US citizen planning trip - arriving 815 AM Saturday Jan 12 on Whizz Air Malta from VCE. Will have to claim baggage and recheck
with Norse Air 1035 AM.to LAX Norse may have a 60 min cut off.
Plan to ticket on Link.com but could purchase separately with 3 airlines if fares are the same.
Many thx in advance!
Rob
What’s the question?
Sorry Claudia - Is anyone had any recent experience with immigations / cutoms at Gatwick and how fast was it ?
Could i normally make it in 1 hr and 15 min to the Norse counter if they have a strict 60 minute cut off.
And should I purchase separate tickets if the fare is the same
Many thx !
Rob
You are not clear on what you are asking. I’m assuming you have only an hour and twenty minutes to get your baggage, recheck, go thru security and get to your gate and that’s if your flight arrives from Venice on time. That doesn’t sound like enough time but I’m sure there’s others on here more familiar with Gatwick.
OK, you just need to make it to the counter. It still will depend on if your flight is on time. It’s sure a lot easier and less stressful when your flights are all on the same ticket.
I would not do that. I took Norse to Miami and it took forever to check in. You cannot check in online. So you are talking about picking up your luggage and getting in what was for me a ridiculous line to checkin. If you do attempt it, make sure you buy the upgrade that allows you a faster line.
I got through passport check quickly at Gatwick (coming on Norse) but did not have luggage to pick up which always seems to be a wild card.
I would arrive the evening before an unconnected international flight. That is what I did when I flew from Sardinia to Gatwick and then home.
Gatwick is a very busy airport with North and South terminals. I don't know which terminals these airlines come in and out of but I would not attempt Gatwick on a separate ticket with a 2-hour connection. My suggestion would be to stay the night before or have about a 6-hour layover to give you lots of buffer room. The last time I was in Gatwick, taking an Easyjet flight to Greece, the terminal was crazy busy. There are also long walks and very high escalators to navigate.
Can you fly to London the day before? This isn’t something I’d risk with separate tickets.
When I came through Gatwick last October, I was through immigration in probably 10 minutes. I then waited nearly an hour for my bag to appear at the baggage claim. I cannot even count the number of times I have had delayed flights coming into the UK.
Norse and Wizz both use the South Terminal, but this sounds a crazy gamble to me.
That's a gamble. Even if everything goes your way at Gatwick, you're also relying on your flight to be on time. I haven't had a flight in the past 2 years that didn't have significant changes to the scheduling. And then in September we landed on time but then sat on the tarmac for 2 hours because of a lighting storm. The ground crews weren't allowed outside until the storm had passed.
No, forget it, too tight, too many variables you cannot control. You really need to be one ticket and not three. Not sure what you are thinking, other than you like taking a lot of risk.
This is a great plan if you want to buy a one-way walkup ticket to LAX from Gatwick on the day of your flight (after you've missed the one you're talking about here. If there even is a second flight to LAX from Gatwick later that day).
Saturday Jan 12
?
Jan 12 2024 is a Friday. Presumably you mean Sat Jan 13. Norse doesn't fly on Friday LGW-LAX
I would not count on weather being your friend.
As Norse flies LGW-LAX only on Sat., Sun and Wed., you could be stuck in London for several days if you miss your booked flight. There may or may not be an available seat on the Sun flight.
If you book the Sat Jan 13 LGW-LAX flight, the Jan 12 VCE-LGW would be the better idea
Many thx for the great advice ! I have a total of 2 hr 20 minutes to connect. I can't come in a day early.
After baggage claim, is there immigration ( which I hear is fast) and then customs ?
And if I'm in line at Norse counter with luggage, before their cutoff will they still enforce their 60 min cutoff
and not allow those in line to check in ?
Meanwhile will check alternatives for sure !
If you are in transit to a country outside the UK and Ireland, you must:
If you are arriving at London Gatwick and are connecting onwards on a separate ticket, you will need to go through immigration. If your hold bags are "through checked" or you’re travelling with hand luggage only, you can then go through security to your connecting flight.
