Bulgaria Ski discussion board
one stop flights
Author:louise sheppard
posts : 7 (Beginner)Date : 03-21-12 16:25one stop flights
Hi, just looking at flights for feb next year. Contemplating a stop in Paris, would save us almost £400 for family of four compared to British airways. Never done a stop before, always flown direct. Any advice folks please, is it easy to change, how much time should we allow for getting off one plane and finding the next?!!Thanks
re: one stop flights
Hi Louise,
I am from Ireland and fly to Bulgaria twice a year, normally via Frankfurt Hahn but last Christmas we flew via Paris with Air France. We did have problems getting to Bulgaria due to a delay in our flight leaving Dublin, our connection time was only 50 minutes and we missed the connecting flight. Air France did arrange for another flight to get us to Bulgaria but that's another day's story. Anyway, I think you should allow yourself approximately 1 and a half to two hours because ...
I am from Ireland and fly to Bulgaria twice a year, normally via Frankfurt Hahn but last Christmas we flew via Paris with Air France. We did have problems getting to Bulgaria due to a delay in our flight leaving Dublin, our connection time was only 50 minutes and we missed the connecting flight. Air France did arrange for another flight to get us to Bulgaria but that's another day's story. Anyway, I think you should allow yourself approximately 1 and a half to two hours because ...
Hi Louise,
I am from Ireland and fly to Bulgaria twice a year, normally via Frankfurt Hahn but last Christmas we flew via Paris with Air France. We did have problems getting to Bulgaria due to a delay in our flight leaving Dublin, our connection time was only 50 minutes and we missed the connecting flight. Air France did arrange for another flight to get us to Bulgaria but that's another day's story. Anyway, I think you should allow yourself approximately 1 and a half to two hours because you will have to go through security in Paris. Charles de Gaulle is a big airport and there is a fair bit of walking to get to the next terminal. Hope this helps.
Lorraine.
I am from Ireland and fly to Bulgaria twice a year, normally via Frankfurt Hahn but last Christmas we flew via Paris with Air France. We did have problems getting to Bulgaria due to a delay in our flight leaving Dublin, our connection time was only 50 minutes and we missed the connecting flight. Air France did arrange for another flight to get us to Bulgaria but that's another day's story. Anyway, I think you should allow yourself approximately 1 and a half to two hours because you will have to go through security in Paris. Charles de Gaulle is a big airport and there is a fair bit of walking to get to the next terminal. Hope this helps.
Lorraine.
re: one stop flights
I've not done this for Bulgaria, but have done it for other destinations.
As long as your booking is from A to C which includes a stopover/change of flight at B, your bags are checked in at A all the way to C, then you don't need to worry. All times will be calculated and doable.
Book using expedia or opodo, and it's all sorted for you. One time my daughter had a 20 minute change in Doha, another time I had 25 mins in Budapest. You don't have to go through customs, though you may ...
As long as your booking is from A to C which includes a stopover/change of flight at B, your bags are checked in at A all the way to C, then you don't need to worry. All times will be calculated and doable.
Book using expedia or opodo, and it's all sorted for you. One time my daughter had a 20 minute change in Doha, another time I had 25 mins in Budapest. You don't have to go through customs, though you may ...
I've not done this for Bulgaria, but have done it for other destinations.
As long as your booking is from A to C which includes a stopover/change of flight at B, your bags are checked in at A all the way to C, then you don't need to worry. All times will be calculated and doable.
Book using expedia or opodo, and it's all sorted for you. One time my daughter had a 20 minute change in Doha, another time I had 25 mins in Budapest. You don't have to go through customs, though you may have to go through security. But you are booked all the way through to your final destination, times are considered when you book, and should there be any delays it is the airlines responsibility to get you on to your final destination.
I find using www.opodo.co.uk I get the best flight options, and once you've found them you can always try booking direct with the airline if it's the same one all the way.
Good luck!
As long as your booking is from A to C which includes a stopover/change of flight at B, your bags are checked in at A all the way to C, then you don't need to worry. All times will be calculated and doable.
Book using expedia or opodo, and it's all sorted for you. One time my daughter had a 20 minute change in Doha, another time I had 25 mins in Budapest. You don't have to go through customs, though you may have to go through security. But you are booked all the way through to your final destination, times are considered when you book, and should there be any delays it is the airlines responsibility to get you on to your final destination.
I find using www.opodo.co.uk I get the best flight options, and once you've found them you can always try booking direct with the airline if it's the same one all the way.
Good luck!
re: one stop flights
I've done this once
Eastmidlands to Frankfurt to Sofia.
Planned plenty of time inbetween the change.
Anyway there was a delay on the first flight.... which meant we had to run through the frankfurt airport to get to the gate. Um - the gate closed and we were too late. This meant we had to then catch a flight to Austria and then onto Sofia. An utter nightmare and a huge amount of time (frankly the saving was only £200 per person we will never make that mistake again just not worth it) ...
Eastmidlands to Frankfurt to Sofia.
Planned plenty of time inbetween the change.
