Looking at flights from DC to Spain next year: is it better to fly from DC to Europe and change planes to connect to Madrid or Barcelona or to connect in the U.S. and fly direct? Just got back from Italy and connected in Frankfurt, which worked out fine, but honestly can't figure out why the nation's capital has so few direct flights to major European cities.

Let me answer the latter first.

The only airlines with major hubs in the DC area are Southwest at BWI and United at Dulles. UA doesn't fly to the most destinations in Europe, but have been introducing some new routes.

It's also a little bit close to New York, which is the #1 market for many European airlines. Unless that airline is a partner with UA, it's unlike to have another flight going to DC. And Iberia is a AA partner, not UA.

Anyways, I prefer connecting in the US for the outward leg (connection just like domestic - no reclearing of security). For inbound, it's easier to connect in Europe (no immigration and reclearing of security at another US airport), but often that means leaving your origin city at a very very early hour to make the connection.

So, in short, there's no clear winner in this issue.

And of course not all airports are created equal. I will do most anything (usually unsuccessfully) to avoid Heathrow on transatlantic legs, either going or coming. Likewise I'll try to avoid both JFK and LAX on longhaul itineraries; who needs to be depressed at the beginning or end of a long flight?

That usually means I hit airports like ORD (which I actually like) or DFW (which I don't.) On the European side, Gatwick, Frankfurt, Brussels and (now - and I may be in a minority here) Madrid are relatively easy to transit; Copenhagen and AMS are perennial faves too. CDG is way down the list, below LHR. But your mileage may vary; from DC I'd probably opt for FRA as it's well served by United/Lufthansa; alternatively you could hop down to Miami and go straight to MAD from there. No picnic, but it's not Heathrow nor JFK.

Given that you went to Italy via Frankfurt I will assume that you are a Star Alliance frequent flyer. If you have Premier status as a United frequent flyer then your transatlantic segments could be in Economy Plus, connecting at FRA or Munich. Or you could fly Swiss via Zurich, or Lufthansa, or Austrian via Vienna.

Shortest trip might be to take USAir from National Airport to Philly to connect to go to Madrid. I think the USAir flight to Madrid continues on to Barcelona.

I would prefer to make the connection in Europe. If there is a problem in making the connection in Europe then you would have all day in Europe to get to your destination. If there is a problem with the domestic connection then you might be stuck there for the night.

I don't mind Heathrow. Never had a problem there. Perhaps it is because British Airways has such a great entertainment system or maybe it is the free drinks in coach.

I agree with mrwunrfl about the risk of a domestic connection. Experienced this first hand last year when flying from DC to Switzerland, with a change of planes in Newark. My connection time was plenty long -- 3 hours -- but the flight wound up being very late, and I missed my outbound flight by about 10 minutes. At that time of night -- well, at least by the time I got through the massive customer service line -- not only were there were NO remaining flights departing to Europe on ANY airline that evening, but the next departure to Switzerland was not until mid-afternoon. As a result, I missed the first entire day of my business meeting; fortunately, I was not responsible for the missed hotel night. I learned my lesson after this. (And the most annoying thing is that had the airline -- Continental -- been forthcoming about the projected domestic flight delay, I could have easily gotten rebooked on another flight to Newark. Grrr -- another lesson learned.)

Thanks so much for all this great advice!