If your hold luggage is not "through checked", you must pass through Passport Control* and then collect your luggage from Baggage Reclaim. Once you have collected your hold luggage, you can then check in to your next flight.*
https://www.gatwickairport.com/flights/flight-connections.html
the gate will close 20 minutes before departure.
https://help.flynorse.com/articles/at-the-airport/boarding-the-aircraft/62668c150c103b24added726
So you have 2 hrs from scheduled landing to deplane, clear UK border control, retrieve your checked bags, get to the Norse check-in desk and drop your bags, clear security and get to where the Norse gate is.
I will let you decide if this is the best option.
OK you are not connecting. connecting is for you’re buying it all from one airline. You have two completely unrelated flights. And you have set yourself up for failure you may get lucky but you have about an 80% chance at this won’t work.
An earlier poster talked about your luggage being through checked. That’s not going to happen because Norse and Whizz air have no relationship. I don’t know where you’re planning to buy this all on one ticket, but I expected some shoddy travel agency because you can’t go onto the website of the airline and book . If you cannot buy it on the website of the airline, it is not one ticket it is somebody who’s piecing together tickets to make you think you’re getting a deal. I’ve never heard of link.com but I expect it’s an agency that most of us would tell you not to book with.
Because Britain is not part of the EU you will have to go through immigration. You will then have to go to baggage claim assume this is going to take an hour you might get lucky and it won’t take less time but assume it’s going to take an hour
That gives you 90 minutes if you’re lucky to get to Norris and check in you say they have an hour check up. 30 minutes. check in means you’ve given them the luggage not you’re in line to give them the luggage. you’ve got 30 minutes and a big airport. Not sure where the third carrier comes into this
When you do not get to your second airline on time because your first airline was late, they are going to tell you too bad so sad and you will be buying a full fare ticket home. All your savings that you came up with doing this great deal will probably be gone.
Carol - Many thx ! I have a tight budget but you're right - the walk up ticket would obliterate the money I saved ! The itin and price was perfect but back to LINK.com
for alternatives - Much appreciated !
You should buy directly from airlines not resellers. I use goggle flights to search and then buy from airlines.
You could get this to work just by coming in evening before.
Link.com is a payment website. Nothing to do with travel.
This is not spam and is totally legitimate. A little bit of googling shows that this is linkairways.com- an Australian based flight reseller.
Still not at all the kind of agency who would be recommended to use, but a legitimate question.
The CAA have rated Wizz Air the worst airline for punctuality again in 2023, a title they have held since 2018.
https://www.itv.com/news/2023-04-09/worst-airlines-for-flight-delays-revealed
Even putting that aside, this connection is incredibly risky and has very high chance of failure indeed, as there are so many pinch points where it go could wrong and will need all the stars to align to have it work. Take the risk out of the situation and over night somewhere near Gatwick and get the Norse flight the following day.
I am just looking at Premier Inn, and they have their Gatwick A23 Airport Way property available for £58.50 on the night of Friday January 12- it is a 3 minute walk from the North Terminal (use the free inter terminal shuttle from South) or there is a chargeable shuttle bus from both Terminals, or for £95 there is their property at the North Terminal.
So the advice, if it suits your budget, is to book direct with Wizz on the Friday, overnight at Gatwick, then book direct with Norse for the flight to LAX on Saturday 13 January.
There may well be other routeings available, but if this combo matches your budget then this method of booking seems to be a wise way to book the trip.
There are even cheaper PI's close to LGW for that night, but those two are the most practicable.
BlockquoteThis is not spam and is totally legitimate. A little bit of googling shows that this is linkairways.com- an Australian based flight reseller.
Go over to Tripadvisor and do some research. All of these shoddy agents are resellers. You won’t believe how many people have problems with these “ legitimate” resellers. Do not use them. Just because you found them doing Google does not mean it’s trustworthy.
Carol, What was meant was that a previous post (now amended) suggested that this thread was spam due to a mis-understanding about what the website link.com was. Quote both posts in context and I was clearly suggesting that the OP did not use this company, but book direct with the relevant airlines
My apologies - I meant Kiwi.com not link.com. I've found them to have the best fares by far. My entire itin is
LAX HYD LAX - for $1100 - granted multiple stops and up to 50 hr journey. I'll try to rework itin and come in
night before as suggested. Many thx !
Do not use kiwi.com! If you have an issue with the airlines, you deal with kiwi not the airline. Use google flights to find your best flight, but then book with the airline directly.
