carjul

Hi Expert travelers

I live in US. On the way back, I'm taking an independent flight from Venice to Barcelona. If that flights arrives as planned (11:30a) to the BCN airport, I have 2 hours till the next flight takes off from Barcelona (1:30). I'm shooting for the 1:30p British Air flight to Newark, US.

I'm trying to figure out when i go through customs. between Italy and Spain? when I leave Barcelona? or only when i enter the US? If the Vueling Air flight arrives at 11:30 as planned, is that 2 hr window till my next flight enough time to recheck bags, TSA, customs? etc?

Also, what happens if it's not enough time and I miss it?

Thanks very much

Carol

Jean

Why go to Barcelona on Vueling?

On BA, you could fly Venice to JFK via Madrid or Venice to Newark via Heathrow. (There may be other options; I just searched a random day in May.) If you miss the connection, the burden is on BA to get you to your final destination.

hetismij2

If you miss it is tough you will have to buy an expensive new ticket, assuming there is space on a flight.
2 hours is not enough imho. You have to collect your luggage and recheck it, even assuming you have already checked yourself in online. You have to go through passport control and security in Barcelona. Boarding for intercontinental flights starts early and generally airline expect you to be at the airport 3 hours before.

Robert2016

The airlines typically require a 2-1/2 to 3 hours for checking in on international flights. When you arrive in Barcelona you normally have to go to the ticket counter in the departuresl to pick up your boarding pass, go through security and passport control, and then find your gate.

If you miss your international flight, you're on your own!

You will go through customs and passport control when you arrive back in the States, not in Barcelona or Venice.

As already noted, why not fly on one ticket.

nytraveler

When you fly on 2 separate tickets the responsibility of making the next flight is yours. If you don;t - for any reason - then you are considered a no show and will have to buy a new ticket, on whatever flight you can find, for a walk up price, which may be very high.

Traveling on 2 different tickets with insufficient time between flights is really just asking for trouble. And yes, for this connection I would want at least 3 hours and probably 4 - since your Vueling flight may well be late.

greg

I presume you already have these tickets? If that is the case, the time to ask these "will I make it" question was before you bought the tickets, not after. Short of traveling only with carry-ons only if you are currently planning to check you luggage, you have little control on time at this point.

It is more productive identify steps right now if there is a foul up so you can execute already known steps to minimize the damage.

What are you going to do if you land in BCN and then find you did not make to your BA flight? What source of fund would you use to pay for the new/modified tickets? What if there is no seat to get up back to EWR on that day - at any cost. Where would you overnight?

What are you going to do if you find out hours before your Venice-BCN flight that you would not make it short of major BA flight departure delay from BCN? Does it make sense to punt BCN and change tickets to fly home from VCE?

What are you going to do if they cancel your morning flight from VCE and rebook you on a later flight? They are allowed to do this if your trip is more than 2 weeks away. Can you take a previous day's flight into BCN?

Many people might think this is too much thinking... until you have to execute a fall back plan quickly. This just happened to me this last month due to an airline $*$&^@#)#% strike.

mjs

I never plan to do what you are planning as a missed flight back to the North America generally means that you need to buy a new ticket for a flight which can be quite expensive, as in >$1000. This especially adds up if more than one person is traveling. I am always in the city of my departure for at least 2 nights unless I am on one ticket. This gives me some time in the city that just one night generally does not and protects me from possible extra expensive travel costs. In Europe this generally means London or Paris for me as I like both cities, there are plenty of things to do and there are many direct flights back. It also means that I am not as worried about the possibility of delayed baggage from my last flight. My last two trips this year were influenced by a Lufthanza strike and a French railroad strike. Flying on one ticket might be more expensive but safe.
You also need to know that your arrival time is touchdown time and there is extra time needed to get to the gate which might be 5-10 minutes or sometimes more.
It also takes time to get off the plane which is dependent on where you are sitting. Economy airlines also often do not have gates with bridges and use a bus to shuttle passengers to the terminal which can add more time to your journey.
If you have checked baggage you than have to wait for your bags. You than need to go to departures and check in for your international flight, go through passport control and security before going to the departure gate. Flights to NA usually start boarding 45 min to an hour before departure. Doors usually close on the aircraft 5-15 min before departure. You go through customs in NA.
Its possible to make this connection especially if you do not check baggage but I think there is a very good chance you will misconnect, especially if your flight to BCN is even a little late which is very possible.

WoinParis

It can work. Or not.
I would advise to take another flight to Barcelona. The day before.
That would wise and safe.

carjul

I want to thank you all for this very valuable feedback. I didn't mention this in my initial post, but I'm getting a round trip from US to Barcelona (BCN) as I'm going on a cruise out of BCN. We're then going to Venice for a few days. I'm going back to BCN because the 1-way tix are either VERY expensive OR have extremely long layovers. I'm trying to keep my cost down. So that is why I'm not flying out of Venice.

I did not buy my ticket yet (Greg), so that is why I'm asking now. I was hoping to make that window as the flight times were ideal, with reasonable layover, and the least expensive (I could actually get a tix for $435 RT). But you've all convinced me that I am taking a big chance and it will be a big expense and alot of things to consider (thanks for that list of those questions Greg!) if i don't make it.

You have convinced me that it is probably better to take a later flight even if i have to sit around the airport for a few hours and pay several hundred dollars more. I'll keep looking. It's just that the one with the 2hr window was just so darn perfect.

Thanks again.

Carol

greg

I see your issue. You are looking at super expensive "1-way tix." These tickets are targeted for those who travel on business using someone else's wallet on legacy airlines.

You need to be looking at "multi-city" option.

Look at the booking engine again. The choices are usually
- Roundtrip
- One-way
- Multi-city

Multi-city option seems to elude those from the U.S. as many U.S. travel tend to be round-trips.

Select "Multi-city" option. See what you get with
EWR-BCN for segment 1
VCE-EWR for segment 2

janisj

Greg is right -- you don't want a one way -- you want open jaw ('multi city') in to Barcelona and home from Venice -- this is NOT two one way tix.

And even IF the Open Jaw costs a little more -- which it probably won't - it will be cheaper and less hassle than trying to get back to BCN to catch an unprotected flight home.