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Having successfully booked MAD-SJO-MAD early 2024 on a 241, I am currently considering the best strategy for the flights LON-MAD-LON. We will be flying into MAD the day before, but my question is what is the best strategy for the MAD-LON leg (scheduled landing time for SJO-MAD is 11:20am.
– Book a flight around 2h later and hope that there will be no delays.
– Book a late flight in the afternoon / evening and stay hours at the airport.
– Book a late flight in the afternoon / evening and use the “Free flight changes on the day” to move to the earliest available flight immediately after landing.
– Book a flight around 2h after landing time and use the “Free flight changes on the day” on the planes WiFi in case of a delay.
I have never used the “Free flight changes on the day” on BA tickets, so I don’t know if it would work? Also, does it apply only to BA flights or also to Iberia flights, i.e. can a BA flight changed to an Iberia flight and can an Iberia flight on a BA ticket changed to a BA flights or a different Iberia flight?
Personally I’d try get the MAD-LON on the same ticket and go straight through whilst having protection in the event of any delays. Then LON-MAD I’d go the night before
You can do same day change between BA and Iberia on a BA ticket – needs to be cash though not Avios. I’d probably book the afternoon flight in that scenario and move it backwards – you could end up in trouble if you book an early flight and then can’t change it because flights are full or you run into a problem. Note in this scenario you’d have to go hand luggage only unless you still build in enough time to collect / recheck (non-EU passport control at MAD can be very slow at times)
I definitely second the idea of getting the MAD-LON on the same ticket – book whatever the next flight is that meets the minimum connection time, as you don’t have to worry about delays.
If it’s on a separate booking I’d go for at least 4 hours later on the way back, and longer on the way out (preferably overnight with backup options)I would have added the MAD-LON leg, but the BA call centre wanted around £ 1,800 for it! So that option is not available.
Thanks for mentioning the slow non-EU passport control. One of us has a EU passport – would it be possible for the one with the UK passport to stay airside while the other one goes through passport control, picks up the luggage for both and drops it off again, and then goes through passport control and security again?
As long as you arrive in the same non schengen part of MAD that the flights back to the UK depart from then yes that would be possible but the bags would have to be (re) checked under their booking / name and if it exceded your individual allowance you’d have to pay any extra bag fees.
If one of you has an EU passport then I believe you’re allowed to use that queue anyway? Otherwise that’s possible but only if there is enough allowance for that person to check it in – they can’t use the allowance of the person not there
But £1800 sounds completely wrong anyway, I’d try calling back first of all and double checking that !
As long as you arrive in the same non schengen part of MAD that the flights back to the UK depart from then yes that would be possible but the bags would have to be (re) checked under their booking / name and if it exceded your individual allowance you’d have to pay any extra bag fees.
Whoever was going landside would end up going from 4S to 4, clearing immigration and checking in and going back to 4S for the flight. So it’s a bit of a lengthy procedure and if Madrid is anything like last summer need to allow plenty of time to do it
If one of you has an EU passport then I believe you’re allowed to use that queue anyway? Otherwise that’s possible but only if there is enough allowance for that person to check it in – they can’t use the allowance of the person not there
But £1800 sounds completely wrong anyway, I’d try calling back first of all and double checking that !
I had this discussion with BA ten days ago and they went away and checked with a helpful supervisor who spoke with the fares team while I was on the line. It seems there are various combinations that you can’t do without losing the benefit of RFS and/or Iberia’s low taxes. If for example you book LHR-MAD-EZE-MAD-LHR on one ticket, all IB its 158,750 + £1036 total (vs BA direct 220,000 +£1100). If you book MAD-EZE-MAD-LHR, again all IB it’s 197,750 + £1127.91 x two pax total + a LON-MAD ticket; it seems bonkers but they were insistent, said that was how it worked and I don’t know if it’s an error or just a quirk.The same happens if you try to mix a BA flight and an Iberia flight – you lose the RFS benefit and get huge charges. Fortunately all became irrelevant with the helpful cancellation of the non stop service!
Interesting! Def some quirks in the pricing since RFS then. Perhaps it’s better to play around with just booking Lon-South America and return these days then as well
If one of you has an EU passport then I believe you’re allowed to use that queue anyway? Otherwise that’s possible but only if there is enough allowance for that person to check it in – they can’t use the allowance of the person not there
But £1800 sounds completely wrong anyway, I’d try calling back first of all and double checking that !
