some sleep.

Charlotte, Dulles, Newark are my preferences. To me, the bigger question is which airport you’ll need to pass through on the way back. Currently there are a reduced number of airports that can accept flights from overseas locations. That really has affected flight schedules. Dallas and JFK are two of them. Newark is another. While I’m not a fan, I’d go through JFK if Newark isn’t an option.

I’ve vowed to never experience the horrors of the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport again. This was from London to Denver, with a Dallas connection. It was a completely unpleasant experience. What a poor design, and a nasty train if you have to change terminals.

I flew from Philly once and remember it being easy enough. If I'm sitting in an economy seat, I try to get as far east as possible to cut down on transatlantic flight time, break up the trip.(CLT, JFK, PHL) If I'm in a lie-flat seat, I try to get the longest transatlantic leg possible to add an hour or two for sleeping (DFW).

Thanks all! I was thinking that the Dallas-Madrid option might be best because as Rocket and Bets suggested, a longer transatlantic flight in a business class seat (thankfully purchased with award miles) would give me more time to, hopefully, sleep. Of course, that appears to be the most popular, i.e. expensive route. And thanks for the heads up, cala about stairs/luggage at JFK. I've gone up/down, up/down, up/down railway station stairs with luggage more times than I care to remember. Was not my favorite part of any trip. Regarding flight schedules, I'm not going until next year so I suspect they might have changed again by then. I have departed/arrived in Philly but I've never changed planes there. It sounds like maybe a good option. To GHK: why is it more important to avoid JFK and MIA on the return flight? Do the connections tend to be worse or is just because we are all more tired on the return trip? Of course, in an ideal world (before the before times) one could conceivably get an award ticket for a direct flight from SFO to someplace in Europe and then a quick hop to whichever city is one's destination.

As a New Yorker, I can clear up some points about JFK. I'm assuming the JFK option is American Airlines, as United does not operate international flights out of JFK (most of its New York City-area operation is out of Newark).

If both your flights are American Airlines flights and are both operated by AA -- i.e. not operated by Iberia or by British Airways -- there is no terminal change required in JFK. All AA-operated flights at JFK, domestic or international, operate out of Terminal 8. So you will not need to change terminals in either direction and it will be like connecting in the same terminal at any other airport.

However, if one of the AA flights is actually operated by Iberia or British Airways (in this case I'd assume Iberia, since BA doesn't fly New York-Madrid), a terminal change is required since both Iberia and BA operate out of Terminal 7. That terminal change involves taking the AirTrain, which is outside of security and obviously adds more hassle. In that case it's up to you whether or not the much fewer award points is worth it.

Edited to add -- if for some reason you are looking at some sort of mixed United and American itinerary (seems unlikely, but just in case) connecting via JFK, United operates its SFO-JFK flights out of Terminal 7 as well.

Thank you, Andrew! I hadn't thought of that. This does, indeed, clear up an important point. Yes I was looking at AA. I believe both legs were on AA but I will certainly double check!

I avoid JFK at all costs due to multiple occasions the aircraft departure traffic horrendously backs up. We also find the clearance of customs to be a "cattle call" experience with people blatantly ignoring lines and creating chaos.

Charlotte has also been a pleasant experience. No experience with Phil or DFW.

We live near Tampa FL and have flown on multiple occasions from Tampa, Orlando and Miami to Madrid and Barcelona with pleasant experiences at all airports.

Thanks again, everyone! I just booked SFO-MAD on AA, connecting in Charlotte (CTL). I was able to book business award ticket (one way, of course) for 57,000 miles, which I still can't believe! Has anyone flown AA business class on Boeing 777-200? From what I've read it looks like some seats are forward facing and some are rear facing but AA's diagram doesn't indicate which is which. I tried seat Guru but it doesn't look like they indicate which ones face which way either. Or, I just don't know how to read their seat map. I did try calling AA but they advised there was a 4 hour wait for call back. Any other advice about CTL? It's AA metal both legs.

You may have already taken your trip and already know, but if you have't, three years ago I flew business class CLT-MAD on a 777-200. All of the seats were forward facing. I think my seat was 5J? (on the far right) and it was fine. I liked the CLT airport and especially the Admirals Club as I had a long layover. I'm writing this while on a so-far 3+ hour hold call to American to try to change a reservation. I left a request for a call-back almost 11 hours ago and when no response after 8 hours, tried again and now this hold. There has to be a better way.

