tonka7

I found incredible airfare for a trip this summer on AirCanada flying into and out of Athens, Greece. I planned 14 day trip based around this and will end up in Venice two days before my departure home. I found airfare for the same day from Venice to Athens which I thought was smart (no overnight in a hotel and transfers back and forth from airport) but after I booked, the airline pushed the departure time back 2 hours leaving me only 45 minutes when I land in Athens to make the flight home. The airline I booked with is the only flight that morning and it is not AirCanada. I am in a pickle. Any suggestions on how to handle this without it costing a fortune? Also, do I have cause to cancel that flight if necessary and receive a refund? Will I need extra time in Athens for customs, checking bags etc because of them being different airlines?

thursdaysd

Your only recourse is to cancel the Venice-Athens ticket and re-book. Neither airline is responsible for your problem, and you will need to claim and check any hold luggage in Athens. Since both countries are in Schengen you will not deal with immigration or customs coming into Athens, but you cannot check your bags through from Venice and there will be a passport check on the way out. I suppose that if you are carry on only you have some chance of making the flight in Athens, but I would not want to risk it.

DebitNM

Personally, I do not like to take a risk like landing from one flight on the same day as a trans Atlantic flight home. All sorts of things could happen to delay or prevent me from catching the next flight -- especially on 2 different airlines/tickets.

There should be fairly inexpensive flights on easyjet or similar low cost airlines. I would eat the cost of the Venice-Athens flight and find one a day earlier. Yes, a night at hotel to pay for etc.

Stay at the hotel right at Athens airport. Not cheap but saves having to go in and out of city proper. We stayed at Sofitel which was a bit pricey.

Try using hotwire and select airport location with shuttle service, I see a room for random night in July at $111. [Likely Holiday Inn].

janisj

Expensive lesson. For future reference . . . never book a separate ticket into a departure city the same day as an international flight out. If your flight is delayed or canceled (or as in your case) the schedule is changed you are SOL.

At this point your only recourse is to book a flight to Athens the afternoon/evening prior.

janisj

>>Also, do I have cause to cancel that flight if necessary and receive a refund?<<

It is only a 2 hours time change so probably not, but you can try. (BTW - your original schedule apparently only had 2:45 between flights -- even that was a bad idea)

Southam

Air Canada's site will book you into Athens and home from Venice. If you are flying from Toronto, both flights will be non-stop and the price is actually a little cheaper than what you now have. From Toronto, those flights will be on Air Canada Rouge, the discount subsidiary. It's worth looking at the Rouge site to see its rules and why the flights are considered discount. But it is essential to use the multi-city search function on the AC site; these are not one-way tickets. Even with a penalty for the change it may be worth it, since you will save time and the cost of the flight back to Athens. I ran a test for late August and you are right that the prices are surprisingly reasonable, better than for the same time last year. The Rouge schedule includes a number of Canadian cities if you are not based in Toronto.