connecting at Brussels

I booked my flight with airmiles.ca.

They didn't leave me much of a choice.

Here is what I got: Montreal to Brussels ( 55 minutes to get to other gate) Brussels to Venice.

Return: Venice to Toronto ( 3 hour connection) to Montreal. I'm not worried about this one, will even try to get on an earlier flight to Montreal (hourly schedule).

I am freaked out about the 55 minutes in Brussels though. BIG time. To change would cost 300$ per person , so that is out of the question. Besides the only alternative is flying through Toronto on Rouge.

We pack light so will only have carry-on. Air Canada says 50 minutes is the ''legal'' connection time.

I desperately need advice. We plan on running ( will be wearing running shoes). I've checked out the map ( hard to figure out though) for Brussels airport.

What else can we do?

TIA!

our flight is in July.

Tell the flight attendant about your tight connection, and try to have them let you disembark the plane first or close to first. Indeed, try to get a seat as close to the exit door as possible.

I have not connected thru BRU, but did fly out of there last January. Not a huge airport. While it will be tight, I think it's probably doable, especially if you know your onward gate (the FAs should have this info for you).

Considering my first-hand experience with YYZ, you'll probably need those 3 hours... :rolleyes:

Tell the flight attendant about your tight connection, and try to have them let you disembark the plane first or close to first. Indeed, try to get a seat as close to the exit door as possible.

 

I have not connected thru BRU, but did fly out of there last January. Not a huge airport. While it will be tight, I think it's probably doable, especially if you know your onward gate (the FAs should have this info for you).

 

Considering my first-hand experience with YYZ, you'll probably need those 3 hours... :rolleyes:

I think the first part is unrealistic. As soon as the plane lands, people will be up and moving, and may have equally tight connections. Plus, waiting for business class passengers who will exit first (there are 37 business class seats, so even if you got the very first seat in economy, you'll likely be 38th off the plane). Best bet is to get a seat towards the front, but be aware it may cost you extra. Aim for rows 18-22, on the left side of the plane.

55 minutes is indeed tight. I have had to do quite a bit of walking at BRU before, and it can be big depending on your gates. You will also need to clear immigration there, which will add time, and I assume re-clear security. However, you will not have to worry about your baggage as long as it's through-checked at your origin (assuming the trip is one ticket)

So, 55 minutes is legal...55 minutes is possible...but any delay and you may miss it. I wouldn't have booked it, that's for sure.

What else can you do?

Figure out what "Plan B" options are available to you in the event you miss your connection. Be aware of when (and with who) the next flights are (even flights with connections) and which ones would ensure you get to Venice ASAP.

It may also be worth a call directly to the airline to see what, if anything they can do). That fact that this was the only option that airmiles gave you isn't good, but perhaps the airline who realizes it's a very tight connection may be willing to help out.

As far as the 3 hr layover in Toronto on the way back, you may actually need that given how busy/slow Pearson can be at times.

Good luck. I had a 90 minute connection through Frankfurt and didn't come close to making it.

There are more flights from Brussels to Venice if the first onward flight is missed. So unless the OP is planning to arrive in Venice on the same day that the ship actually sails, there should be no big problem with getting there.

Brussels has opened its new connector building which cuts the walking time to the A terminal almost in half.

HOWEVER: if you have some bad luck, your plane will be parked near the end of the A terminal and you still have to walk 20-30 minutes from the moment you exit your first plane. Immigration at BRU can often be a zoo (specially for a rather small airport) and waiting times of 1 hour are no exception during the morning rush. And your arrival time is the start of this rush at the immigration. So if your flight is slightly late, you could end up right in between all the inbound flights from the US. When you arrive on time it should be rather calm (if all flights operate on normal schedule) but as I've said, a few minutes can make a huge difference.

Some airlines give priority passes for immigration (upon disembarkation) to those with tight connections. But I don't know if Air Canada uses these.

The 55min. is within the Minimum Legal Connecting time (unless I've missed an email about this) so if you miss you flight when your inbound flight is on time, you're pretty much left to the grace of the ticket agent if you'll need to pay the change fee or not.

But as others have said, there are several flights going to VCE.

Departure times for these are 1350 & 2045 local time. Both of these flight operated by SN (alliance partner of AC, so you're safe on that one)

So, long story short, it will all depend if your inbound flight makes it to BRU on time and how busy it will be at immigrations.

Thanks everyone!

Our Air Canada flight arrives at 8:35 am on a Thursday ( July 9) and our Brussels airlines flight leaves at 9:40 am. So it's 65 minutes, not 55.I miss counted. Won't make much difference, I suppose.

Hopefully, it being summer will help ( no snow delay, lol)

I'm glad to know there are other flights, just in case. I checked train and bus options and can't find anything. Our cruise leaves on Saturday.

I guess I will have to cross fingers and toes that immigration isn't too long. Or that Air Canada gives out priority passes for immigration ( where would I find out about this?)

Well, 10 minutes are a world of difference when dealing with airlines.

As for those passes, I will ask a a former colleague who is now a station supervisor for AC here at BRU. I will send her a message and I'll get back to you asap :-)

Our Air Canada flight arrives at 8:35 am on a Thursday ( July 9) and our Brussels airlines flight leaves at 9:40 am. So it's 65 minutes, not 55.I miss counted. Won't make much difference, I suppose.

well, 10 minutes are a world of difference when dealing with airlines.

