I will be travelling in May 2016 and have a short connection time in Brussels from an Air Canada flight (from Montreal landing at 8:35 AM) and will be changing to Brussels Air flight to Paris (departing at 9:25 AM). The transfer time is 55 minutes. Since I realise that I may not make it, I am packing only carry-on and will assume that if I don't make it, I can take the train. My final destination is Dijon. My question to you, the experts on train travel, is what is the best route from the airport to Dijon? Do I have to go through Paris? Is that the only way? How do I go to the Brussels main station from the airport? Or is this all a moot point and will the connection time be long enough? The ticket was obtained from frequent flyer points and is all on one ticket. I am travelling in first class so I hope that I can exit the plane soon after landing.
Posted by
TX
980 posts
55 min should be enough but it really depends on the immigration line. If you end up taking the train it looks like connecting to TGV in Lille is your best option:
http://www.rome2rio.com/s/Brussels/Dijon
DJ
Posted by
PA
2739 posts
Would missing the connection to Paris and then taking the train rather than getting placed on another flight constitute skipping a flight and cause the cancellation of the return ticket? After all, if the connection is missed because there is not enough time, it is on the airline, they sold a legal connection (and that is 50 minutes here, not 55)
Posted by
Seattle
544 posts
If you're in business/first class, if you do check a bag, it will have special priority tags. This means the bags are off the plane first as well. I've had bags delayed, but never when when they have the priority tags. Also they would come out on the belt first when you arrive in Paris, so little to no wait there either.
Posted by
OP
16 posts
I thought that I'd report back now that my trip is complete that 55 minutes was plenty of time to change from non-Shengen terminal to Shengen terminal. I passed through customs (less than one minute) and security (showed the staff that my plane was boarding in 10 minutes and she ushered me to the front of the line). Total time was probably 30-35 minutes to arrive at my gate. Then the plane was delayed by about 20 minutes so it really didn't matter in the end.