Are these layover times in Europe too short?

I'm planning to book this, but I'm concerned about the short layover times. Should I be?

35 minutes in Brussels en route to Venice

50 minutes in Frankurt en route to London

Same "type" of aircraft before/after layovers, but different flight numbers, so I'm not sure if we are switching planes. Thanks for any help.

Outbound - Brussels Airlines

Departs: 11:05 AM LHR To Brussels National Airport (BRU)

Arrives: 1:15 PM

Departs: 1:50 PM To Marco Polo Airport (VCE) Venice, Italy

Inbound - Lufthansa

Departs: 2:45 PM VCE To Frankfurt am Main Airport (FRA)

Arrives: 4:10 PM Frankfurt, Germany

Departs: 5:00 PM To Heathrow Airport (LHR)

You will have to process immigration at BRU. Standard MCT at BRU is 50 minutes for international to domestic. Not quite sure who is selling this ticket, as it seems under MCT. Is this from a third party seller or an airline directly?

Personally, I would not want to be doing either of those connects.

Unless you could confirm that you will indeed be traveling on the same plane and not have to switch, I would not be comfortable with these flights. There's a high probability you'd miss your connection if anything delays your first flight, or even if things are slow moving in the airport.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see these itineraries on Priceline and Hotwire, where they both appear, but the outbound one is also on the Brussels Air website. You'd think they wouldn't do that if it's an unrealistic connection.

Edit: I spoke w/someone with Brussels Airline. They said that flight does switch planes (different flight #s), but for flights within Europe, the 35 min s/b sufficient. I'm still not convinced.

Pseudoware,

While I haven't been to Brussels I wouldn't book a connection that tight anywhere including an airport with only 3 gates.

As for Frankfurt, 50 minutes is probably not a legit connection time and it sure shouldn't be. Some Lufthansa flights dock away from the terminal and passengers are bussed to the innards of the terminal and must find their way through passport control and on to their gate. Frankfurt is a large airport and I wouldn't be comfortable with less than 90 - 120 minutes.

Your search would seem to be based on cost and not convenience. Booking directly with any airline is a much better way to maintain control of your air arrangements and very often the prices are the same.

Venice is a very costly ticket and if you have the time a flight through Milan with a train ride to Venice is a great alternative. The train ride can be done on local (the least expensive route) or express trains and the ride is quite interesting.

Connections sound tight. The running around that would be needed to make the Brussels connection is consistent with the amount of running around the airport in their advertising.....

Don't book with a "Third Party" booking engine. Book directly thru the airline and if things go wrong they can help you. Just try getting Hotwire or Expedia to help when you really need them. And make sure your reservation is on one PNR (confirmation code) this is very important also when flights have issues.

Edit: I spoke w/someone with Brussels Airline. They said that flight does switch planes (different flight #s), but for flights within Europe, the 35 min s/b sufficient. I'm still not convinced.

The problem, at least in my mind, is that a flight from the LHR to BRU isn't "within Europe" - at least if "Europe" is meant to be "intra-Schengen". There are still immigration controls between the UK and the Schengen zone, so your flight from LHR is "international" connecting to the "domestic" BRU-VCE leg.

Caveat emptor.

Unless you could confirm that you will indeed be traveling on the same plane and not have to switch, I would not be comfortable with these flights. There's a high probability you'd miss your connection if anything delays your first flight, or even if things are slow moving in the airport.

Being on the same plane (at least with the same flight number) isn't possible, if that's what you mean. In both cases, immigration will need to be cleared - either entrance (BRU) or exit (FRA). This requires going through the immigration booths.

You might make it, but if you have checked luggage, you'll be flying without it on the second flight. Probably.

I'm going to make a guess that these are separately purchased tickets with a ticket to get to/from the USA to LHR/return on one ticket and then separate tickets to/from VCE on the intra Europe flights.

This scenario with those short connect times is a nightmare waiting to happen. Miss one of the intra Europe flights and you most likely will miss your USA/LHR or LHR to USA flight additionally.

You could be setting yourself up for huge potential problems. When you do something like this on a two (or three or four) ticket itinerary, you need to allow HOURS if not DAYS between flights or you could royally screw up your TATL flights.

One absolute is that the luggage will not arrive with the OP.

Second absolute is there is not a snow balls chance in H--- of these connections happening..... LHR 35 mins good grief!

One absolute is that the luggage will not arrive with the OP.

Second absolute is there is not a snow balls chance in H--- of these connections happening..... LHR 35 mins good grief!

Guess I better re-read... Bottom line OP won't make these connections and neither will the bags.... Crazy!

Actually, neither of the connects happens at LHR - the 35 minute one is at BRU.

And having spent some time in BRU, some of the intra-Schengen gates can be a pretty long walk apart.

Thanks for the replies. Message rec'd. I'll book directly with an airline, as I did w/our SFO - LHR flight.

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Thanks for the replies. Message rec'd. I'll book directly with an airline, as I did w/our SFO - LHR flight.

 

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Guess I guessed right. I just knew you were trying to do the 2 or 3 ticket deal. Just remember, leave LOTS of time to make ANY connection, even if you have to spend the night someplace.

You will NOT be protected if one of your flights is late and you miss the next one except within the same airline. And if you miss the connection on one of those intra Europe flights, you could find yourself buying a VERY expensive walk up ticket to get home. Your ticket will be canceled if you miss checking in and you are still trying to get to LHR from VCE. Won't be as expensive going TO VCE but could be a royal PIA.

Good luck!!!

Guess I guessed right. I just knew you were trying to do the 2 or 3 ticket deal. Just remember, leave LOTS of time to make ANY connection, even if you have to spend the night someplace.

