I'm deciding whether to bite the bullet and book the following flight details (ticket price of $954.17):

Leaving Washington Dulles September 3, 2009 at 8:50pm
Arriving Madrid at 10:10am (next day)

Leaving Madrid September 4, 2009 at 11:40am
Arriving Athens at 4:10pm

Leaving Athens at 5:50pm
Arriving Chania, Crete at 6:40pm

My concerns and thus my questions are:
1) whether I have enough time to make my connecting flight to Athens at 11:40am; and
2) whether I will have enough time to make my connecting fligt to Crete at 5:50pm

When traveling with connections, I like to give myself at least a 2½ to 3 hr. window for my connections. I fear that I may miss one of these connections with any possible delay.

What do you think?

Thanks
jdc

Since you will be entering the Schengen/EU States in Spain that is where you will be required to go through Passport Control and Customs, which means taking the time to collect your bags for inspection. Assuming your flight to Madrid arrives on time you have 1.5 hours to accomplish all this as well as check in for the flight to Athens. It's risky. I've done it in less time, but it's always a gamble and a scramble. Same risk applies to your flight to Chania, but at least you won't have to do anything in Athens except collect your bags and re-check them for that flight. Assuming you arrive on time that one shouldn't be a problem.

Risky indeed! Two chances for flight delays! If your first flight arrives on time, you have 1hr 30 min in Madrid to go through immigration, collect your bags, clear customs, check in for the next flight, and make your way to the departure gate. If you miss that flight, you will miss the next one to Chania as well.

This is very risky - especially if it's not all on a single ticket. If it is on a single tickets the airline is responsible for getting you (possibly the next day) to your destination. If these are separate tickets and you miss a flight - all bets are off - and you will have to buy a new ticket - if available - at what ever price they offer you. I definitely would insist on a schedule with at least a little wiggle room in Madrid - where you will have to go through Immigration.

Question: Who put this schedule together? Somebody with a huge risk tolerance? And now you are getting cold feet?

Is all this one the same ticket, same airline or alliance partners? Then you can chance it if you are the gambling kind, knowing that they will put you on the next flight to Athens if you get into Madrid too lae for the 11:40 (but kiss the Chania flight goodbye for that day).

If that happens, it is anybody's guess who pays for your overnight stay in Athens - if the airline claims weather as the reason for the delay that got you to Athens late, or if there is a delay between Madrid and Athens and they claim weather, they owe you nothing except a seat on the next available (a-v-a-i-l-a-b-l-e, not necessarily the next) flight.

If you booked all this with separate airlines in the first place, then you are asking for trouble, expensive trouble, because no airline is then obliged to make up for another airline's delays.

Thank you all for your comments.

You touched on all my concerns. It was the best, as far as fare is concerned that I've come up with thus far going to Greece that time of year. All other fares with more wiggle room are well close to $1100.00 and above. This is itinerary is with Iberia airlnes and I guess partnering with Aegean Airlines if booked would be with Flycheapabroad.com.

jdc

I agree with what is being said above. Also, depending what airline you fly into Madrid, you might have separate terminals to deal with.

I thought that (maybe I'm wrong) you did go through passport control but did not have to claim your bags and that these would be checked through the final destination.

Another red flag went up when you wrote "...if booked would be with Flycheapabroad.com...."

That's asking for trouble. You're over there, something's gone wrong, you show up at a check-in counter, hoping for nice treatment, and they say "you didn't book with us, talk to the people who sold you the ticket".

Who do you call then, from Madrid, in the middle of the night in the US? Good luck.

Lots of horror stories have been reported here about those kinds of situations, expedia, travelocity, all those have been found wanting when it is the middle of the night in the US and somebody can't get past the airline's intransigeance.

Book with the airline, even on the phone if it is a tricky itinerary that only an agent can put together - the extra 20 bucks or so will be well spent.

Also, buying all your tickets from an internet airfare consolidator does not in any way mean that the separate flight from Athens to Chania will be covered as a "legal" connection to be honored by Iberia or Aegean if you don't make it. DO NOT "guess" or assume that Iberia has a partnership with Aegean. Contact Aegean and ask for more information regarding missed flights.

http://www.aegeanair.com/contact.aspx

Can you get to JFK on the cheap somehow? Olympic can get you from JFK to Chania for USD363 and back for 413.- (you didn't state your return date so I'm looking at 9-17 picked at random).

Check to see how much it would cost you to get to JFK and back on your own, then
call Olympic - they are in cahoots with numerous alliance partners and quite possibly can get you to JFK on a favorable add-on with any one of those they list on the Olympic website (AA, Continental, Delta, US Airways). It's worth asking.

It is early days yet for late summer, pricing may come down, but if I saw something around the $900 mark I would probably grab it.

Thanks brotherlee and dalaiL. It may be possible to get to JFK, but I must admit it is not my favorite airport. My travel dates are 9/3/09 thru 10/1/09.

jdc

Cruiseluv, maybe I'm the one who's wrong, but when you fly into Schengen, surely you don't go through immigration in one country and customs in another?

Heimdall,

It's been so long that I connected in one airport in Europe on my way toa different country that I just don't remember, so I'm sure you are right.

My only recent experience is having a connection in Paris on my way to Nice and in Madrid on my way to Barcelona or Sevilla. In both those cases my bags were checked through to final destination, I didn't have to claim them in either Paris or Madrid. But I did go through immigration in my initial point of entry.

And I generally fly direct to my Schengen destinations, so cannot be sure either.

I can tell you that I've flown into Germany and France from the States on the way to Athens a few times and had to go through both passport control and customs there, then when I got to Athens all I had to do was collect my bags. There was no customs inspection. In fact the customs agents who were "on duty" looked bored, standing around smoking cigarettes and watching the girls.

<i>Cruiseluv, maybe I'm the one who's wrong, but when you fly into Schengen, surely you don't go through immigration in one country and customs in another?</i>

You are mistaken, because this is exactly what happens. You always clear passport control at your first point of entry into the Schengen area.

If your bags are checked through, you will NOT clear customs in Madrid. You will clear passport control and go through security, but your bag will be sent all the way through. You should clear customs at your final destination.

Personally, if this is all on one ticket, I don't think it is that risky. A 90-minute connection is usually enough time.

I agree, if it's all on one ticket, booked through Iberias website you should not have a problem. We flew Iberia last year to Athens and the airport in Madrid can be easily handled in 1.5 hrs. If you book have to book this itinerary through a third party I'd have some reservations.

Yes - but it's not apparent that these flights are all Iberia and partners. The OP needs to contct the airline and find out what a legal connection is in each cae- otherwise tickets from a consolidator are useless if you miss a flight for ANY reason.

Exactly right. Don't assume.

I actually tried booking through Iberia's website and their fare is much higher with the same itinerary. In any event, as I stated above, I like to have at least a 2½ to 3 hrs. before a connecting flight. I will continue my search and hopefully I will find a flight where there is sufficient time to catch my connection in the event of a delay.

Thanks for your comments.
jdc