Our flight was scheduled to depart at 1:00 p.m. so we arranged for a 9:00 “free” shuttle (provided by our hostal) to MAD. Last year we had very long waits clearing customs and going through security and checking our bags, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to avoid missing our flight.
The hostal shuttle driver skipped the very long “departures” line at the T-4 terminal by dropping us off at the lower “arrivals” level, which had no line. He pointed in the direction of an elevator, also with no line, to take us up to the departures floor. Linda spotted an abandoned, nearby empty cart to more easily transport our backpacks to check in.
We exited the elevator and found the departure area to be packed and chaotic. Linda manned the baggage cart while Jim fought the crowd, eventually finding an Iberian Airlines employee and asked where the American Airlines check in was. He was delighted to hear it was far from the maddening crowd. As we moved in the direction of AA, the crowd got smaller and smaller. When we got to the AA check in area, only 4 passengers were queued ahead of us and AA had 5 agents assisting passengers!
There was a short, essentially, no-wait line for clearing security. The whole process took less than 5 minutes!
Our next obstacle was clearing customs.
Again, there was no wait to take the series of escalators down to the lower, subterranean train… and we easily boarded the next train after a 3 minute wait, which took us on a 4 minute ride to the area containing our departure gate. Another ride up the escalators to the gate level emptied us into the queue for customs clearance, where we had waited in line for over 2 hours last year to be cleared by an agent. This time, the queue was almost empty and allowed us to walk immediately to an available kiosk/gate, where we scanned our passport as our photo was taken. A green light indicated we were cleared, the kiosk gate opened and that was it!
We followed the signs to leave the customs area and entered the maze passing through the shops, sneezing as we passed the “perfumeries” and finally into the eateries section.
We found a restaurant and ordered our last breakfast in Spain for Camino2026.
The entire process from hostal to ordering breakfast took less than 1 hour! Consequently, we relaxed and passed the next 2+ hours shopping for contingency food and water for our 8 hour flight, reading and people watching.
Our flight boarded on time, departed 20 minutes late, which was later mitigated by less than normal headwinds, getting us to Charlotte a few minutes early. The flight was uneventful, Jim seemed to think the seats were a little more comfortable, Linda disagreed. We both occupied the time with movies and reading.
The flight from Charlotte to Greenville boarded on time but was delayed at the gate and runway by an approaching storm. Looking out the window, we saw no rain and on the 20 minute flight, again, no rain or turbulence. Consequently, we landed an hour late at GSP and spent another 30 minutes waiting on the tarmac for an available gate, also blamed on the “storm”. Once at the gate and deplaned, we waited another 30 minutes for our bags to appear on the turnstile.
Caren, waited patiently through the delays, cheerfully welcomed us and delivered us safely to our door, after our long, 18 hour day.
Summary and reflections of Camino 2026 to follow…
Jimandi 