Connecting flight time in Europe

Old Feb 27th, 2017, 07:22 PM
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Connecting flight time in Europe

Hey there!

We will be spending time in Norway this summer and I have a question about connecting flights. We will need to fly from Trondheim to Dublin where we will catch our return flight to the states. Our flight from Dublin to the states (via London) is on United and leaves at 12:00 noon. We found a flight from Trondheim that lands in Dublin at 10:50 am. Will this give us enough time to make that connection? At what point do we need to worry about going through customs? (I feel like this question seems confusing even explaining!)
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Old Feb 27th, 2017, 07:32 PM
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That is a really short connection time imo. If your flight comes in even fifteen minutes late you will be in danger of missing your next flight. Too tight.
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Old Feb 27th, 2017, 07:37 PM
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So if you miss the United flight what happens to you?
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Old Feb 27th, 2017, 07:42 PM
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From the way you're wording it I sense that the Trondheim-Dublin flight is not on the same ticket (or even airline?) as the Dublin-London-USA flight? Meaning that United owes you no favor if you show up late?

If that is so, then that Trondheim-Dublin flight is a gamble you may not want to risk.

But - all else besides - why fly to Dublin to board a plane leaving for London and then on to the US? Why not fly Trondheim-London?
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Old Feb 27th, 2017, 07:58 PM
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-I called the airline about skipping the Dublin-London leg and just starting in London instead. They said that to do so would cost us $200 a ticket. That seems insane to me, but what can I do?

-and yes our flight to the us is on a different airline than from Norway-Dublin. So I we miss that flight, we will be out of luck.
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Old Feb 27th, 2017, 08:18 PM
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Would 2 1/2 hours be enough?
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Old Feb 27th, 2017, 08:20 PM
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"$200 a ticket. That seems insane to me"

But you save probably a similar amount by not flying to Dublin the night before your London-US departure and having to stay that night near the airport so as not to jeopardize your investment. Looks like roughly a wash to me.

Are you committed to that United flight, or just shopping around?
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Old Feb 27th, 2017, 08:23 PM
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You should never (ever) fly on an un connected flight to catch an international flight the same morning . . . ever.

>>They said that to do so would cost us $200 a ticket.
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Old Feb 28th, 2017, 02:58 AM
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If you were here in Ireland. You would be advised to be at Dublin airport 3 hours before your Transatlantic flight, especially if clearing US Customs in Dublin. That's 2 1/2 hours before your gate closes without having to clear customs and collect bags off an inbound flight first.

Dublin is Not the most efficient Airport. If you were transferring at Shannon or even Cork then 2 1/2 hours might work but Dublin? Possibly. but how much is an on the dat ticket if you don't make the connection?
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Old Feb 28th, 2017, 03:36 AM
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Yes, the US immigration pre-screening in Dublin must be counted into your timetable along with normal airport security and retrieving your luggage from the first flight to recheck with United (if your first airline has no transfer agreement.) United may have its own security check at the boarding lounge too and you need to be in your seat, not just the lounge, well in advance of the stated departure time.
Add it all up and the odds of missing your trans-Atlantic flight look threatening. The fee to rewrite your return ticket is pretty standard and represents the cost of not sorting this all out before buying your tickets. Sorry, but I hope you can take it as a costly lesson and still enjoy your time abroad.
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Old Feb 28th, 2017, 07:28 AM
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I'm guessing the OP bought a USA-Dublin return ticket and so, needs to get from Norway to Dublin for the return. London is simply a stop on that return. The $200 per ticket fee is to change to an open-jaw return from London. Effectively changing the ticket to a USA-Dublin outgoing and London-USA returning. You will still have to buy a ticket to get from Norway to London. I'm surprised they are even offering that.

What you need to realize aklittl7, is what you bought was the price for a specific route. It is not 'insane' that the price to change to a different route will cost you more.

You also need to realize that if in fact you do not fly the Dublin-London leg of that return and instead opted to try and avoid the $200 fee to change the ticket, by flying from Norway directly to London and then catching the second leg of your Dublin-USA return, you are quite likely to find that since you missed the first leg Dublin-London, the entire return has been cancelled and you would find yourself having to buy a new one way London-USA ticket to get home!

When you buy a multi-leg ticket, you agree to fly all legs. Skipping any leg results in the airline cancelling the rest of the ticket. So any suggestion that you skip Dublin and just fly Norway-London to catch the flight back to the USA is very bad advice indeed. You need to understand what is sometimes called 'throwaway ticketing'.

https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid...+flight+name&*

Michelhuebli, you may also want to read some links on that page to understand why they should not just fly Norway-London and skip Dublin.

It looks to me as if you did what many people do and simply looked at 'oh here's a cheap return to Europe we can buy' and did not do your homework to figure out how that would fit in to your total plan and what it would COST you in terms of time, inconvenience and even other real $ costs if you booked that flight instead of an open-jaw return from where you planned to end up, Norway. Now you are going to pay the price, one way or another.

My advice would be to ask if you can change to an open-jaw return from Norway and see what they say. They may let you change to a Bergen-London-USA for example for the same $200. Or they may not.

I agree with Southam, you are going to have to take it as a lesson learned for next time.

If you stick with the ticket home from Dublin, you will need to fly from Norway to Dublin the night before to insure you catch your United flight home. Any attempt to connect with just an hour or two between flights would be very foolish.
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Old Feb 28th, 2017, 10:56 AM
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Is your flight from the US to Dublin before Norway?
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