Anyway there was a delay on the first flight.... which meant we had to run through the frankfurt airport to get to the gate. Um - the gate closed and we were too late. This meant we had to then catch a flight to Austria and then onto Sofia. An utter nightmare and a huge amount of time (frankly the saving was only £200 per person we will never make that mistake again just not worth it) ...
I've done this once
Eastmidlands to Frankfurt to Sofia.
Planned plenty of time inbetween the change.
Anyway there was a delay on the first flight.... which meant we had to run through the frankfurt airport to get to the gate. Um - the gate closed and we were too late. This meant we had to then catch a flight to Austria and then onto Sofia. An utter nightmare and a huge amount of time (frankly the saving was only £200 per person we will never make that mistake again just not worth it).
When we landed we waited and waited but the luggage never appeared. We then had to wait in a long line of people who had to make the same diversions as we did - 2hours plus - then we found out our luggage was at Frankfurt they had not bothered to put it onto the flight to Austria even though they had 3 hours there....
So this was 5pm Bulgaria time we had left the Uk 9pm or so the night before... we finally got to Bansko about 8pm. We had no clothes (ours stank of BO by this time as they had been on for nearly 48 hours).
We were told that our luggage would catch us up within 36 hours - which it did.
We had to buy tooth brushes tooth paste new underwear etc etc. Annoyingly we were only there in Bansko for 4 days so only had our clothes for the last day and the transfers home.
I would NEVER do this again. It ruined a notable part of our holiday was totally inconvienient.
We couldnt use SPA unless nude - which isn't allowed (Yes I did ask).
So yes you may save £400 - if however there is any delay which you cannot say there will not be it could mean you miss your connecting flight then possibly wait a day or so at another airport or fly via another country if there is a flight. And yep your luggage could go missing eventually turning up sure but no luggage a vastly longer total time from UK to destination is a real turn off.
If you have Kids - this would also be a mega turn off.
You may be lucky or maybe I was very unlucky. ould you risk ruining your holiday for that?
Our holiday was a summer one - if it had been a Skiing holiday then clearly we would have missed many days skiing due to no clothing & delayed arrival time.
I wouldnt risk it at all.
Eastmidlands to Frankfurt to Sofia.
Planned plenty of time inbetween the change.
Anyway there was a delay on the first flight.... which meant we had to run through the frankfurt airport to get to the gate. Um - the gate closed and we were too late. This meant we had to then catch a flight to Austria and then onto Sofia. An utter nightmare and a huge amount of time (frankly the saving was only £200 per person we will never make that mistake again just not worth it).
When we landed we waited and waited but the luggage never appeared. We then had to wait in a long line of people who had to make the same diversions as we did - 2hours plus - then we found out our luggage was at Frankfurt they had not bothered to put it onto the flight to Austria even though they had 3 hours there....
So this was 5pm Bulgaria time we had left the Uk 9pm or so the night before... we finally got to Bansko about 8pm. We had no clothes (ours stank of BO by this time as they had been on for nearly 48 hours).
We were told that our luggage would catch us up within 36 hours - which it did.
We had to buy tooth brushes tooth paste new underwear etc etc. Annoyingly we were only there in Bansko for 4 days so only had our clothes for the last day and the transfers home.
I would NEVER do this again. It ruined a notable part of our holiday was totally inconvienient.
We couldnt use SPA unless nude - which isn't allowed (Yes I did ask).
So yes you may save £400 - if however there is any delay which you cannot say there will not be it could mean you miss your connecting flight then possibly wait a day or so at another airport or fly via another country if there is a flight. And yep your luggage could go missing eventually turning up sure but no luggage a vastly longer total time from UK to destination is a real turn off.
If you have Kids - this would also be a mega turn off.
You may be lucky or maybe I was very unlucky. ould you risk ruining your holiday for that?
Our holiday was a summer one - if it had been a Skiing holiday then clearly we would have missed many days skiing due to no clothing & delayed arrival time.
I wouldnt risk it at all.
re: one stop flights
Well I did Heathrow, Munich and then Munich Sofia. The same on the way back but via Frankfurt. Both booked with Lufthansa and therefore considered connecting flights so the bags didn't need collecting inbetween flights. We were pushing it fine on the way out as we had only 40 mins between flights but Munich pride themselves in a fully automated connection and do it in 30 mins. Any 1st flight was delayed by 10 mins, luckily so was the connecting flight. Anyway all our bags arrived in Sofia on ...
Well I did Heathrow, Munich and then Munich Sofia. The same on the way back but via Frankfurt. Both booked with Lufthansa and therefore considered connecting flights so the bags didn't need collecting inbetween flights. We were pushing it fine on the way out as we had only 40 mins between flights but Munich pride themselves in a fully automated connection and do it in 30 mins. Any 1st flight was delayed by 10 mins, luckily so was the connecting flight. Anyway all our bags arrived in Sofia on the same flight as us. Infact my daughter was on an earlier flight from Heathrow, my friend from Birmingham and another friend from Manchester, all Lufthansa and all on the same connecting flight into Sofia and all our luggage arrived on time. There were no incidents on the way back either. I would however prefer to leave maybe 1hr if possible between flights as I found the 40 min connection too stressful. I would certainly do it again