BEFORE you go any further...go to Trip Advisor Air Travel forum and read thread after thread regarding issues with Kiwi.com. Here is a search for Kiwi.com I started for you.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/SearchForums?ff=10702&geo=1&scope=2&q=kiwi.com&pid=34633&s=D
There is even a thread about particularly not using Kiwi.com for Norse flights!
If it sounds too good to be true you are probably setting yourself up to get screwed....
You may want to peruse the 'comment' and 'complaints' here---
https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/miami/profile/travel-agency/kiwicom-inc-0633-90562676
LAX-HYD-LAX 50 hrs multiple stops with multiple tickets is an engraved invitation for one or more failures en-route and huge expense. In the end the ~$2k ticket with Qatar Air or Emirates on a 20-24 hr trip each way ( and only one stop) will seem cheap, vs a 50 hr one way trip hopscotching the globe on separate tickets.
OH MY! As we say in the south "out of the frying pan and into the fire" You have managed to find the WORST of the worst when it comes to ticket floggers! They LOVE selling tickets like this but will not do ANYTHING when this house of cards falls apart!
Go read the posts linked above on trip advisor. It's actually pretty rare to find anyone with good things to say about this nightmare agency! RUN! RUN! RUN!!!!! This will wind up costing you a lot more than you "think" you are saving!
Unless you want a Noel Philips style adventure, avoid Kiwi, they also have a wretched reputation and close to zero CS. They aptly share their name with a flightless bird, which a lot of their customers end up replicating.
Norse and Wizz Air are budget airlines anyway and their best prices will be direct on their respective websites, no 3rd party will better going direct to an LCC.
With multiple self connects you will need to make sure you have the correct documentation to enter the respective countries, as each airline will see your transit point as a final destination. Depending on where you are routed you may well need visas or other paperwork and if you don't, you could easily end up stranded due to being denied boarding.
great advise laughting spam fritter - thx ! the worst county it seems to transit through is KSA - many of the cheap Wizz Air flights connect you through RUH India bound. and their transit visa is impossible to understand if it is even possible without flying the two Saudi Airlines - btw Carol - Norse Air emailed me that they will allow you to check in if you're in a long line at their counter
If your Flight arrives at 8:15, then you are likely leaving VCE very early anyway - have you factored in getting to the airport from Venice for maybe 5am? (Water taxis are very expensive although there is one bus that will get you there in time, and that leaves at 4:20).
You can currently get an Easyjet flight from Venice on the Friday evening for £22. I'd strongly suggest looking at that and booking the hotel room mentioned earlier to ensure you are going to make your flight.
Thx Tim - Now considering a HYD MCT AUH FCO ORY LAX return - 4-5 hour layovers on each stop and avoiding Saudia Arabia and their insane transit visa policy on non Saudi Airlines :) I don't believe as a US citizen, I'll need transit visa at MCT or AUH but maybe someone could correct me if I'm wrong. Omar Air into MCT and Whiz air out. Then Wizz air separate tickets to AUH and to FCO and to ORY
Will you be flying that straight thru? Not staying overnight someplace? I count 4 stops so 4x4.5 or 18 hours between flights and add flying time. Sounds brutal to me.
To translate that to plain English as I don't know every IATA airport code-
Hyderabad to Muscat to Abu Dhabi to Rome to Paris to Los Angeles, on 5 separate non connecting tickets, of which legs 2 to 4 are on an airline with a very poor record for punctuality.
Wow, that is a Phileas Fogg style adventure. You must be saving a huge amount of money to make that expedition worthwhile. Bearing in mind that you could do a one stop with Qatar for £700, or on Singapore for £620. Flag carriers, with ticketed connections, in about 22 to 24 hours.
It appears Emirates, Qatar, Singapore and BA all offer one stop service HYD-LAX.
I fail to grasp the idea of making 4 stops.
Wizz Air have a horrific record of keeping to time table and cancellations in and ex AUH. Also when are you flying? AUH is currently transferring all of their operations from T1, T2 & T3 to the new Midfield terminal and as one would expect there are a number of teething issues that are resulting in delays.
