Short transfer; almost missed the connecting flight, again

[fh2000]

Well, we purchased the flights through the travel agency as a packaged deal: flying to Europe and get on a bus for a 2-week tour, then fly back home.

This happened to us twice now that we got pulled for a detail check for our carry-on, and backpacks. One time in Dublin and the 2nd time in Amsterdam just few days ago.

The agents took their sweet time to examine all small packages inside our bags including the dirty laundry while DW was nervously watching the time ticking by and stomping her feet.

In Dublin, they finished with just 5 minutes to spare. We ran to the gate and the plane has just closed the door. We had to beg the ground crew to open the door again for us.

In Amsterdam, we had 10 minutes left and were the last ones to board.

We will have to be very careful for future bookings and make sure the connecting time is at least 2 hours. But, not sure what their criteria is for people with carry-on, and backpacks. What are the red flags on those? Size? Color? Our nervous expression?

 

[OldShooter]

DW and I would consider 2 hours to be a slightly tight connection on an international flight and would avoid it if possible.

 

[brett]

We also consider 2 hrs tight for a connection. Start by deducting the time needed to deplane ,then time needed to potentially go through security again if required, and the time to get to the next gate. Let alone any late arrival time.

Our experience with carry on is that there are two different standards. The majors and NA carriers have a much more generous carry on policy and seldom appear to enforce even that. The downside is that it takes much longer to board and deplane because of this. So transferring with carry on from a carrier with loose, unenforced rules may cause issues if getting on a carrier that has stricter carry on rules and enforces them.

The regionals and a few others in Europe, Asia, etc have a very different carry on regs, often referred to as international carry on size. Smaller dimentions. It is what we now travel with no matter where we are flying.

Many also have a weight restriction on that carry on. Often between 7-8KG. Some airlines include handbags in that weight. Last time checking in at Hong Kong, the airline HK Airlines weighed my spouses carry on and her handbag together.

We have been stopped and checked numerous times. In Brisbane, our carry was weighed a second time at the boarding area. The clerk had a scale and a portable credit card terminal.

The airline folks appear to us to focus on those carry on bags that appear to be eitherr oversize or 'bulging'.

Just our experience.

 

[Gremlin]

I consider two hours the minimum connection time for domestic flights, and would choose longer for international.

 

[brett]

The strangest carry on commotion that we ever witnessed was on a 6AM Lufthansa flight from Venice to Frankurt. Two ladies ahead of us each had a paper or plastic store shopping bag with glassware wrapped in it as carry on.

They were told no, it was not going carry on. A manager came, same story. A second Lufthansa manager came. Same story. They were told it had to be checked or they could Fedex it.

Last thing we heard was one of the ladies claiming that the store clerk who sold her the glassware assured her that it could go carry on. Lufthansa was not budging and rightly so.

Not certain what happened. They did not appear to be on our flight. Perhaps they were attempting to board a different flight.

 

[Sunset]

The strangest carry on commotion that we ever witnessed was on a 6AM Lufthansa flight from Venice to Frankurt. Two ladies ahead of us each had a paper or plastic store shopping bag with glassware wrapped in it as carry on.

They were told no, it was not going carry on. A manager came, same story. A second Lufthansa manager came. Same story. They were told it had to be checked or they could Fedex it.

Last thing we heard was one of the ladies claiming that the store clerk who sold her the glassware assured her that it could go carry on. Lufthansa was not budging and rightly so.

Not certain what happened. They did not appear to be on our flight. Perhaps they were attempting to board a different flight.

I was on a cruise ship and they had a "special" on booze, it was 4 bottles for a great price.
The sales person lied to me and said Customs would allow it no problem.
I didn't buy the story and didn't buy the booze, later checked and no it could cost extra to bring in that much.
Some sales folks lie to make a sale

 

[Sunset]

Amsterdam was tricky.

We flew in, and walked around marveling at all the weird stores and such, taking out sweet time. Then as we get to the area to catch our "in Europe" second flight, we see to our horror a lineup.

We had to go through Customs , and we actually jumped the line as time was short. They even had a staff person calling out to people who needed to catch a flight to come to the front of the line.

Now I know to give lots of time and plan ahead about the Customs thing..

 

[Souschef]

I was on a cruise ship and they had a "special" on booze, it was 4 bottles for a great price.
The sales person lied to me and said Customs would allow it no problem.
I didn't buy the story and didn't buy the booze, later checked and no it could cost extra to bring in that much.
Some sales folks lie to make a sale

It is not a big deal. I had 5 liters of booze, and went down to the customs officer on board. The duty is about $2.30 per bottle, and if the duty is under $10 they waive it. Two liters were duty free, so the total was way under $10.


I also sympathize with fh. We had a connection in Heathrow and there was only one flight a day to Moscow. We had to so through inspection again, a "jobsworth" inspector insisted on taking everything out of my backpack. We were the only ones there, so she had nothing better to do.

 

[brett]

We had the misfortune of changing planes in London Heathrow when our second plane was at another terminal.

Normally this would not be a biggie but it was clear to us as soon as we entered the other terminal that there was some sort of security alert. Suits running all over the place....huge line up and very, very slow process to clear security.

No preference was provided to those with tight flight sched. Some people did in fact miss their flights to NA. Not certain why airlines did not delay some international flights for a 30 minutes or so. Lots of unhappy folks.

We made our flight home just as the plane doors were closing. Last to board. Another five minutes and we would have missed it. Plane left on sched. One reason why we do our best to avoid changing planes in LHR.