Madrid Barajas Airport

✅ Verified Review | A very large airport with inadequate information for first time users. I am an experienced traveller, and I was unaware of the policy of not making PA announcements for events like gate changes. Why does Madrid airport change this common practice? The information about no PA announcements needs to be written on a large sign in many languages throughout the departure areas. It is not adequate to announce it via the PA system. Experienced travellers are accustomed to listening for their flight number or destination and not listening to other announcements. My departure gate changed just before boarding, and this was only communicated by a small written announcement on the boarding gate screen - with a bright window behind the screen it was impossible to see the notification. For the first time in many airports around the World, I missed my flight because I was waiting at the wrong gate! I think this is partly the responsibility of the airport.

❎ Unverified | We used Madrid Terminal 4 and was very clean and organized. The signs easily indicated the way to the boarding gates. There weren't any queues at the security check, it was very fast and fluid. The architecture of the terminal is spectacular, great design.

✅ Verified Review | My wife and I were flying VCE-MAD-LAX on June 27, 2017. We arrived at MAD with two and a half hours to connect to our flight to LAX. We had to travel from terminal 4 to terminal 4s, which involved a lot of walking and a long train ride. It's a huge airport, but that wasn't the main problem. When we hit passport control the crowds were incredible! Honestly, I've traveled a lot in my life and I've never seen anything like it. The EU crowd lined up in one area, but the rest of us had to find our way to the end of a line that snaked around through several areas and looked like one massive crowd, and passengers from arriving flights kept pouring into the area. Some people were attempting to crowd into line, which led to conflict with those who had already stood in line for a long time, while others were simply doing their best to find the end of the line, which was no easy task. During our time waiting to reach passport control, I saw one or two airport officials, and they were doing absolutely nothing to help passengers find their way. Absolutely nothing! Long story short, we finally made it to passport control, and hurried straight to our gate, arriving five minutes before they started boarding our flight (remember-we had two and a half hours to connect). The airport wasn't like this when we transited there on June 12, but apparently is unable to handle the heavy summer traffic. That time we had an hour and a half to connect, but still missed our flight since our Iberia flight LAX-MAD arrived late. This is a beautiful, spacious airport (actually too spacious!), with lots of options for eating and shopping (which we were unable to enjoy). I could recommend transiting there, though in the future I would allow at least two hours between flights, and longer during the summer months.

❎ Unverified | This airport has a rather unsatisfying customer service, particularly the information desk in terminal 4s, since the person who answered my inquiry seems not willing to reply to my questions, being shown by lack of eye contact and would rather wanted to be focused on her mobile. Moreover, there are not any post boxes in the terminal which made my journey quite unpleasant. Overall, not really having a great time there.

❎ Unverified | Madrid - Complicated airport. I thought I had seen the worst airport in the world but no Madrid takes that honour. Go round in circles looking for their lottery system of gates, shocking, but first you have to get to transfer or connection. Very unclear, thank goodness we had time enough to suss it out. Staff asked us if we had Spanish language then ignored us if we had none. One other traveller summed it up saying the departure boards are like Bingo, they change so quickly. We managed a quck bite to eat, but really it's a hard place to navigate across. In transit to La Corunna this has been a most challenging airport.

Connected in Madrid both outbound and inbound from US to France on Iberia. Due to late arrival from US, inbound connection shrank to 60 minutes from 75. We landed at farthest gate in terminal 4S. There were staff waiting with "Express Connection" tags for people with tight connections, although they didn't tell us how to use them. I began rushing down the very long terminal to the train to Terminal 4. I ran some and walked very fast in other places. When I waved my express tag they sent me to a specific (unmarked) passport desk, however all the passport lines were short. Then it was down several escalators (slightly confusing) to the train. Despite what the airport website says, we had a six minute wait in a steamy station for the train. The terminals are farther apart than they are in Denver or Atlanta, so the train ride seems long. Then it was up some escalators to security, where the express tag seemed to have no meaning, but thankfully the lines were short, then a dash to the gate to the France flight, about halfway down the terminal. I arrived, very sweaty, as they were boarding. I made the connection in 30 minutes with no lines and a fair amount of running. Even with the moving sidewalks, there are some very long distances in terminal 4 and 4S, especially if your gate is at the end of the building. Flights arriving in CRJs on Air Nostrum will be at the end of Terminal 4. On the return flight, I had a lot more time. The airport is nice and light and the Iberia lounges are nice, but I wouldn't choose an Iberia connection with under 90 minutes.

✅ Verified Review | The Iberia terminal at Madrid Barajas is the good news if you fly Iberia. If not (and that was my case), going from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 is a labyrinth of tunnels and is better be prepared for a 30 minute walk. You will walk, and go up and down stairs and walk again, and if the passport control only has 2 staff working take an anti-stress.

This is one of the most unfriendly airports with the rudest staff. They really do not care at all and seem to be trained to just say "Sorry" no matter what you ask them. They change gates with no explanation. Going from one gate to the other takes 30 minutes if you are lucky to get the train on time. I would not recommend this airport and think the staff need lessons in basic customer service. Passengers are not sheep. They are customers.

✅ Verified Review | This airport is huge. I flew from London Heathrow to Madrid and back on a booking with BA (Iberia is the carrier). For my return flight from Madrid, my boarding pass said Gate H which is about 25 mins walking. So I go to gate H and wait for the exact gate number. Then gate changes to S51 (which is in the T4 satellite - 27 mins away via shuttle train). So I get over to S51. Then the boarding gate info goes blank and after a while there is a further change of gate to U9 - that's right - another 27 mins back to where I came from. Then - wait for it - yet another change of gate to R2 (back in T4 satellite) which is another 27 mins and finally caught plane that was delayed by around an hour. All in all, I cleared customs five times, went through full security twice and walked back and fore for around 2 hours. Not a single member of staff from BA or Iberia around to explain or apologise. Not even a free bottle of water on the plane. Nothing. Same happened last time I flew from Madrid.

As for Terminal 4 (T4) Internet is good. There are several options for good food. Nice shops. The terminal is clean and is not crowded. Iberia has also a nice lounge, sometimes a bit crowded. Overall, is very good. Now, if you leave T4, then its a different story. The old terminals are old and the signaling is bad.