Iwan2go

Hi. Not sure exactly how to phrase that one...

My brother's looking to fly from San Diego to Brussels in June. US Air has flight departing SAN at 111:32am, with a layover of 1 hr 5 minutes in Philadelphia. I am clueless as to the PHL airport...can someone tell me if this is too tight a connection?

I'm trying to find a flight as short as possible.

Thanks!

mlaffitte

I think 1 hr 5 minutes is awfully tight, given the rampant flight delays nowadays. Just a question ... did you know that if you book on Air France and any of its partners (KLM, Delta, Northwest), you could fly to Paris and then connect right at the airport to a high-speed train that will get you Brussels in 1 hour and 20 minutes? Doing it this way you would have far more flights to choose from, and your travel time wouldn't be much longer because the train will take you right to the center of Brussels.

Iwan2go

Thanks mlafitte, I was thinking that might be too close. There is anther one on American which has a longer layover at JFK (2 hours), but it leaves at 7:45 am and arrives in Brussels at 8:00 am.

I will suggest the flight into Paris to him as well. (He's actually looking at Bruges as the final destination, which was the reason I was thinking of flying to Brussels. But I was looking on the Rail Europe site, and there's a train from the CDG airport to Brussels, then on to Bruges. Just wondering about the jet lag, after such a long flight, then two trains...)

rkkwan

The only "later" flight into BRU is that USAirways flight from PHL. All other airlines require you to depart SAN by around 8am.

Train from CDG isn't bad. Take a nap on the Thalys to Brussels, and then connect to Brugge. Most connections take 3 hours or less. You can depart from SAN on various airlines around 11am.

AMS also very doable. Hourly train from Schiphol to Antwerp and then connect. Total time to Brugge 3:21.

You can depart SAN as late as 12:30p on CO, with a 1:30 connection at IAH, arriving AMS 11:50a, etc...

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All connections will have about the same flight time. "Trying to find a flights as short as possible" means shortening the connection time, and risking mis-connection. You can't have it both ways.

j_999_9

If everything went on time, you might be able to make the connection in PHL, but that aiport is notorious for delayed landings and waits for gates. Find an alternative.

ira

Hi lw,

I wouldn't be happy with only 65 min connection anywhere, especially PHL.