Hi, I’m looking at a flight that starts in Amsterdam on Aer Lingus, stops in Dublin for 2hr. Then Stops in London LHR for 1hr 25min to switch to British Airways for the final leg to Seattle.
Assuming the bags are checked thru from AMS to SEA, will these layovers in DUB and LHR be enough time? Or am I playing with fire, especially in LHR where we will switch airlines?
Thank you.
Go to this website for transfer details at LHR...
http://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections.
You won't go through immigration at LHR but you will have to go through security and change terminals. It will be tight.
There are lots of direct flights between Amsterdam and London. Why would you want to add this detour via Dublin into the mix? It makes no sense if you look at a map. Also it’s an extra opportunity for things to go wrong.
Oh my. I agree with Dutch Traveler...why book a flight itinerary that throws Dublin into the mix even though it's Aer Lingus? Even if I had to pay more, I'd go for a better itinerary than that.
Why head west to Dublin to then head east to London? Drop the Dublin connection as it’s an unnecessary complication or drop London.
One more thought...are you trying to book on Alaska points? IF not, there are direct flights on Delta from Seattle to Amsterdam and back. In May I did the AMS-SEA flight and it was great (had flown open jaw so in to Paris outbound).
Too many ways for this to go wrong. If Aer Lingus changes its schedule it could mess up your whole itinerary. And if the flight from Dublin to London has to circle to wait for a landing slot or gate, your connection time could be reduced to less than an hour.
Another way to look at this; 2+ hours to get to the Amsterdam airport and go through security; a flight of 1h 40 minutes to Dublin, 2 hours on the ground there, then another flight, supposedly 1h 20 minutes. That is over 7 hours to go from Amsterdam to London even if everything is on time. The Eurostar train does it in 4 hours, city center to city center. I would not advise taking the train on the same day as a long haul flight home from London, but if you could overnight in London and fly home the next day it could be a pleasant and relaxing journey.
We are hoping that the air travel issues that challenged travelers this past summer ( long lines, missed flights, lost luggage) will not happen again, but there are no guarantees. I just read in the past day or so that Heathrow and one other airport (maybe Schipohl) are going to limit flights over the Christmas holidays to reduce delays, as they did last summer. That means existing flights could be canceled at short notice.
When is this trip to take place, and are you trying to book one-way?
Pam, that does not look like an Alaska Airlines miles itinerary. With Aer Lingus, Alaska offers Amsterdam—Dublin—Seattle. The interesting thing about that is that for upcoming flights, through December at least, they offer the dreaded “mixed cabin” combo for 60K miles—-but unlike most mixed cabin itineraries, they have the long-haul leg (Dublin to Seattle) in business class. That is quite a change from the usualmAer Lingus offering, which is a whopping 280K miles for business class.
Lola's first post makes the point effectively -- this is an inefficient itinerary with multiple risks. There are nonstops between AMS and SEA, the simplest way to go. Icelandair has a transfer at Reykjavik (KEF), a very easy airport for transfers. Aer Lingus has DUB-SEA nonstops, with US border processing at DUB which saves time later (but won't be possible if your next stop is LHR). Or you could route through various US cities east of Seattle on various airlines, taking longer than a nonstop but probably still more efficient than your AMS-DUB-LHR-SEA scenario. (But if you do that, allow plenty of time at your US arrival airport for border processing before your SEA-bound flight.)
I found DUB pretty chaotic last spring, things may have improved. It has two terminals, and your present plan might involve changing between them, another source of delay and stress. That could also be an issue with LHR.
Thanks Lola! I hadn’t looked at the options as I don’t usually fly Alaska so it was just a random thought.
I am often too cheap for the non-stop flights. I am almost never so cheap as to opt for awkward double connections like this.
This itinerary appears to be one generated by using airline miles or credit card points. Like everyone else, you need to at least dump going through Dublin or LHR. There are appear to be several options.
Go to this website for transfer details at LHR...
http://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections. You won't go through
immigration at LHR but you will have to go through security and change
terminals. It will be tight.
Frank II: thank you.
