Flying from Sevilla to Madrid
 

In checking Iberia flights, we can fly between Sevilla and Madrid cheaper than taking the train (flight is only 28 euros). We would take a 7:30 am Iberia flight to Madrid and then catch our 11:30 am American flight back to the US. Has anyone done something like this before? Any problems? What is the best way to get from the hotel in Sevilla to the airport at that early hour on a Saturday morning? Any problems getting from Iberia gates to American gates at the Madrid airport? Any suggestions/information would be greatly appreciated.

The only problem I can think of is that you have a much bigger chance of a flight running late than the AVE train running late.

I would suspect the flight doesn't take that long so even if it were late you'd probably arrive in plenty of time. What you might at least ASK about upon check-in with Iberia is whether or not they have a "luggage agreement" with American and whether or not, even though you are using separate tickets, they will check your luggage all the way through? Sometimes you can get this to happen, other times not..but I think it would be worth your while to ask and if it does happen would save you the hassle of claiming luggage in Madrid then re-checking and so forth. I am a big train buff but this price and the convenience sound like the winning combo to me..I say go for it.

Hi. I think the flight time to Madrid is around 50 minutes and Seville airport is didn't seem very busy when i was there in April which should means less potential for delays. I've never had a significant flight delay out of a Spanish airport. If I remember correctly domestic flights into Madrid arrive at a separate terminal but you can easily walk from one to the international departures, helped by the moving walkways.

Lola Lasagne is correct: domestic flights generally arrive at Terminal #2 or #3 and International departures are from Terminal #1 or the new International departure gates.
I don't believe there are any moving walkways in the older part of Barajas airport (Terminals 2 & 3).

Ask the desk clerk to call you a taxi when you get your wake-up call. There should be no problem getting a taxi to the airport in Sevilla around 6:00 AM

New TSA Regs may not allow for you to check your luggage 'thru' from Sevilla.

I arrived at Madrid's Barajas airport once the morning an Air Traffic Controllers strike was beginning. It was Chaos! There were lots of angry people. Most departures were cancelled but our SpanAir flight to Santiago departed on time - no problem.

Thanks for the input everyone. I did book the flight and hope I did the right thing. We have always been "train people" too but the price was hard to pass up. The flight is only one hour so we should have three hours before our flight to the US. We will be traveling with one 22" backpack and a small daybag so I'm hopeful we can carry our luggage on the plane from Sevilla. How far from downtown Sevilla is the airport? How difficult is it to get to the international terminal from terminal 2 in Madrid? I am a little nervous about doing this but hopefully having three hours in between will be enough!

Dear Nancy,

The airport in Sevilla is 15-20 minutes by taxi from downtown. For a domestic flight you can check in as late as half an hour before your flight. I haven't done the transfer of airport terminals in Madrid, but my brother in law did and he had no problems and he speaks no spanish and it was his first time alone in Spain.
As far as I know, you have to go from the ground floor of Terminal 2 (domestic arrivals) to the first floor of terminal 1 ( Remember in Spain the ground floor is 0 and your second floor is our 1) . It is a little far away, but there are moving walkways, at least on floor 1. You can ask for directions to the staff, everyone speaks english and with 3 hours time, you should be fine and have time for a last cafelito at one of the airport bars.
I just remembered, there are detailed maps of the terminals in the Barajas airport website at www2.aena.es but it's only in spanish now. The planos (maps) section is very handy.

Olga, thanks for the information. Any idea what the cost is for the taxi from the Granada airport to Hotel America up by the Alahambra? Will check out the maps of the airport.

Sorry, Nancy,
I've never been to Granada airport so I don't know the distance, but if you do a Google search for the Hotel America Granada you can probably find a few hotel reservation websites that give you the distance to the airport.

Sorry, I realized you are asking for cost, not time. If it is about a 20-30 minute ride, which is the usual, my bet is around 20 to 30 Euros. But I'll let someone esle answer who has actually taken that trip...