Madrid connection

That might be too tight. Madrid is a very large airport with multiple terminals. It's likely that the connection is in a different terminal. Plus immigration could be 30 minutes or more. Others might know if you'd have to go back through security at the new terminal.

Would work IF all fell in place just right....think I would take a later flight to Barcelona. You will walk forever when you exit the plane on landing....likely many steps as well before you get to the immigration check point...exiting into the terminal at the customs station after you get your baggage is no problem, but I have had to wait on baggage several times...and then I think you will have security to pass through again before you get on the Spanair flight.....not trying to scare you, but I would want a later flight.

A key question: Are both flights on the same ticket or are you purchasing 2 separate tickets? If on the same ticket, I wouldn't worry about it. If you miss the first flight, then the airline will have to accomadate you on the next available flight. 1.5 hrs should be ample time in almost any airport in the world (LHR may be an exception) I believe the previous poster is incorrect in saying you will need to claim your luggage - this is only true if you check it only to MAD and not to BCN. Even if you buy 2 separate tickets, since AC and Spanair are both part of Star Alliance, you will have no problems checking your bags all the way through to BCN (this way you don't have to hassle with them in MAD).

Doug - flights from the US to Madrid arrive in a different terminal than the flights from Madrid to Barcelona. Grier - IIRC you will arrive in terminal 4S and probably depart out of terminal 4. Check the Madrid airport site to see if them have the terminal map explaining what flights come into which terminal. The terminals are somewhat segregated by where the flights originates/terminates at. btw - Madrid has one of the more beautiful airports IMHO. Also when switching between terminals you will have to go down two floors to catch a train between terminals and then up to two floors to the next gate. It is quicker to take the elevator down and up as opposed to using the escelator (sp?). Each terminal in Madrid also have a fairly large number of gates so it could take a few minutes to walk to the middle of the terminal to go down or from the middle of a terminal to your gate. Remember you will have to clear immigrations and customs to go to your next flight. Never been through Madrid when it was very crowded. The times does seem cutting it a little close. Edwin

I am trying to book award flights and was offered this flght, actually Indy to Toronto to Madrid, then a 4:00 Spanair flight to Barcelona which would be included in the award flight. They would not add the 12:45 Spanair flight which I would have to book and pay for separately but I might be willing to do that to get to Barcelona earlier in the afternoon. From what you're saying, I think the 12:45 flight will be too tight and I'll wait to see if I get a better deal. The 4:00 Spanair flight gets us to Barcelona at 5:30 and just makes for too long a travel day. Thanks so much for your comments.

Grier, If it is an award ticket through a single airline (using code shared flights) that may afford protection against a missed flight. Not sure if this would be provided and if provided what it would entail. You should check this point out. Individual tickets do not afford anyprotection. Edwin

Given the long day, you might consider booking the award flight just to Madrid, stay the night there, then take the high speed AVE train to Barcelona (3 hours). The train is easier than the airports (in my opinion) and you can get some great deals (search this site for hints). Just a thought. Either way, have fun, I enjoyed both cities a lot.

Reading your posts I understand that these are award tickets - presumably Star Alliance tickets which is why you can get the Spanair flight tacked on at no charge. Here are 2 options to consider with Star Alliance tickets: 1) Book the 4 pm Spanair flight and keep checking if the early one opens up. I am guessing that the reason they are not offering it to you is that there aren't award seats available on that flight at this time. You are allowed to change dates and times on these tickets all the way prior to the start of travel without having to pay a change fee so long as you don't change the routing or the carriers. If the earlier flight opens up, you can change to it without a fee. 2) Your second option is to consider a variation on what the previous poster said. Spend the night in Madrid and take the continuation flight on Spanair to BCN the next day. The key point with Star Alliance tickets is that the layover should not exceed 24 hours - which then makes it a stopover. If you do this, you will still have the MAD-BCN sector included in the award ticket without paying anything extra. Another variation on the above is to actually have a stopover in Madrid (>24 hr stop). This maybe an option - though hard to tell without knowing your full routing on the ticket (both outbound and return). Lastly, there are tools online which let you check award availability on almost all the Star Alliance carriers. Hence, if you want to overnight in MAD and catch a flight the next morning, you can use the ANA tool to see if there are seats on Spanair. PM me if you need more info.

Spanair has a lot of flights every day from Madrid to Barcelona. Keep in mind if you have a carry on you will probably have to check it at Spanair. We were surprised by that but the carry on requirements are TINY. We shoved a few essentials into a day pack and had to check out carry on (and they are not large carry ons).