 

You will NOT be protected if one of your flights is late and you miss the next one except within the same airline. And if you miss the connection on one of those intra Europe flights, you could find yourself buying a VERY expensive walk up ticket to get home. Your ticket will be canceled if you miss checking in and you are still trying to get to LHR from VCE. Won't be as expensive going TO VCE but could be a royal PIA.

 

Good luck!!!

Yes, you're right. We're visiting relatives in London and touring the UK post-cruise, so I thought I'd get that flight out of the way.

As it stands, we will likely be at a hotel near LHR overnight, and I'm looking at 3-4 hour layovers between LHR and VCE, in AMS, CDG, or something like that. I think that s/b sufficient time, but please lmk if that's still cutting it close. I'm focusing on single-carrier outbound/inbound flights. Thanks again.

So let's see if we now have it.

1) You are on a VCE-VCE cruise.

2) You want to visit in the UK after the cruise.

3) You bought a round-trip USA-LHR ticket already.

4) You now want to go LHR-VCE-LHR on a second ticket.

OK...if you are buying a ticket LHR-VCE-LHR that has some more normal connecting times, you should be alright. A three hour connect at AMS/CDG/FRA are all more than enough.

However...for future reference and for others, you could have easily bought a triangle ticket and saved yourself some trouble and likely some cash. First part would be USA-VCE, then VCE-LHR and then LHR-USA. There was no need to just have a round-trip in/out of LHR. Another option would be an open jaw into VCE and out of LHR with a second one-way ticket VCE-LHR to get between the two end points.

You will NOT be protected if one of your flights is late and you miss the next one except within the same airline.

Even within the same airline, you may sometimes be in trouble.

In an effort to protect revenue, Delta will treat two DL tickets as completely separate. They will not through check bags on two tickets, nor is there any protection for the second flight. They established this policy first for two tickets on separate carriers outside SkyTeam, then to apply to partner tickets and finally to all tickets including DL to DL.

Can't speak to other carriers, but beware on the Widget.

What a mess.... OP certainly did not provide the full and complete story.

Sorry feel like time has been wasted trying to give correct info and assistance, while the OP kept half the info a secret!

What was the point?? Multiple tickets and separate PNR's will give you grief and zero protection should anything go wrong.

What a waste of time!

So let's see if we now have it.

 

1) You are on a VCE-VCE cruise.

2) You want to visit in the UK after the cruise.

3) You bought a round-trip USA-LHR ticket already.

4) You now want to go LHR-VCE-LHR on a second ticket.

 

OK...if you are buying a ticket LHR-VCE-LHR that has some more normal connecting times, you should be alright. A three hour connect at AMS/CDG/FRA are all more than enough.

 

However...for future reference and for others, you could have easily bought a triangle ticket and saved yourself some trouble and likely some cash. First part would be USA-VCE, then VCE-LHR and then LHR-USA. There was no need to just have a round-trip in/out of LHR. Another option would be an open jaw into VCE and out of LHR with a second one-way ticket VCE-LHR to get between the two end points.

Thanks. Yeah, considered the triangle ticket. Maybe, I didn't search well enough, but this particular triangle route seems very expensive, much more so than what I'm currently looking at. It's all good. There appear to be plenty of available flight that should work for us.

What a mess.... OP certainly did not provide the full and complete story.

Sorry feel like time has been wasted trying to give correct info and assistance, while the OP kept half the info a secret!

 

What was the point?? Multiple tickets and separate PNR's will give you grief and zero protection should anything go wrong.

What a waste of time!

Thanks. Guess we'll just cancel our trip, it's all pointless now.

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Thanks. Yeah, considered the triangle ticket. Maybe, I didn't search well enough, but this particular triangle route seems very expensive, much more so than what I'm currently looking at. It's all good. There appear to be plenty of available flight that should work for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks. Guess we'll just cancel our trip, it's all pointless now.

 

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No you don't get it. You asked for advice that many members offered. Yet you failed to give the full story, making our advice worthless and a waste of everyone's time!

No you don't get it. You asked for advice that many members offered. Yet you failed to give the full story, making our advice worthless and a waste of everyone's time!

Jeez, quit beating the poor person up. Your time wasn't wasted-the info posted may be very valuable to someone else. Actually, the info posted was very valuable to the OP. They now realize those very short connections could leave them in deep doo-doo no matter what.

It is only because I am an international logistics planner and kept thinking "how is this person getting from NorCal (the Cal bear and location was a dead giveaway) to LHR" that I made a very educated guess the OP had already purchased a RT West Coast to LHR ticket? And was only looking for a way to get to/from VCE for a cruise or to see Italy that somehow coincided with the USA to LHR ticket.

Don't book with a "Third Party" booking engine. Book directly thru the airline and if things go wrong they can help you. Just try getting Hotwire or Expedia to help when you really need them. And make sure your reservation is on one PNR (confirmation code) this is very important also when flights have issues.

No you don't get it. You asked for advice that many members offered. Yet you failed to give the full story, making our advice worthless and a waste of everyone's time!

Well as long as we're trying to address the full story, your first post above really needs to be clarified.

"Book directly thru the airline and if things go wrong they can help you." Booking through the airline is highly recommended on this board, but it won't necessarily matter if one has booked multiple tickets, all directly through the airline.

As for advice to "make sure your reservation in on one PNR" that too is an incomplete bit of advice. One can easily have one TICKET but multiple PNR's if the itinerary includes 2+ segments on different airlines due to code share flights, and the fact that one has multiple PNR's in that case won't matter. If it's all one ticket, the airline and their partners will work together to resolve any issues.