1 hour layover in European airport - too short?

[Anonymous]

I’m looking at flights to some European cities with no direct flights from DC. I’m getting a big mix of 18 hour layover in Casablanca or 1 hour 8 minutes in Brussels.

If Belgium (for example) is not my destination country), do I need to go through immigration or customs? If not, will my luggage even be transferred in time? That layover seems very tight to me.

[Anonymous]

We had a 45 minute layover in Frankfurt over the Christmas holiday. I was SUPER stressed about it but it was all ok. Yes, you will have to go through immigration (but not customs) in Brussels if you are coming from the US and going to an EU country. You will also have to do it on the way back, which makes no sense, but that's how it works.

[Anonymous]

Yep, you need to go through immigration. I wouldn't do it. I've missed connections twice with a 90 minute connection (both because of late departures from IAD), with bad cascading effects on my trips. (Limited availability on other flights, arriving at destination after rental car counter closes, missing a train connection and facing sold out trains). Also, if this is for summer, be extra careful - everything is going to be booked to the HILT this year with the Olympics.

[Anonymous]

Are you going back to the US or somewhere else in Europe? If going back to the US, you might not miss your flight but there is a huge chance you will. If going somewhere else in Europe 100% you will miss your flight because you'll have to go through immigration.

[Anonymous]

What is your final destination?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your final destination?

Like if you are flying Brussels to Paris, and you miss your flight to Paris but there are 5 more flights on that airline the same day, then cut it close. If you are flying somewhere where they won't fly again to until then next day then avoid that connection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your final destination?

This PP here.

It matters. If the country is in the Schengen zone, you won’t have to clear customs and immigration.

I’d make sure you have a carry on with everything you need though. That connection is tight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your final destination?

This PP here.

It matters. If the country is in the Schengen zone, you won’t have to clear customs and immigration.

I’d make sure you have a carry on with everything you need though. That connection is tight.

To be clear- you will have to clear passport control in Brussels, that does often take time and is an additional line to be considered. Your checked bags though will go to your final destination (unlike in the US where you have to collect checked bags at your first US arrival point, and then recheck them). When you arrive at your final destination you get your checked bags and go through customs, which for 99% of people isn't anything, you walk through the green door marked "nothing to declare" and the odds of a customs agent stopping you are pretty much zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a 45 minute layover in Frankfurt over the Christmas holiday. I was SUPER stressed about it but it was all ok. Yes, you will have to go through immigration (but not customs) in Brussels if you are coming from the US and going to an EU country. You will also have to do it on the way back, which makes no sense, but that's how it works.

They do the exit passport control so that the airports in the Schengen area can have fully separated Schengen/non-Schengen parts of the airport. That way they can allow connections without entering the country, say DC-Paris-India. You stay in the non-Schengen part of the airport and never enter France. In order to do that structure though they have to clear everyone who enters the non-Schengen part of the airport. That's also why you can check bags all the way to final destination and not have to pick them up and re-check them like you do in the US.

[Anonymous]

Need more info. An hour is tight. I’ve made it before and I’ve missed some and this is always with carry on only. As a PP said depends on your intl flight from the US leaving on time or not.

Depends as well if there is another flight a few hours later, if you miss your connection.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I’m considering Madrid, Barcelona, or Naples, Italy as a final destination. Madrid, primarily because the Barcelona flights frustrate me, and we could see the city for a couple of days before taking the train to Barcelona.

Possible layovers include Lisbon, Dublin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich.

How long should the layover be to feel reasonably confident (I know nothing is perfect when traveling)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I’m considering Madrid, Barcelona, or Naples, Italy as a final destination. Madrid, primarily because the Barcelona flights frustrate me, and we could see the city for a couple of days before taking the train to Barcelona.

Possible layovers include Lisbon, Dublin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich.

How long should the layover be to feel reasonably confident (I know nothing is perfect when traveling)?

I would avoid Frankfurt. It's HUGE and so frustrating. If there is any way to avoid only an hour layever at any others that is ideal, but the smaller the airport the better the chances. Maybe go through Munich because they'll have other flights to Madrid as long as it's not late in the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Need more info. An hour is tight. I’ve made it before and I’ve missed some and this is always with carry on only. As a PP said depends on your intl flight from the US leaving on time or not.

Depends as well if there is another flight a few hours later, if you miss your connection.

I’m looking at June, and some flights are (I assume) sold out. It is hard to find lots of information about flight options, like how many flights/day for a given carrier between two European cities. Keeping our options open for final destination helps manage prices and shitty logistics, but I feel like my brain is going to break.

I’m also experimenting with multi-city flights, where we would do some sort of triangle with three separate flight trips (like, fly to Brussels, spend a few days, then fly to the final destination, then fly home). Way more expensive that way (like maybe extra $700/person).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Need more info. An hour is tight. I’ve made it before and I’ve missed some and this is always with carry on only. As a PP said depends on your intl flight from the US leaving on time or not.

Depends as well if there is another flight a few hours later, if you miss your connection.

Meh. Not necessarily something to panic over. In my experience, they can usually make up this time in the air on a transatlantic flight.

[Anonymous]

I actually love long layovers in places I havent been, so if you havent been to Casablanca I'd 100% take an 18h layover there and go exploring.