You may find this useful, flying around the World in 80 hours only using LCCs:
Thx for the AUH tip ! And Jan 13 SQ would be $1300 - I'll check Emirates etc but surely more than I'm getting - around $700 . Tight budget unfortunately. Nothing under 4 hrs in self transfer time
If I was rolling the dice with quite so many connections, I would make sure that also had a basic travel insurance policy.
Rob I wish you well and look forward to your 'after action' report in January.
Thx for advice Lynn / and Rocket no overnights /
MCT AUH FCO ORY are all with Wizz Air - don't think they'll do a through ticket however. But should protect me if one leg is cancelled I would think ? My ORY LAX is $360 non stop. Thx everyone
MCT AUH FCO ORY are all with Wizz Air - don't think they'll do a
through ticket however. But should protect me if one leg is cancelled
I would think ?
I'd closely read the terms and conditions for your flights on Wizz Air, but I'm guessing if you have multiple separate un-linked tickets, the only "protection" (if any, per terms and conditions) would be for the one flight that is canceled, not subsequent flights. Best of luck to you, this isn't something I would choose, but I agree with Joe, please do post after your trip so we can learn how it went.
"Wizz Air - don't think they'll do a through ticket however. But should protect me if one leg is cancelled I would think ? "
There is no thinking about it, Wizz Air are an low cost point to point carrier, in fact I believe they fall into the category of an ultra low cost carrier. You have bought or are going to buy a succession of single unconnected flights on an airline renown for poor punctuality, if you miss one flight due to a delay or cancellation, the rest of your itinerary collapses like a pack of cards and you will need to buy new ticket(s) at the prevailing walk up prices to get to your destination, there is no protection. Therefore a protected connection on a legacy airline with a single PNR may look a bargain in comparison in that situation.
Easy Jet have a partnership with DoHop, which is to all intents and purposes is a bolt on insurance package with a fixer CS call centre, that those self connecting can purchase. Wizz Air were looking at this, but from memory they never went through with it - you may want to check if they offer this or something similar. That aside DoHop receives very mixed reviews in the event it is called upon.
Good luck if you go through with this, you may need it.
Many thx Laughing Spam - Yes - I would like to have a through ticket on Wizz for protection in your scenario but think it's separate tickets. The only reason I'd consider it is the long layovers at every self transfer - 4-6 hours . Wonder what they'd do for me about a cancellation. I remember researching the Wizz on time and cancellations b/c of all their bad press, and it seemed minimal. However
I did read a post about an AUH cancellation which jives with what you;ve warned me about, making me more nervous :)
They do offer insurance but cost will add up as well as bag fees ( 3 legs ) b/c I have to check a bag. I'll do math tmrw
thx again!
"I would like to have a through ticket on Wizz for protection in your scenario but think it's separate tickets."
Again there is no think about, it will be separate unconnected tickets.
Until recently I lived in Abu Dhabi and used AUH regularly and prior to that used it frequently as a transit point. A quick glance at the arrival and departure boards when passing through tells me how poor Wizz Air are for cancellations and keeping to time table, not the media although I have I have read various media articles on their poor performance. That is without the issues of moving operations to the new Midfield terminal. That said, I however suspect AUH will be the least of your problems.
"Wonder what they'd do for me about a cancellation."
Read their T&Cs.
You will get the option of a refund or to rebook the cancelled fight for a later one, but for that flight only, they are not responsible for any consequential loss being a point to point airline. For the other flights you simply become a no show and your ticket(s) cancelled with no redress.
You appear to be determined to go through with this and therefore there is nothing more really to be said, other than I wish the best of British and yes do report back.
If you're going to take insurance, which you should on such an itinerary it should be your own independent insurance, not an airlines. We know from other posts that insurance in the US is far more expensive than in the UK, but my annual policy also gives lounge access, for any class and any carrier in the event of a delay, and would cover me about missing my final TA flight if Wizz let you down.
Reading Rob's hopeful plans to do his trip on a tight budget brought to mind Wile E Coyote's quest to catch Road Runner.
The plan always looks clever and promising of success, until it goes into action and then........................
A 'go fund me' campaign to raise $700-$800 to add to the OP's current budget ( and buy a "sane" ticket) looks more likely to succeed than the proposed "HYD MCT AUH FCO ORY LAX"
Again, wishing you good luck
Good luck and let us know how it turns out. I’m hoping you’re not minding up spending more than you saved
