madrid to barcelona flight

That depends on a lot of factors, including your arrival and departure terminals (are they the same or different?) and whether you are carrying on your luggage, checking it through, or have to transfer it yourself. It also depends on whether you flight from Charlotte arrives ontime. Without knowing all those answers, I'd say it is pretty tight even if everything is favorable. Can you change to a slightly later flight?

not w/o incurring an astronomical fee according to USAir b/c I have waited til the last minute. I am worried sick about this since we have 4 small children traveling with us

We will be arriving at T1 and departing w/Spanair T2. I understanc that our luggage will be checked through to Barcelona, althoug I have conflicting reports of that.

Ouch. Did US Air do the whole booking on one ticket? Then I hope someone else can confirm, but I thought if they book you that way on one ticket, and you miss your connecting flight, they have to put you on another.

I didn't see your post about the terminals until just now. T1 and T2 at Madrid are pretty close together, although I am not sure of the transfer means. If you luggage is checked through, you are probably fine. You might check the Barajas airport website fo instructions on transit from T1 to T2. We were only in T4 and $s so I can't help there. http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-Madrid-Barajas/en/Page/1049727006353/

pat, That's NOT much time to make the connecting flight, especially since you'll have to go through Passport control. Is your flight a "code share" or will you have to collect your luggage and then re-check it? In that situation, I'd do some research and have a "backup plan". I might also consider travel by train. The trip via AVE is ~2H:45M, but of course extra time would be involved in getting to the stations, etc. Good luck!

Thanks to all of you!