Has anyone taken the 9:30 am Iberia flight to Madrid after crusing on BOS?

[Travelalot2]

We've been watching air fares out of BCN after our June greek isles cruise on the Brilliance. The cheapest fare has been (and still is) a 9:30 am Iberia flight to Madrid which connects to my flight home. I realize there are other options out there that leave later, however, they're 200 more per ticket. We're trying to decide how risky it will be catching the 9:30 am flight and if it's worth it.

[PoohUnderstands]

Assuming there are two of you minimum going, that means you would save $400 right? Well, then take that flight, BUT take it the next day!!! You can get a nice room for one night for around $100; so with food, you would probably still save still around $250 or so and you won't have to worry about missing the flight. It is a tad early for my stress level if you wanted to leave the same day as the cruise disembarked!!!

 

Pooh

[Travelalot2]

We need to get home the day the cruise is over. I'm really curious to know if anyone has ever booked it / taken it. I'm sure someone has???

[LHT28]

We've been watching air fares out of BCN after our June greek isles cruise on the Brilliance. The cheapest fare has been (and still is) a 9:30 am Iberia flight to Madrid which connects to my flight home. I realize there are other options out there that leave later, however, they're 200 more per ticket. We're trying to decide how risky it will be catching the 9:30 am flight and if it's worth it.

Questions you should consider:

what time does the ship arrive in port?

What happens if they hit rough weather and is late docking?

How far is the airport from dock?

Will I be able to get a taxi ?

 

Then you can decide if it is worth saving the $200.

 

IMHO it is too close...you need to be at airport at least 1-2 hrs prior to flight time.

[martyap]

Barcelona to Madrid is like a shuttle flight in the US and one hour prior is all you should need. That's all we needed a few months back from Sevilla to Madrid. You will need a little extra time making your connecting flight in Madrid to USA. I think we went through 3-4 checkpoints and it required a short bus ride and a long walk to make our connection....very large airport with a few spread out terminals.

 

That said......if you miss the 9:30 I just don't know how helpful you will find the folks at Iberia. We had a problem on one flight and even those fluent in Spanish made no headway and got no answers. I'd play it safe.

 

Marty

[Poconolady]

Personally I wouldn't risk it. We took that flight a couple of weeks ago (after spending the night in Barcelona), we had allotted a full two hours for checking in etc, and still made the flight by the skin of our teeth. The lines at Iberia check-in were horrendous, the check-in and baggage checking went extremely slow and the gate is at the far end of the terminal, also, you must take a bus from the terminal to the plane. Also, be aware that Iberia tries to check your carry ons at the last last minute (yes I know, even ones that meet the size allowance. My bag that they took was four days late reaching me, it traveled to more cities in Europe than I did!! The breakable glass items, which is why I was hand carrying the bag, were cracked upon final arrival) Your ship will probably arrive in plenty of time to make the flight IF you were leaving from a US airport, but I certainy wouldn't count on making it if you are dealing with Iberia. As you can tell, I don't have any warm fuzzies with Iberia!

[Artemis]

Spanair and Europa are Iberia's competitors on that commuter route--did you look at their flight times? From the schedules of the three airlines which make that hop to Madrid and back all day long, surely you can find a flight time that is later than 9:30a, yet still gets you to Madrid 2 hrs before your international departure.

 

Good luck!

[cruisinsince75]

We need to get home the day the cruise is over. I'm really curious to know if anyone has ever booked it / taken it. I'm sure someone has???

 

We were on the Splendour of the Seas in 2003 and had that same flight and made it with no problems. You do have to arrange to be one of the first ones off the ship. From what I remember, we were off about 7am and the cabs were plentiful at the pier. We were at the airport by about 7:30, but the lines were huge to check in. Just be smart and pick a line that looks like it is moving. We were there with time to plenty of time to spare.

 

Madrid can be a bit of a challenge to change planes at. Just make sure that when you arrive, you DO NOT go through customs. Once you deplane and the bus takes you to the terminal, you go upstairs to get to your connecting flight back to the US.

[leighuf]

I disembarked in Barcelona Oct. 2005 after my Splendour cruise. I had a 11:25am flight so I signed up for early departure from the ship. Everyone had to be out of their rooms by 7:00am (not 8am like many previous Caribbean cruises)!! I was given beige tags, the first group to be called, and I was told the first group would be announced at 7:20am. And guess what? Everything was ontime. Beige was called and I immediately proceeded to get my luggage. I was outside and in a taxi by 7:35 and at the airport by 8am! HOWEVER, it took me 2 hours to checkin. The lines at Barcelona airport were HUGE! By the time I was checked in and thru security, I only had 1 hour before my scheduled departure. My flight was an Iberia flight but operated by British Airways.

 

If I were you, I'd check to see what Iberia's policy is about missed flights. Many things can go wrong (ie: ship is late getting into port, traffic jams etc) so be sure to have a plan B.

[Travelalot2]

Thanks everyone. After reading the thoughts above and other threads on this site, we decided to take a 11:00 am flight home on a different airline. This also enabled us to go straight from Barcelona to the US without having to go thru Madrid first.

 

We could have gotten the 9:30 am flight cheaper plus miles on our favorite airline, but, the stress of worrying about making that flight and not having to go thru Madrid first outweighed the money we would have saved. We are travelling with another couple and I believe both of our husbands would have been nervous wrecks.

 

Our cruise isn't until June but the flight we chose was filling up already (we were 3 rows from the back on one of the legs).

[micheleg]

Guess I'm confused. Is the bottleneck checking in at Barcelona or changing planes in Madrid? We have a 9:20 AM Iberia flight out of Barcelona the next day after our cruise. What time should we be at the airport? Also, we arrive in Madrid at approx 10:30 AM at Terminal 1 and depart on our connecting 12:05 PM Iberia flight from Madrid to Miami at Terminal 1 as well. (My assumption is that we won't need that busride since we land and depart from the same terminal in Madrid)

 

Can someone who's been through this with Iberia let us know where we should allow extra time and what pitfalls we should be aware of.

 

Is it really that bad? How was the service once onboard the Iberia flight?

 

Thanks all and happy holidays!

Michele

[martyap]

We flew from Sevilla to Madrid and then on to New York. The airport in Madrid is huge and we had to take a shuttle bus to another terminal. If I remember correctly we went though three separate checkpoints and an officer actually had me empty my duffle. My only suggestion.....don't stop for a coffee break. Just get from point A to point B and don't assume it is going to take 10 minutes. We had an hour and fifteen minutes to make the connecting to JFK and when we arrived they were almost done boarding.

 

Marty

[Poconolady]

I found the problem to be the Iberia checkin counter in Barcelona. They are very understaffed, and as in many European airports, they just have long lines to wait in, rather than using the "next available agent" system as in the US. That means if you are in a line that has someone with a problem and a lot of luggage, you are going to wait,and wait and wait...

The next time I fly out of Barcelona I will allot three full hours for the airport fiasco.

After arriving in Madrid, as long as you are staying on Iberia and not changing terminals you are ok. They still operate a bus to take you from your plane to the terminal, but that runs fast and smooth.

Be aware that if your overseas flight is running late (ours was four hours late in leaving Madrid) that the restrauant service in the departure lounge area will close. They only staff them for the departure schedules, not actual departure times. My advise is to get a good breakfast before leaving your hotel--you may not get any more decent food until you reach the US. I found the food on the Madrid to JFK leg of the trip to be awful. This is especially disheartening since you have just come being waited on hand and foot and eating every three hours!! It is a real shock to the system, take some snacks with you if you are particular about what you eat.