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Shrinking connection times in Montreal

Posted by (Ottawa, Canada) on

I booked the flights for our family's first big European adventure a few weeks ago - nonstop from Ottawa to London, and then Paris - Montreal - Ottawa on the way home.

In the last two days I've received two notifications from Air Canada that the Montreal - Ottawa leg was changing. The first reduced connection time from two hours to 90 minutes, and the second one reduced the connection time to 75 minutes. This seems to me, a somewhat inexperienced international air traveler who will be hauling three kids in tow, to be cutting things a little close. There are a few later flights that day from Montreal to Ottawa, and it's the home leg of the journey, so I'm not overly concerned, but I did book those particular flights with the intention of a decent buffer to make the connecting flight.

So my question is - how short is too short for connections on the homeward leg of an overseas flight? There are two other flights listed on this particular day to get us back home, but who knows how full they might be for travel in July. Any thoughts?

Posted by
7054 posts

If you can find a more convenient itinerary online (using the same airline and dates), I would not hesitate to call them and say you would prefer not to have such a tight connection and ask them to accommodate you using your alternative itinerary (likely a later flight from Montreal so that you have at least 2 hours before your last leg).

Posted by
4088 posts

Just to add to your worries, on your return you can expect to go through the immigration procedures in Montreal (your bags should be checked through to Ottawa but I can't say that for certain first-hand.) And yes, that's a tight connection at all but the smallest airports (Trudeau airport rates as mid-sized in my eyes). Since AC commutes between Montreal and Ottawa every couple of hours, you might be willing to bet on the original flight. But if you want to be certain of keeping the kids together, ask AC to rebook your trip with a later connection, knowing you might have to entertain three tired travellers for an extra two hours. I expect I am telling you things you already know. I can say that you might be insistent about AC making the change at no charge; I have found them to be co-operative when a schedule change is considered major. Also, print out the schedule for that Montreal-Ottawa run or store it on a smart phone in case you need to refer to it in an airport chaos. Maybe wait until closer to the day to do that.

Posted by
5431 posts

Since you'll be arriving in Montreal on an international flight, you'll have to go thru both border control and customs. I don't think there's any way that this would end well with only 75 minutes. I think you need to call Air Canada now and have the flight to Ottawa changed to a later time. They should do this without charge, since it's the result if their changing the flight times.

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