Anonymous wrote:Transfer through Dublin. It's a small'ish airport with lots of flights to the continent; you can easily do a 1HR layover there. Plus, I enjoy a fresh Guinness straight from the factory in the morning for breakfast

This. We had no issue with right at an hour in Dublin last summer with Aer Lingus. And if you go through Dublin coming back, you do US customs in Dublin, which was great.

What you need to do is do an internal transfer within the USA. Same airline so your bags transfer. So yes, the recommendations for EWR are right. You have a million choices to get there during the day, grab a dinner, board the red eye, land in Spain, go have fun.

I think it’s fine for Brussels. I wouldn’t do it for LHR or CDG. If you want expert opinions ask at flyertalk

Yes.

An hour is going to be tight. If you are delayed leaving the US, its not likely you will make up time in the air. If you are checking luggage its unlikely it will make to your final destination. We have done it before and JUST made it - but rushing thru an airport, with bags its less than enjoyable.

Transfer through Dublin. It's a small'ish airport with lots of flights to the continent; you can easily do a 1HR layover there. Plus, I enjoy a fresh Guinness straight from the factory in the morning for breakfast

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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)?

Consider DCA-EWR- to any of those cities. They all have nonstops from there. Just leave a long enough layover at Newark...

United has a non-stop to Barcelona starting in March. I agree also with looking at going to EWR for a non-stop from there. Just leave a big cushion of time to get there.

I would not do an hour connection. It may work out, but it may not. Just too much chance to it. I flew to Brussels last March and the flight left over an hour late. You just never know.

How do I find that flight from United? Will it not show up until it’s March? I’ve looked through Expedia and sometimes the Dulles website (I think they use Priceline), because I’m open to multiple airlines. I tried Kiwi, but they only came up with $$$$ options. Expedia definitely does not show a direct to Barcelona (unless it’s $2000/person for economy, which I’m not paying).

Again, look through Google Flights. Choose "non-stop only" and then "Date grid" and you will see what days are available. If you don't see a price it isn't operating that day. Looks like for now it goes to BCN on Wed-Sun (no flights on Mondays or Tuesdays), and back from BCN on Thur-Mon.

Here is an example.

https://www.google.com/travel/flights/booking?tfs=CBwQAhpBEgoyMDI0LTAzLTEwIh8KA0lBRBIKMjAyNC0wMy0xMBoDQkNOKgJVQTIDOTkyKABqBwgBEgNJQURyBwgBEgNCQ04aQRIKMjAyNC0wMy0yNSIfCgNCQ04SCjIwMjQtMDMtMjUaA0lBRCoCVUEyAzk5MSgAagcIARIDQkNOcgcIARIDSUFEQAFIAXABggELCP___________wGYAQE&tfu=CmxDalJJVDJoQmJHMUJRMUZHWXpSQlJUVkZTRUZDUnkwdExTMHRMUzB0TFMxNWJHeHhOVUZCUVVGQlIxaG1ZWEU0VEdWSU5IZEJFZ1ZWUVRrNU1Sb0xDTTd6Q0JBQ0dnTlZVMFE0SEhETzh3Zz0SAggBIgA

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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)?

Consider DCA-EWR- to any of those cities. They all have nonstops from there. Just leave a long enough layover at Newark...

United has a non-stop to Barcelona starting in March. I agree also with looking at going to EWR for a non-stop from there. Just leave a big cushion of time to get there.

I would not do an hour connection. It may work out, but it may not. Just too much chance to it. I flew to Brussels last March and the flight left over an hour late. You just never know.

How do I find that flight from United? Will it not show up until it’s March? I’ve looked through Expedia and sometimes the Dulles website (I think they use Priceline), because I’m open to multiple airlines. I tried Kiwi, but they only came up with $$$$ options. Expedia definitely does not show a direct to Barcelona (unless it’s $2000/person for economy, which I’m not paying).

I never use 3rd party websites to book tickets. I start with Google Flights and go from there. The Barcelona flight is UA 992 outbound and UA 991 return. And yes, non-stop in summer will be pricey. TAP (Portugal) seems to be a little less than United out of Dulles - I might look there.

…tight….

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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)?

Consider DCA-EWR- to any of those cities. They all have nonstops from there. Just leave a long enough layover at Newark...

United has a non-stop to Barcelona starting in March. I agree also with looking at going to EWR for a non-stop from there. Just leave a big cushion of time to get there.

I would not do an hour connection. It may work out, but it may not. Just too much chance to it. I flew to Brussels last March and the flight left over an hour late. You just never know.

How do I find that flight from United? Will it not show up until it’s March? I’ve looked through Expedia and sometimes the Dulles website (I think they use Priceline), because I’m open to multiple airlines. I tried Kiwi, but they only came up with $$$$ options. Expedia definitely does not show a direct to Barcelona (unless it’s $2000/person for economy, which I’m not paying).

It’s right but doable. Brussels is a small airport.

Anonymous wrote:

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)?

Consider DCA-EWR- to any of those cities. They all have nonstops from there. Just leave a long enough layover at Newark...

United has a non-stop to Barcelona starting in March. I agree also with looking at going to EWR for a non-stop from there. Just leave a big cushion of time to get there.

I would not do an hour connection. It may work out, but it may not. Just too much chance to it. I flew to Brussels last March and the flight left over an hour late. You just never know.

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)?

Consider DCA-EWR- to any of those cities. They all have nonstops from there. Just leave a long enough layover at Newark...

If the system is letting you book it and you’re going through an airlines website, I’d do it. If it’s some ticket hack from a 3rd party, I wouldn’t.

The airlines know roughly what the likely scenario is. It doesn’t mean you make your connection because flights are delayed - but if it’s being offered by the airline, it’s likely it will work out. They’re not in the business of creating problems for themselves.

Anonymous wrote:

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).

There are definitely nonstop flights to Madrid and Barcelona from Dulles in June. Maybe not every day of the week. Check Google Flights and select the weekly view and non-stop only as the options. Any day with a price shown means there is a nonstop flight.

As for multi-city, the way to do that is to book the intermediate flight (say, Brussels to Barcelona) separately as a oneway. There are tons of cheap Euro airlines that are under $100/ticket if booked in advance, even including checked bags and seat assignments. Just book the multi-city as two flights, say IAD-BRU, and BCN-IAD. That should price out very similar to just an IAD-BCN roundtrip.