Sigh.Been ripped off by the airport drivers more times than I wanna count. I did call Aerocity but they told me I'd have to wait an HOUR, and it wasn't worth the mil pesetas ripoff surcharge! You can watch the dudes juice up their meters, but what can you DO? I did go protest to the ayuntamiento once, and it was a total waste of MY time (and i bet the driver never suffered). En fin. Mi marido espanyol even gets ripped off from internacional. But from llegadas nacionales, fewer problems. Maybe it is worth the walk over to the national terminal to hop a cab there! Of course, if the government wanted to do anything about it, they could, but they need those VOTES. In Mexico, you buy a ticket for a set fee and give it to the cab driver, depriving him of incentives to drive the long way, etc. I DESPISE arriving in Madrid and having my first encounter be a watch-the-meter moment. Hey, Aerocity, why not schedule service every 20 minutes like they do at JFK in the USA? You'd fill a van every 20 minutes!

Is the airport bus to Plaza Colon still working? I always liked it. It would come by right outside the glass doors from the gates about every 15-20 minutes. It was cheap, and when I didn't have too much luggage (they had a special area where you could put your bags), I'd take that into the city, get off at any of the few stops, or at the end in the basement at Colon, and catch a taxi from there. The chances of getting ripped off almost disappeared.

Hi Rgf and everybody:
We are sincerely sorry you were given 1 HOUR waiting time at the airport.
This is not usual at all, as our vans are up & down almost 24 hrs a day. It should be very late in the evening or a very special and crowded day.
Usual waiting time for passangers without previous reservation can range from inmediate pick up to 20 / 30 minutes.
Please, in order to avoid this possible delay make your reservation in advance, so we will know that you are coming and be prepared to pick you up right away.
Hoping to hearing from you in the near future.
Best regards to all in MadridMan´s Forum.

amigos at aerocity: the problem is, planes are late. or delayed by a day, as was my caso. So... a reservation, for which you require the credit card, can be a problem. I called upon arriving at 9:30 am on June 28th and was told the wait would be an hour. I would like to try aerocity, though!
rgf

Diana,

Yes, the airport bus to Colón is still working. However, now most people take the subway and thus the bus terminal at Colón has become a deserted place. There is no cafeteria, security service or even cleaning!!!

Furthermore, if you have to get a taxi from the Colon station to your hotel, you may end up by paying more than the Aerocity fares.

One of my customers was ripped off from Colon station to my Hostal. The taxi driver charge him 5000 pesetas!!!. Of course, this is not the normal thing, but it happens from time to time.

If you want to be sure that you won't be ripped off, take the Aerocity service. You will know how much you will be charged beforehand.

Regards,

Antonio

------------------
The best tips from your favourite hostal in Madrid.
Hostal Chelo at http://www.chelo.com

Antonio,
I appreciate your recommendation about using the metro form the airport, but is it safe? A tourist with two suitcases and jetlag traveling from the airport by metro may be an easy target for those Gypsy pickpocket groups. Have any of of our other MadridMan bretheren tried this mode of transportation? I know the aerocity method would be safe, but I do plan on trying as many reccomendations posted here as I can.
I leave for Madrid the 22nd of September and return October 2. I will be posting many more inquiries as my departure grows near. Additionally, I plan to post many morsels following my "viaje".

Gracias a todos,
Shawn

------------------

Shawn,

Madrid Metro is very safe. And, as for the pickpockets, they are not only gypsies so watch out for everyone.

At London Heathrow airport there are signs everywhere saying "Do not leave your luggage unattended" and I would add "under any circumstances". Sometimes pickpockets try to catch your attention so a colleague can steal your suitcase or wallet.

If you keep an eye on your belongings, you shouldn't have any problems at the subway. By the way, I myself used it to go to the airport in July. It took me about 1 hour and it was perfect.

Regards,

Antonio

------------------
The best tips from your favourite hostal in Madrid.
Hostal Chelo at http://www.chelo.com

Yes, the taxi from the airport is a standard ripoff in Madrid. I know what the fare should be, and there is a sign at the airport summarizing usual fares for tourist information out near the taxi stand, though it is not entirely visible. My best defense is to just tell them !NO! I am not paying that fare even if the meter reads 4000 when I know it should be 2000, despite their protestations of traffic, etc, and then I ask for "un recibo oficial", that is one with the numbers punched out on the paper. I have not yet had even a bad taxi driver not give in to this approach. The one time the taxi driver was the most resisitant was early in my Madrid experience and the desk clerk at the hotel had warned me beforehand that if I had any trouble, I should tell the taxi driver that we needed to go talk to the man at the desk. When at first my protests did no good, I told him to come inside the hotel and discuss it, and he knew he was beaten and gave in. They mostly try to take advantage of unfamiliarity with the money and the city. Generally speaking, 2500 pisetas should be more than enough to get you and your luggage to anywhere in central Madrid.

after all I read here I can only agree - if you don´t speak spanish and appearently don´t know the city you are more likely to be ripped off. make sure the driver uses the meter and the initial fare is correct. but, not being spaniard neither american, I´ve been ripped off at JFK... even if you go to berlin or london or let´s say third-world-countries you are always the big green dollar-note... so watch out. get a map of madrid before your trip, tell the driver the way you want to go and learn some phrases in spanish beforehand. good luck.

wrong. I speak native spanish; my husband IS spanish; we've been ripped off on the international llegadas plenty. You can tell them the way to go, sure. But when they do the 'speed up the meter' trick, what do you say? I saw your knee move? I think I am going to try aerocity, the metro... but when it is a long flight and there are 2 of us, we usually just ante up, protest when we can, and think, come 'on, gobierno, regulate this band of thieves!