As for those passes, i will ask a a former colleague who is now a station supervisor for ac here at bru. I will send her a message and i'll get back to you asap :-)

thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Look at it this way: You thought you were only 5 minutes over the MCT. Instead, you actually have three times that much margin.

Your math is so optimistic! I love it! Thanks

Anytime, realtrip :-)

I've mailed my colleague about it but she on a 3 day leave. Once she gets back in the office, she will get back to me, so just a little patience ;-)

Perfect!

Your math is so optimistic! I love it! Thanks

The shorter the connections that you post, the more attractive they are to your most profitable customers and the higher up they go in the flight displays from which people choose their flights.

But the shorter the connections, the higher the chance of any individual passenger missing the connection and the airline incurring cost in reaccommodating them and caring for them. So the airline has to balance these two considerations.

At exactly the MCT, the airline already expects that most passengers will make the connection most days. That means that many of them will have struggled to get to the next gate just in time, and some of them will be one or two or three minutes too late and will miss the connection. If you add 5 minutes, the proportion of passengers who successfully connect goes up. If you add 5 more minutes, it goes up again. By the time you've added 15 minutes, the odds of making the connection are very much improved.

None of these passengers have time to saunter or down a cocktail between flights. But if you're at 5 minutes over MCT, your level of risk is significantly higher than if you're at 15 minutes over MCT. And that's one of the reasons why you can usefully look at it in this way.

Thank you Globaliser. That was a really clear explanation! I appreciate it; it is reassuring.

Hi realtrip, I just got back from work and briefly spoke to my colleague about your issue.

She told me Air Canada does not have the priority passes for border control in BRU (except for some VIP's in some cases)

So I'm afraid there's not much we can do for you :(

I'll cross my fingers your inbound flight will land a little ahead of schedule. Safe travels!

Thanks anyways . I appreciate it.:)

Let me know if you ever need help with a visit to Montreal!

Well, Montreal is on my bucket list, so I'll be in touch when the planning starts. Thanks for the offer :-)

:) You'll love it.

Hi all,

Our flight is fast approaching. We leave Montreal next Wednesday. I have been compulsively checking flight tracker and it doesn't look good.

Our Montreal (Yul) to Brussels flight has been consistently late leaving Montreal. The only hope we have is that the Brussels to Venice flight is also late (this has been happening a lot-- hoping it is because they are waiting for people who are connecting, maybe?). Headhunterke, do you know anything about this?

TIA, I appreciate any info or encouragement, lol:eek:

AC has a notorious reputation on their long haul flights, specially the BRU bound one.

I don't like to disapoint you, but Brussels Airlines is the operating airline for your VCE flight and they don't wait for connecting passengers, unless it's like half the flight. In fact, they are one of the airline that calls other gates people will not make their flight and rebooks them in advance if they see any inbound passengers will not make it to their connecting outbound flights. This is good and bad. As a customer, it's nice knowing things are being done for you, but on the other hand it's a clear sign they do not wait unless of course you are an extremely loyal or important client to them.

Things are very busy in the morning and as I replied before, you'll be at the mercy of the speed of which immigration is moving.

Distances have been shortened since the Connector is open. That is a building connecting the departures and the A-Terminal which houses the Shengen flights.

I will take a look for you and see if there is any pattern of gate assignment, specific for the VCE flight. Although I must say, Brussels Airlines flights are scheduled in the beginning of the A-Terminal about 90% of the time. But there's of course only 1 little mishap necessary on another flight to start the game of gate changes.

The SN flight to VCE has a rather good record of on time departure. Times listed on sites as FlightAware & Flightradar24 are the times the plane is in the air. The times you have listed are the "off-block" times, which are the times a plane starts to be pushed back. So you'll need to reduce the listed times on these websites with 6-8 minutes to have the "real" departure time for the airline. Of course, waiting times at both security and on the tarmac will be longer as well since the summer season has just kicked off.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but if the past week is any indicator of how things are going to be, I'm afraid they'll transfer you to the 1.50pm flight of SN to VCE. Is there any way you can call AC to see if they can already transfer you to the later flight, given the poor On Time Performance of this flight. Chances are they'll say no, but you can always try of course.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know so.

I'll be crossing my fingers and hope the best for you guys. Unfortunately that's about all I can do. I'd call ATC to hold traffic, but I don't thing my manager would appreciate that ;-)

Thanks for the reply. I will call AC and see if they can do anything.

Have a nice day. It's Canada day here today. So a vacation day. woohoo!

Happy Canada Day to you and the fam :-)

I hope AC will be flexible and they will be able to work something out to avoid any stress. Because, that's the last thing you'd want when on vacation, right.

Please let me know if your effort was successful :-)

Called AC today. The woman on the phone said not to worry that delays are quite exceptional ( uh?, guess she must say that). She said I'd be put on the next flight if need be. No change possible without a 300$ fee per person. So I will cross my fingers and hope all goes well. Hey a little stress on vacation beats a day at work, right.:D

I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for your help :)

Well, I guess she is is indeed a little forced to say that and she probably has not clue about flight specifics. However, I never tell things like this to any pax I'm dealing with. A person with information that he or she isn't going to like is always better then one who's been told hocus. Anyways, you gave it a shot.

Nevertheless, most Star Alliance members at BRU usually do a good job rerouting you in case of a missed connection.

I'm wishing you a very smooth trip with as few delays as possible and a marvelous crusie ;-)