Yes, it sounds bonkers. I went through checking all options that can be checked online (also shown in the “Help – Costa Rica flights – new to BA Avios” thread) and it should have been a few hundreds only. But there is no way around phoning them when using a 241.
In my experience the pricing of flights when connecting in MAD becomes so complex and opaque when attempting to add connections to/from London, it’s easier to price up the segments separately and look at what they would cost in isolation, then again combined. By all means add an onwards flight to London to benefit from the protected connection if you’re sure you’re not being shafted financially for the luxury of travelling on a through ticket. I believe the best value is accomplished by ensuring you’re connecting onto another IB flight. If you select a BA departure MAD-LHR it’ll price up at the Avios + 50 pence rate which is terrible value for money and indeed, may well change the total Avios and cash calculation because all of a sudden in becomes a two airline redemption. Many people are overpaying without realising.
I believe the days are gone when you’d get a much better deal on an IB flight going via Iberia Plus scheme but there are so many different permutations, I’d still also double check to ensure that IB Plus is not quoting a better price for an individual segment. The only time you can be sure is when booking a BA flight via BAEC because of RFS (assuming you’ve got access to RFS in the first place, i.e. you’re UK based and so on).
If one of you has an EU passport then I believe you’re allowed to use that queue anyway?
That is correct, have done it many times.
I would have added the MAD-LON leg, but the BA call centre wanted around £ 1,800 for it! So that option is not available.
Thanks for mentioning the slow non-EU passport control. One of us has a EU passport – would it be possible for the one with the UK passport to stay airside while the other one goes through passport control, picks up the luggage for both and drops it off again, and then goes through passport control and security again?
Not sure why I’d call again and just state that the system doesn’t allow multi city bookings, so you want to add on the last leg of a Madrid to London flight, there will be some extra Avios and cash to pay but if the agent comes back with £1800 ask them why … when the taxes shouldn’t be more than £300 total
Frankly, the Avios and taxes charge to extend the flight to London should be the same as booking a MAD-LHR reward flight in isolation. It’s possible the departure tax in the original country changes if the end destination is the UK versus Madrid (non-EU versus EU) although I’d be surprised, but this should be the only change to the calculation, the rest will be arbitrary QA charged by the airline. I wouldn’t pay £300 for the luxury of a through-ticket, I’d rather go through immigration, collection my luggage then check back in for the onward flight. Simply book an onward connection that allows sufficient time to do this and if the inbound flight is running late you can log on in the air and transfer the booking to a later flight using ‘free changes on the day’ for a cash ticket or stump up the cancellation charge for a reward seat booking. Might be worth using the Avios + £17.50 cash option to minimise cancellation costs in such an event.
Has anyone had a positive experience with getting IB to put them on a later flight when the inbound IB sector to MAD was late, assuming the two flights are on separate booking references?
Has anyone had a positive experience with getting IB to put them on a later flight when the inbound IB sector to MAD was late, assuming the two flights are on separate booking references?
Yes, but that was a few years ago and we were placed on the last two seats to London that night (which meant we flew to London City that time), which was great but the prepaid hire car was at Heathrow. A lot of conversations at the T4S IB connections desk.
I would go the day before the long haul ,stay overnight at the airport somewhere and taxi/train into the city for a few beers and some tapas.
Relax & start your holiday in style.
Flew MEX-MAD on an award, and then connecting to a separate MAD-LHR award ticket back in November. the MEX flight landed around the same time as yours. Couple of data points:
– Connecting T4S to T4S (where all BA LHR flights leave from, as well as the IB widebody departure) is a breeze. This is useful for HBO only travel (or if only one of you decides to pick up and re-check luggage)
– Picking up luggage and rechecking-in on an EU passport, took me a good 45 mins and there was hardly any waiting (other than at passport control). It just takes a long time.
– The Velazquez lounge (T4S) is a really nice place to stay for 3-4 hours, especially before 4pm where there is a nice lunch spread. Good showers as well.
– Be aware of the BA check in desk opening times, don’t think they open before 2 hrs ahead of the departure time (maybe 3?). Iberia desks are of course open all the time.Hope that helps.
I like walking, particularly after a long flight, but anyone who hasn’t done it before should be aware that arriving at T4S, collecting luggage in the main terminal, checking in and returning to T4S is a seriously long and tedious schlep via escalators, train, long walkways. Add to that security and the passport queues for UK passengers in both directions. You need a big saving to make that worthwhile.