Thanks, Ellen. I canceled my SFO-MAD flight. Fortunately, I could do it online and had bone difficulties. Perhaps because I booked with miles? Sorry to hear about your ongoing difficulty reaching American. I now have a flight on Swiss air which I could not access online no matter what I tried. Spent 5 hours one evening (2 of which were also spent by my husband for a total of 7 man-hours). Then spent 2.5 hours 1st thing the next morning on hold. Agent finally answered. Garbled voice. Said he would give me seat assignments. Said he would email said assignments to me. Said he would include my ticket numbers, which I had been unable to access inset email. Email never arrived. Ever. So… Of course, there has to be a better way. Not sure what it is. Although I finally called United (whose miles I used to book this Swiss air flight). Helpful agent talked me through after actually returning my call like they said they would. Turns out when the airline asks for "1st name" they don't mean your 1st name. They need in the name that's going to be on the ticket which is probably your 1st name & your middle name with no space between the 2. Who knew? Good luck with your change of reservation. Anyway you could try to do this online?

I’m glad things worked out for you. After 4 hours on hold, an agent answered. When he looked at my reservation he said “Oh, you have to talk to international, I’ll transfer you.” And a new hold. So at that point I did what I should have done initially— booked the new flight online (fortunately I had enough miles to do that), put that trip on hold and then canceled my original trip. Those miles were restored to my account instantly. A few hours later, 15 hours after my original call, I got the promised callback, which I missed. Hope after all your struggles you have a great trip.

Thanks, Ellen. I hope you have a great trip as well. At this point I have canceled not only the American SFO-Madrid trip but also a united CDG-SFO trip. Both online. Both times points were reinstated immediately. This was after booking new flights 1st as I, like you, had enough miles to do so. What a project! Don't know what it might be like going forward as either American or United, can't remember which had a cut off date for this simple reimbursement for flights booked through end of July. Might not be so simple in the future.

I'm a bit late chiming in, but FWIW, connecting through CLT is typically a breeze. Size wise, it's a much smaller airport - moving sidewalks and plain old walking are all that's needed to get from gate to gate. We have taken quite a few trips in and out of Spain, originating or returning through, CLT. Customs is typically a breeze there too, although there have been some unpleasant and quite strict employees in that area from time to time (Don't even think about having your phone out - when they tell you to shut it off before you deplane, do it, and put it away!)

The downside, I think there is there is typically only one flight a day to Madrid or Barcelona. If a problem arises, well... But the same might be true of other airports - I have connected through JFK and Dulles before as well but have been fortunate to have minimal issues. NIce AA lounge in CLT too.

I managed to snag a couple of those 57k business/first seats to Madrid next spring. We'll be returning from France so my only option was to connect through Heathrow (ugh - fees, often delays, buses between gates and terminals) but sometimes there are trade-offs to flying business/first with only 57k miles.

My worst experience was on Atlanta Airport, is one of the biggest in the world and you need hours to cross it, Avoid it!

From SFO you can fly all the way to BCN on Level, I don't think the airline is great but at lease you wont need to stop in the middle. American will get you from Texas to Madrid with out a stop, plan on being two hours late they always are. From SFO it would be simple to fly to LAX and then all the way to London LHR and onto Madrid or any city in Spain. LHR is hugh so allow a long time to transfer. I hate to stop in the middle of the US or on th east coast. Flights leave California in the late afternoon or early evening and if you take a flight all the way over the ocean with out a stop you can get some sleep. If you layover prior to London it just plays with your sleep patter and starts off on the wrong foot. Iberia flys LAX to MAD non-stop but beware any trouble with your tickets and your up a creek without a paddle. Very poor customer service, but cheap flights. I like British Airways customer service better and not a problem getting them to pick up the phone. J

Thanks again everyone for your input. Congratulations, goanywhere on snagging 57,000 mile business class ticket to Madrid! We did see some of those at one point on Iberia using our AA miles. We had to change plans and will now fly from SFO to CDG. I'm really sorry to miss Madrid but it kept looking more and more difficult flying between countries just to spend 4 nights in Madrid. At this point I'm not at all sure that even France will be doable the spring. Much depends on the new variant. At least I have some good information about flying into Madrid for a future trip!