Dublin to Cape Town - are 2:15 layovers enough for switching flights?

J-blk

Hi everyone,

I'm traveling to Cape Town in March for the first time ever... I've never been on such a long trip and was wondering if 2 hours, 15 minutes between flights (in Heathrow) are long enough? What happens if a flight is delayed and you end up missing the other one, since one part is operated by Aer Lingus and the other by British Airways? Thanks in advance.

RxQueen

was the ticket booked as a straight through ticket, or did you book a seperate tickt to lhr and then another ticket to cape town?

J-blk

Straight through - ebookers.ie shows it as BA operated flight.

RxQueen

if you booked it straight through , if the EI part of the flight is delayed for some reason , they will book you onto the next abv flight, because it was book as a straight through tkt.

afaik the MCT(min connectin time) advised for most flight in LondonH is an hour an ten minute, so you'll be fine

J-blk

Cool, thanks. Just past experience of getting delayed in Dublin with most short haul flights makes me a bit nervous .

RxQueen

no your covered once its a straight through ticket, and enjoy Cape town !

spurious

J-blk wrote: »

Cool, thanks. Just past experience of getting delayed in Dublin with most short haul flights makes me a bit nervous .

They all factor in delays. They often leave late, but generally arrive close enough to arrival time.

J-blk

Thanks. I'm hoping everything will go smoothly. Some things are different to what I'm used to and I've never used ebookers.ie before either (is it normal to get a single email from them with an airline ticket number and that's enough to check-in for both Aer Lingus and BA? - It seems different to the reservation codes you normally get with the airlines themselves). Does anyone know what the deal with Aer Lingus's baggage charges is when you have booked a connecting flight via sites like ebookers/expedia, etc?

penexpers

J-blk wrote: »

Thanks. I'm hoping everything will go smoothly. Some things are different to what I'm used to and I've never used ebookers.ie before either (is it normal to get a single email from them with an airline ticket number and that's enough to check-in for both Aer Lingus and BA? - It seems different to the reservation codes you normally get with the airlines themselves). Does anyone know what the deal with Aer Lingus's baggage charges is when you have booked a connecting flight via sites like ebookers/expedia, etc?

If it's a BA flight then you don't pay any baggage charges and you are subject to BA's weight limits. I flew with BA from Dublin to Seattle (connecting at Heathrow). The Dublin-Heathrow and Heathrow-Dublin leg was operate by Aer Lingus and I didn't pay any baggage charges despite having 40kg of luggage on the way back.

As for the transfer time, if the flight operates on time then 2hrs 15 is loads of time to transfer. Just look at the transfer guide on the BA site and have an idea of where you are going before you fly.

crisco10

penexpers wrote: »

If it's a BA flight then you don't pay any baggage charges and you are subject to BA's weight limits. I flew with BA from Dublin to Seattle (connecting at Heathrow). The Dublin-Heathrow and Heathrow-Dublin leg was operate by Aer Lingus and I didn't pay any baggage charges despite having 40kg of luggage on the way back.

As for the transfer time, if the flight operates on time then 2hrs 15 is loads of time to transfer. Just look at the transfer guide on the BA site and have an idea of where you are going before you fly.

Defo. Check how far you have to go when you get to LHR.

You should be fine alright. Although you may have to change terminals. I have never flown BA to Cape Town. But any BA flight to J'burg and from Cape Town I have gotten has gone from T3 and Aer Lingus use at T1. So you will have a bit of a "commute" when you land. Could be worse, could be flying Virgin from T4. :eek:

penexpers

crisco10 wrote: »

So you will have a bit of a "commute" when you land. Could be worse, could be flying Virgin from T4. :eek:

Actually T1 -> T4 is pretty easy - you just hop on the Heathrow Connect train. For some reason though T4 -> T1 is done by bus - all very confusing.

J-blk

Thanks. I eventually managed to book flights with a little bit extra "padding" on each side - I have 3:20 on the way out from Dublin and 3:05 on the way back, which should be plenty I think (much more concerned about the outgoing flight TBH).

I'll have to look up the terminals closer to the actual dates, as the terminals info for each flight are not yet available - I've only every been to Heathrow as my destination, not for connections...

crisco10

penexpers wrote: »

Actually T1 -> T4 is pretty easy - you just hop on the Heathrow Connect train. For some reason though T4 -> T1 is done by bus - all very confusing.

Didn't know it was different depending on the direction. I have only done t4 -> t1....