Hi Everybody,

How reliable is Iberia within Spain? I will be in Madrid in November, and would like to make a side trip to Bilbao. Iberia has a very reasonable fare on their website, and I would prefer to fly. Looking at the flight schedule, I can fly back to Madrid on a morning flight the day I am supposed to return home to the US. My question is should I be concerned about the flight from Bilbao arriving in Madrid in time to make my flight home? The time between flights is two or three hours. I appreciate any advice you can provide. Thanks.

I haven't had an issue with flight times within Spain on Iberia.

Once I took a 7 a.m. flight from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid and was the first one in line for my Delta flight back to the states (had a 3 hour window).

Another time I flew from Granada to Madrid and had no problem.

That's my experiences, but I may have been lucky!

CathyM writes: I did that in year 2000 but it was on SpanAir (when Spanair had service MAD-IAD). I even had time to catch the M-101 bus (on the upper level) to Barajas pueblo and have farewell Churros con Chocolate at Toribio's on the Plaza. I met some relatives there and they were kind enough to drop me off back at the airport.

That same trip there was an Air Traffic Controllers' strike the morning I arrived in Madrid. Luckily, my Spanair fllight to Santiago got off before things got really bad. I watched the 'mess' on TV in Santiago.

Thanks for the info! The flight times work out well and I do want to see the Guggenheim Bilbao, so will go with these plans. Now I just have to wait patiently for another two months!

You will LOVE the Guggenheim! I went to Bilbao this summer for the first time. I also flew from Bilbao to Madrid on Iberia. The flight was very inexpensive, on time and just fine. Good luck with your trip and enjoy planning!

I saw the Gehry exhibit at the Guggenheim in New York a while back, and that only piqued my interest in Bilbao. Since I probably won't be going back to Spain anytime soon, it is now or never. Thank again for the advice.

Times shouldnt be a problem, I think you made a good choice! I love Bilbao!! I flew the Madrid-Bilbao route last semester a couple times, both flights were on time.

As far as transfering flights, when I returned to the usa, I flew Granada-Madrid, and then had only 20 minutes to transfer to my Madrid-Chicago, it was a stretch, but i did make it (security people let me go to the front of the line). If it does look close, one other thing you can do is ask to be seated towards the end of the plane from which you will exit (saves a lot of time), sometimes it was the front, sometimes the back on IBERIA.
Enjoy!
Kelly