We booked a flight NYC to Madrid on Continental Airlines. We then have a 3 hour layover with a flight on Turkish Airlines from Madrid to Istanbul. We will NOT have any checked baggage.
1. What is the airplane transfer process? Do we need to pass through customs in Madrid?
2. We also only have electronic tickets. Do we need to leave the terminal secure area to get our tickets?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

you will need to get to turkish airlines to get your boarding passes.

go to an information/transfer desk upon arrival and ask them what you must do, and which terminal you must proceed to.

Did you book this yourself, direct through Continental,or through an agent?

Is everything booked on one ticket?

If so then you will already have your boarding passes when you arrive in Madrid.

If not, then you will have to go to the ticket counter to check in and pick up the boarding passes, which means that you will have to pass through security.

Hopefully you have enough time.

lincasanova and Robert2533,

Thanks for the quick response. Turkish Airlines and Continental are in the same terminal. I booked the 2 flights seperatly so I don't have boarding passes.

I am curious if I need to leave the secured gate area to get my boarding pass once in Madrid or not?

You'll have to go to the check in counter, which usually means you have to leave the arrivals terminal and go back through security. That's one reason it’s never a good idea to book the tickets separately, especially for international travel. If there is a delay in your arrival, neither Continental nor the Turkish Airline is responsible for rebooking you. You’d be on your own.

Agree with Robert, you'll have to go through passport control/customs and exit to the terminal to go to Turkish Airlines and check in with them.

The fact you will not be checking lugagge is a big plus as if you did you would probably have to claim it and recheck it. Also being in the same terminal a big plus.

I ahve transferred from terminal 3 (with lugagge) to terminal 1 for a Continental flight back to the US with a 3 hr layover with plenty of time to spare. But like Bob points out, if you have a significant delay with Continental you will be on your own.

Robert and cruiseluv,

Thanks for the clarification. Very helpful.