Hola!

We leave in 2.5 weeks and are getting very excited (despite the fact we are doing some last minute changes to our itinerary!). We plan on using the Aerocity shuttle service to get from our hotel in Madrid (hotel yet TBD) to the airport.

Our flight is at 6:30A.M. (!!) in the morning on a Sunday. What time should we get to the airport (I know the recommended time is 2 hours - is that accurate for this time on a Sunday?), and how long will it take to get there from Central Madrid?

This is an awesome website and message board. Thanks everyone for your help!

-Truckgal-

I will also be in Madrid in 2-1/2 weeks.

It is my experience that if your flight goes directly to the US from Madrid, you should get there as recommended. The security is much tighter, the planes are larger and there are many more people in line. They pick random passengers to completely unpack all their luggage, and I have been on flights where they did this to EVERY PASSENGER!

If you are connecting in Europe it is a snap in comparison. The security is only a pass through the metal detector and the lines are much shorter.

This is one of the reasons I fly Northwest/KLM through Amsterdam.
God knows it isn't the planes!
Being from the Twin Cities area, I assume you are taking the 625 am flight on KLM.

For a Hostal, try the Adriano. The owners have lived in Minneapolis.

With Aerocity, the time to the airport depends on whether there are other parties in the van. With a cab at that hour it wouldn't be more than 20 minutes, provided you can wrestle it away from the Saturday night revelers!

Intersting, My last flight to Madrid was on Northwest/KLM through Amsterdam. I have never been through such a rigorous exam and questioning as I was getting on my connecting flight in Amsterdam. They set up the screening at the gate, taking 1 1/2 hours to get everyone through the grilling. "Where have you been, who have you been with, who packed your luggage, who was with you when you packed it, who in Madrid knows your flight schedule, do they know you are flying on this plane?" By the end of 15 minutes I felt like I wanted to confess to something...anything!! It actually made me nervous that there had been some "credible" threat recently, rather than making me feel safe. After that it was all fine.

However I am glad that I was on that flight rather than the same one the next week which got detoured to a tiny airport in Eastern Washington due to fog, and low fuel to continue circling in Seattle. They sat on the tarmac for hours. They could not let them deplane as there was NO CUSTOMS agents available. When the fog cleared they could not take off because the flight crew had passed their allowed 16 hours flight time and could fly no more! I believe they had to wait for a new flight crew to be sent in from Minneapolis which was delayed due to a mechanical problem with their plane. 18 hours later...they landed in Seattle. That would have put me right off flying for awhile!!

ditravelphoto-Did you find your check-in at Barajas took less time and hassle than in Amsterdam?

The US seems to requires a higher level of security for planes landing there than the Europeans do for "domestic" flights within Europe.

I flew from Madrid to Newark two days ago and was asked questions for a good ten minutes before check-in - the woman just walked with me through the line from beginning to end. Having a visa for a trip to Egypt in my passport seemed to be a big part of the reason why I was asked so many questions - not just about my trip to Spain, but also what I was doing in Egypt. Others in my group were asked 2 or 3 questions and let go. It wasn't my day - I was frisked after setting off alarms at the walk-through metal detector, and then cross examined again at the gate when it was time to board - but everyone went through that equally. This was the most security I've experienced at an airport in Spain. Usually I enter on a flight from another European country and leave the same way, and I've found the security in those cases to be almost nonexistent, especially in the smaller airports, where no one even asks for your passport when you arrive. I'd rather have the more extensive security measures.

Yes, I am on the 625am flight from Madrid to Minneapolis via Amsterdam (with a 5 hour layover, we're hoping to revisit just a few places in Amsterdam that we saw last Spring)...and it sounds like we should plan on getting to the airport 2 hours in advance (oh, that's going to come early!!).

Hopefully since any passport stamps we have our the "normal" ones (western europe, caribbean), we won't be given too hard of a time! (although I agree - ask more questions of us travellers rather than less questions!)

Thanks for the responses!!

I've never had a problem flying out of Barajas to the states -- and I've flown on Delta, American, British Airways, Continental, and US Airways. I've flown through Newark, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and London. I always get there about 1.5 hours early and have time for a coffee before going through the security line. They do have people that come up to you while you stand in line and ask you questions -- they are the same questions you get asked in the U.S., but they are much more serious about it when they ask you in Madrid. You know how here they just rattle off those questions - well in Barajas they ask you very seriously if someone else has had your bag since you've been at the airport. Otherwise, things move pretty fast and I've never been searched or seen anyone get searched -- I have in the U.S. and London - but never in Barajas. But I guess each person has a different experience.

Barajas was a breeze, no questions at all. They seemed to be giving the same grilling to everyone with several unfortunates taken off elsewhere for further interrogation.

The last time I flew through London, then to NY on British Air, absolutely no problem. That was why I was so surprised the level of questioning I got, and everyone was getting, it hadn't happened before to Spain, Peru, Morocco, London... It is definitely tougher to get into the US these days.