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jpsartre

dickydonkin wrote: »

So it isn't really 'foolproof' or 'risk free' which is enough for me not to consider attempting it - but I think I already knew that.

No connection on separate tickets is 100% risk free, that's just the nature of the beast. It's not risk free to fly the day before either. But some connections are more risky than others and B2B under the right circumstances carries a relatively low risk of anything going wrong.

dickydonkin wrote: »

Incidentally, wouldn't everyone arriving into the EU departure point from the UK have to go landside anyway - making the risk of being held up in security or immigration unavoidable?

No, at some airports you don't even need to clear immigration (again, CPH is an example). You just walk off and walk back on again.

Murphy_The_Cat

phatbear wrote: »

Consider this the airport i work at yesterday cancelled their one outbound and inbound barcelona flight so if you intended to fly from barcelona onto for example thailand then you would miss your connection and the airline who were going to take you from barcelona and back again would have no responsibility to get you on another flight.

Thank you for posting this.
I've just amended my flight plans to I'll take my positioning flight Dublin in the afternoon, with a later flight as a fall back, (& alternative routes/airports available if it all still goes wrong)

SW17

dickydonkin wrote: »

So it isn't really 'foolproof' or 'risk free' which is enough for me not to consider attempting it - but I think I already knew that.

Incidentally, wouldn't everyone arriving into the EU departure point from the UK have to go landside anyway - making the risk of being held up in security or immigration unavoidable?

No, nothing is 100% risk free, just as booking a positioning flight 3 flights before the last one on the previous day would not be 100% risk free (major weather issues, strikes etc causing the positioning flight and others that day to be cancelled).

B2B only works when not checking bags (though see below) and you should choose your airport carefully, one where arriving and departing passengers are not segregated. For example, AMS, CPH, SVG are pretty reliable, DUB can be a piece of cake at some gates, more stressful at others since you'd have to loop back through immigration and security (I've had both scenarios). You are right that you would not be protected if you missed the flight by getting stuck in security, hence avoiding such airports (DUB is doable, but can get hairy).

Other airports are no-nos and there is always the possibility of a bus gate to liven things up. BTW, conformance doesn't exist at most airports outside the UK.

There is a way to do it if you have checked bags. You do the B2B the day before the long haul. For example if you have CPH-LHR-JFK planned and you want to travel to JFK on Monday, you do the LHR-CPH-LHR back to back with no luggage on Sunday, then check your bags the next day and fly to JFK as if you were starting from LHR.

All that said, it doesn't sound like back to backs are for you given your risk-aversion but they do save time and can also be used at the end of the trip (hand luggage only) for the positioning flight home. Much less risk if you miss that.