A single ticket or HBO transfer in T4S is a doddle.
I would go the day before the long haul ,stay overnight at the airport somewhere and taxi/train into the city for a few beers and some tapas.
Relax & start your holiday in style.
99% of the concern is of the return MAD-LON.
I like walking, particularly after a long flight, but anyone who hasn’t done it before should be aware that arriving at T4S, collecting luggage in the main terminal, checking in and returning to T4S is a seriously long and tedious schlep via escalators, train, long walkways. Add to that security and the passport queues for UK passengers in both directions. You need a big saving to make that worthwhile.
A single ticket or HBO transfer in T4S is a doddle.
I agree with everything you’ve written, good that you’ve put the argument against separate tickets because it’s a heck of schlep even by the standards of other big airports. It’s up to everyone to decide for themselves how they value their time. Realistically it’s a 2 hour process to comfortably do as you describe if you’re leisurely about it. I value my time at less than £150 per hour so it’s worth it for me but other might wish to pay more to stay airside and connect in T4S which, as you say, is a doddle. It’s a great pity there’s a premium to pay for what should be 2+2=4, instead you’re penalised because you want something as basic as an airline linking two consecutive flights with the same carrier onto one ticket. It’s not even that there’s a revenue aspect to this as the reward flight segments are priced flat, it’s when you want to buy two at the same time they come up with arbitrary charges. It wouldn’t even be so bad if they refused duty of care if the inbound flight was late on the basis that it’s a separate booking, long as they agreed to through-check the luggage, thus allowing us to remain airside and hugely reducing the impact of delays. I can understand a carrier not wanting paying customers to subvert the airline’s pricing strategy to different destinations but to put reward seat flyers through this feels mean.
I would go the day before the long haul ,stay overnight at the airport somewhere and taxi/train into the city for a few beers and some tapas.
Relax & start your holiday in style.
99% of the concern is of the return MAD-LON.
I’m not sure that’s right. Missing an outbound long haul due to the inevitable delays leaving Heathrow can become very expensive and traumatic. Missing a Madrid-London connection having come back from a far flung destination when there’s a slew of budget flights available or RFS award seats to book even at the last minute strikes me as the far less stressful situation.
Will Iberia interline bags on to a BA flight to LON? I know BA won’t on the outbound?
We have flights MAD-SCL in Jan/Feb when the weather will be cold in Madrid so we’ll need some warm clothing in Madrid when we’re there for a couple of days beforehand which we won’t need in Chile/Argentina so I thought we could leave a small bag with coats etc then with an early morning arrival in to MAD we could go back to the hotel and pick it up up and then back to the airport.
Will Iberia interline bags on to a BA flight to LON? I know BA won’t on the outbound?
We have flights MAD-SCL in Jan/Feb when the weather will be cold in Madrid so we’ll need some warm clothing in Madrid when we’re there for a couple of days beforehand which we won’t need in Chile/Argentina so I thought we could leave a small bag with coats etc then with an early morning arrival in to MAD we could go back to the hotel and pick it up up and then back to the airport.
All on one booking yes – separate tickets no.
I like walking, particularly after a long flight, but anyone who hasn’t done it before should be aware that arriving at T4S, collecting luggage in the main terminal, checking in and returning to T4S is a seriously long and tedious schlep via escalators, train, long walkways. Add to that security and the passport queues for UK passengers in both directions. You need a big saving to make that worthwhile.
A single ticket or HBO transfer in T4S is a doddle.
I’m flying BA into 4S, with an Iberia flight to MEX four hours after arrival – separate tickets, checked bags. Same on the way back.
How long realistically do you think it will take to exit the airport, check back in etc – sounds like a nightmare…?
I like walking, particularly after a long flight, but anyone who hasn’t done it before should be aware that arriving at T4S, collecting luggage in the main terminal, checking in and returning to T4S is a seriously long and tedious schlep via escalators, train, long walkways. Add to that security and the passport queues for UK passengers in both directions. You need a big saving to make that worthwhile.
A single ticket or HBO transfer in T4S is a doddle.
I’m flying BA into 4S, with an Iberia flight to MEX four hours after arrival – separate tickets, checked bags. Same on the way back.
How long realistically do you think it will take to exit the airport, check back in etc – sounds like a nightmare…?
Four hours will be ample. You basically need to allow two hours as that should be the worst case scenario to clear entry immigration, get from T4S to the main building, collect your luggage, check in, go through security, back to T4S and clear exit immigration.
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