Madrid airport question
 

Is 1 hr. Enough time to change planes on Iberia Airlines....flying Chicago-Madrid then Madrid-Lisbon, Portugal?

I would not do thzt on separate tickets.

If however you are booked from Chicago to Madrid, then Iberia figures you have enough time.
Usually Madrid is quite ok, big but efficient.

Yes, it would be all on 1 ticket on Iberia from Chicago to Lisbon with a 1 hr. Stopover in Madrid. Didn't book yet as we were concerned about the layover time.

It may be all on one ticket but it may not be just one terminal. The main, new, and vast terminal serves many long-haul flights. Short hops may require a transfer (and immigration proceedings) to one of a couple older buildings. It can be a long bus ride. Your ticket may list the terminals. You can look up the airport website to see what you face. Also, print out the schedule of the second leg of your itinerary so you can see when the next flight might be if you (or your luggage) don't make it. If it's the same airline, or its partners, they should get you on the next flight.

OI have never missed a connection on a one-ticket.
And if I did, Airline would put me on another flight.
They held up several the plane for us...

I once we got remonstrated because we hadn't our connecting tickets with Alitalia and we had to go back to retrieve those.
We yelled (well my colleague yelled, in italian) saying he couldn't be blamed and would take no heat for the fact that their colleagues didn't print the whole journey at origin.
Anyway, they held the plane for 15 min at least. When we boarded the plane, we were immediately famous. We some dark looks actually ;-)

I imagine there are several a day from Madrid to Lisbon, so I wouldn't sweat about that one.

You only need one glitch to miss the flight.

Plane does not arrive on time

There were head winds.

A delay in line up to the connecting flight.

Terminals are not close to each other

You need a shuttle to the other Terminal.

Your shaving it thin.

We did think it was too short a time but never having flown into Madrid we were not sure.

Haven't found any Chicago-Lisbon direct flights so our search continues.

Must add that there are plenty of flights to Lisbon that change in NY, Boston, & Newark but that's not going to happen...Too many bad experiences.

Connections in Barajas can be quite a distance. In fact they have signs telling passengers how much time it takes between terminals. It is mammoth airport and for some international flights, you must take an internal tram to your gate.

Iberia is the dominate airline, but that does not mean the gates are close together.

I know you don't want to do this but I have flown to Lisbon several times thru Newark and it was just fine.

It appears the flight you're taking on Iberia is the quickest between Chicago and Lisbon, 10h45m, which isn't bad. Layover at Madrid-Barajas is shown as 1h20m, which is fine as you will be arriving at T4S and departing from Lisbon from the same terminal. You will have to go through passport control, but your luggage should be checked through to Lisbon.

I flew that exact itinerary in mid March. Our flight out of Chicago was basically on time, but when we arrived in Barajas and got off the plane, we were about 20 minutes behind schedule. An Iberia agent calling our names gave us new tickets for the later 11 am or 12 pm flight. We decided to rush to the gate anyway (arrival is in the satellite terminal, customs was empty, but then we had to take the train to the main T4, and I can't remember if we had to go through security again at that point). Even with all that, we missed our connection only by about 3 minutes, the doors had just closed, but once closed they never re-open.

We had a 12:30 flight to Madeira from Lisbon on TAP (separate ticket, separate alliance). Our re-booked flight would get us in too late for that connection and we would just be out of luck. Luckily I am able to use the Iberia Club, and the agent there worked a miracle for us. There was a 10:15 am flight on Air Europa, which is not in the One World Alliance, but he didn't seem to care. He rebooked us and called down to the baggage guys to pull our luggage. We got the luggage, hopped on the intra-terminal bus to T2, checked in at Air Europa, went through security again, and made it to the gate just as the flight was boarding. This was pretty amazing!

I have done this connection several times in the past and have always made it, even though it is usually close. I would go for it, notwithstanding my experience, because Iberia will put you on the next flight if you miss it. Iberia doesn't overbook the way US airlines do (in fact on our flight over, both my husband and I had four seats across, talk about luxury), so you will probably make the next flight out easily.