Madrid vs Frankfurt airport for layover

Where are you flying from/to? What time does the first flight leave? What time of year? What airline? Will you stop somewhere else in the US too? (all of those things affect my answer)

We had to make connections in Frankfurt when flying from Israel to Dulles this past April. We were flying on American.

Let me just say American couldn't even get passengers boarded promptly and we were 90 minutes getting out of Germany. We missed connecting flights home in Dulles and all planes home were full the next two days. We had to fly into Atlanta and rent a car for a 200 mile trip home. We weren't exactly satisfied with Frankfurt Airport.

The one time we flew into Madrid, we had absolutely no problem.

In each case you would find it a lot easier if you are connecting within the same terminal (or specifically for Madrid, group of terminals, 1,2,3 or 4,4S).

I assume that you don't have status with either Star Alliance (Frankfurt) or One World (Madrid)?
If you did, and have lounge access, that would probably decide it for me.

Barring that, you say what airlines you would connect to, but not what you would connect from.
Without that, we cannot confirm what terminals you would most likely transit between. But 3
hours should be plenty for in any case.

Frankfurt is large and cumbersome, and many flights end up parking at a tarmac gate and buses
take passengers into the terminal, which adds to the transit time. Madrid is more manageable.
As previously noted, in Madrid, 1/2/3 are a tram ride apart from 4/4S. In Frankfurt, 1 and 2 are a
train ride apart.

I would also do a little research to see what other flights from that airport could get you home in
the event of a delay or cancellation. For that, I suspect Frankfurt is the better option.

To poster David who described his issues at FRA - did you apply for EC261 compensation? From
your description, it sounds like that would apply.

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I always avoid Frankfurt if possible, confusing, large, crowded, too many unpleasant experiences. Change planes in Madrid.

I would opt for Madrid since it is a much smaller airport. -- Assuming everything else is equal.

I would also pick Madrid. I had a terrible experience at Frankfurt airport this past summer while transiting through. Never again. I have not transited through Madrid but landed there once (2019) and had no issues.

I've transited through FRA numerous times. And yes, as one of Europes busiest airport it is big and busy. But I have always made my connection, even when my inbound was delayed. They do really try hard to make sure you make your connection.

3 hours is comfortable whatever the airport (although I agree Frankfurt is slightly worse, it won't make a big difference) so I would pick the cheapest, and all things being equal I would pick the shortest total flight time. And if the difference is marginal, then I would pick the newer airplane for the transatlantic route (B787 or A350, rather than B777/767 or A330).

Thank you all for your responses. Nothing has been booked, still in research mode so I was looking for generalized preferences It sounds like Madrid would be a better choice due to size and ease of changing terminals. I’ll be looking at which terminals the flights use. So far it appears at least one itinerary I’m looking at arrives MAD at T1 and departs T2, so fairly easy.

Would it be fair to assume that when an airline puts together a flight itinerary connecting with a smaller regional airline, whether their own “express” partner or one like Transavia, they tend to have nearby gates?

Regarding having to go through security again it is indeed a bit more complex.

In theory connecting from the US you do not have to go through security again as the US is deemed safe. But not all airports appear to be able to do this in practice. In ZRH and MUC you will not have to clear security again. In FRA it depends on where you arrive. If you make a Z to A transfer you will not have to re clear security, but B to A you do.

And there are also exceptions to the general rule that you do not need to pass customs till you are at your final destination.