tannurr

This January I'm headed to Italy to study, and I will be transferring through Copenhagen. I wasn't thinking when I booked my tickets about having to potentially recheck luggage at the airport. Now I'm worried that I won't have enough time as IcelandAir and AlItalia don't have any agreements in place. My layover is an hour and 20 minutes long; will it be possible to go through security and recheck my bag in this short time? Or will I have to rebook?

Thanks in advance for any insight!

stut

Welcome to Flyertalk, tannurr!

That's way too tight for comfort for me!

Can you do it? Well, if you can do it anywhere, it's at CPH. It's an intra-Schengen flight from KEF, so you could be landside a few minutes after landing, depending on your gate.

Outbound security is generally pretty swift - I've only ever seen it take more than 5 minutes in Summer peaks. So you could potentially do it, but it would be extremely tight.

However... Is your booking on one ticket, or did you buy multiple tickets for KEF-CPH and CPH-Italy?

If you're delayed, even by 30 minutes, you won't make the connection. If your booking is on one ticket, then if you miss the connection, you'll be automatically rebooked. If it isn't, well... Then you could find yourself buying an expensive, new onward flight to Italy.

tannurr

Thanks for the info, Stut!

I had to book my tickets separately, unfortunately. I'm coming from Western Canada, and given my time period that I have to get to Rome, none of the other major lines had flights that really worked (that weren't 20+ hours long).

I should have thought this through a little more before purchasing my tickets I guess. Live and learn!

stut

In that case, if you're unable to rebook, you could consider looking for a later flight to Italy (somewhere like dohop.com) - even from Malmo if need be - as an insurance policy.

Peregrine415

It's going to be tight especially since it takes a long time for checked bags to arrived at the belts in CPH. If you cannot rebook, you should look at Norwegian or Easy Jet for direct flights to Rome. Buying OW tickets on these airlines may come out cheaper than paying to change your reservation (for example, it cost $73 on Norwegian to fly from CPH to FCO--if you book it now). In any case prepare to spend overnight in CPH since most of the direct Rome flights leave in the morning or early afternoon.

aufmatt

Alternatively, you could ship your luggage separately, and carry hand luggage only on your flights.
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gnaget

I guess my earlier comment did not go through. I concur with this comment. Baggage at CPH is bad with long delays. This is what is going to cause problems. If Alitalia's baggage check cutoff is 30 min then you might just make it. I would not count on getting your bag in CPH less than 30 min from arriving at the gate and it could take longer.

Also, Alitalia will have unfriendly and useless contract staff (Servisair typically) at CPH.

I would also reconfirm about interlining. Call both airlines and make sure that you speak to intelligent people. It seems odd that Icelandiar and Alitalia do not interline.

Actually, SAS also has cheap one way flights especially if you book way ahead in time.

gnaget

Then it would be very simple. No immigration or security at CPH. Just walk over to the other gate.

JimInOhio

Quick question... is CPH Terminals 2 and 3 a single security zone? We have a short connection from TK (arriving T2) to SK (departing T3) of 50 minutes. Thanks.

gnaget

Yes, there is no T2 or T3 airside; the only utility of this is where you check in. There are piers like A, B and C airside. You will arrive in C as non-Schengen.

However, because you are coming from an "unclean" country (clean is EU and the US) then you will go through security. If you are going on SK to a Schengen country then there is also passport control and longish walk over to the B gates (probably).

If you are continuing to a non-Schengen country then your flight will be from the C gates where you arrive from IST. You go downstairs and make a U-turn back to the gates.

If you are continuing to Stockholm, for example, where there are flights on the hour then no problem. I have done this type of connection with 15-20 min to spare, including security, due to late arrival.

However, if you are connecting to the US or somewhere with only a daily flight then I would be concerned. TK might not be that reliable for on time arrivals. Check the history on flightaware.com.

I have flown IST-CPH-NRT and I decided on a long layover.

JimInOhio

Yes, we're coming in from IST on TK (T2?) @ 11:30. History suggests early to maybe a few minutes late but no significant delays that I've seen in a quick scan.

Departure is on SK to IAD which I think is T3 (?) @ 12:20.

We're in C both flights so that should help with the timing. Did I understand correctly... coming in from IST requires a security screening to get to departures? Do you know if CPH has a dedicated security line for transfer passengers?

Lastly, the SK flight to ORD is three hours later which would be just fine from our end (IAD is not our final). If by chance we miss our flight, any guess on the following:

SAS would have two C seats to ORD?
They would put us on that flight (we're on UA award tickets, by the way)? I assume UA won't hassle us on getting to our final (CLE) if we end up at O'Hare.

Thanks again!

jjakobv84

Given that you're on a single ticket your transfer is guaranteed so they should put you on the ORD flight assuming free seats.

I think 50min will be enough to make it, but if you can I would consider asking UA to change the award ticket to the ORD flight so it's not something to worry about. Not to mention, CPH is a pretty nice airport so could be a good spot to get some lunch and shopping done...

gnaget

Like I said before, there is no T2 or T3 when you arrive. Your arrival and departure will be from the same pier, namely C. You will be segregated because of the "unclean" arrival and walk down the corridor on an upper level. Toward the end you turn right and go through security if you do not want to exit to Copenhagen. Then you go downstairs turn left and basically go back the opposite direction on the lower level. The US bound flights to IAD and EWR will be at the far end probably around gate C40.

You should have no problem if the flight is on time.