Dakodak

Will I be able to make it through my connections and should I expect my luggage to arrive at the final destination for the following trip booked through AirCanada?

YYZ>YUL (Toronto to Montreal) - AC flight
1hr 10 min layover
YUL>GVA (Montreal to Geneva) - AC flight
50 min layover
GVA>IST (Geneva to Istanbul) - Turkish Airlines (codeshare through AC)

IST>GVA (Istanbul to Geneva) - Turkish Airlines (codeshare through AC)
1hr 10min layover
GVA>ZRH (Geneva to Zurich) - Swiss Airlines (codeshare through AC)
1hr 30min layover
ZRH>YYZ (Zurich to Toronto) - AC

All flights are booked on one itinerary. I called AC and they said I should be able to make all connections but I am worried I won’t have enough time to make it through connections, especially if I need to go through security or if I need to get and re-check baggage.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

obscure2k

Welcome to Flyertalk Dakodak I am moving your post to the AC FORUM
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Sean Douglas

On your outbound trip, I would be more comfortable with a longer lay over in Geneva, 50 minutes is tight and you may have to clear passport control. Your luggage will be checked through to the final destination since they are all Star Alliance, but I would ask when checking in to make sure.

Personally, with that many connections, I would do carry-on if you can.

yyzgigi

Given Air Canada's on time performance, 50miin in GVA is definitely tight, but legal. 40 minutes is the published MCT for Int-Int. As INT-INT non-shengan there should be no need for passport control. Agree with advice on luggage. Hopefully there is another flight later in the day to IST from GVA if things go wrong.

If things looked delayed prior to departure or you are late arriving in YUL you could try to get AC to put you on the TK non-stop from YUL if it's operating that day.

If you're at all concerned about the YUL connection time you can always standby for free in YYZ for an earlier flight.

Stranger

Real question should be, are there later flights that would work out in case a connection gets missed. 50 minutes at GVA would be OK as long as the AC flight s on time. Which might not be terribly likely. But then if there is a lter continuing flight, what's the real problem?

Let the airlines sweat this out. If they sold it to you, it's for them to handle issues.

Transpacificflyer

Of the past 12 flights, 6 have been delayed by more than an hour, 2 flights delayed by 10 minutes, 4 have been on time.
The sirline measures its ontime as of landing. It does not include taxiing or the wait at the gate. It can take 10-20 miunutes until you can get off an AC flight from landing. I would look at this as a 30 minute connection. 50% of the time it's a missed, 17% of the time you will be stressed and running and will most likely have a very tight connection. My takeaway is, to forgo the option.

Air Canada is awful when it comes OTP. Act accordingly because the airline isn't necessarily going to take care of you.

StuMcIlwain

If airlines are willing to book a 50-minute (or 40-minute) connection at GVA, then they have convinced themselves that they can transfer people and bags between aircraft in that amount of time. You should not be concerned about it.

AC's on-time performance is what will likely cause a problem. So far, AC's YUL-GVA flight has been on time only 50% of the time in July, with delays of several hours being common. AC422, which you are presumably also booked on YYZ-YUL, has an even worse record: it has only been on time 5 times so far this month, although it may be possible to get on another YYZ-YUL flight if there is one operating and there is space available (you can't count on either of these). These stats are based on flightradar24, and they consider a flight on time if it touches down within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time, which is generous because then the plane has to taxi to the gate. The point is AC is very unreliable right now.

AC is unlikely to change anything for you for free unless a connection gets below the minimum connection time.

Other than not booking the itinerary in the first place,
this is the best advice. There are later flights on TK between GVA and IST, and there are other ways to get you from YUL to IST if you miss the transatlantic flight. Worrying about it isn't going to change anything. It's AC's problem to get you to IST.

If you fly the actual booked itinerary then you won't need to recheck luggage. However, it's a bit hit-and-miss what happens to your bags when you are rerouted. Carry-on only is best if possible; if not, make sure you have a few days of clothes, etc., in your carry-on.

Aliquot

This is not right. Scheduled arrival times and ontime calculations are based on arrival at the gate. The airlines don't expect passangers to try to calculate how long the taxi to the gate will take.

OliP16

Transferred through Geneva in December last year. 50 minutes would have been ok if it wasn't so confusing on how to get where we needed. A small side door that could easily be missed (We missed it and had to walk a good way back). There was also only one security lane so if it was any busier then it would have been a problem. This was moving from EU to the international terminal

sadiqhassan

Recently flew to GVA on UA on a 2 hour delayed flight. Several passengers had connections that were 25-45 minutes (both Shengen and non Shengen) We were met at the plane door by staff to expedite their connections. Not sure if this would happen for the AC flight also.

Anish

Bumping up this thread, does this connection seem doable in YUL on one ticket?

EWR-YUL - UA 3630 19:54-21:42
YUL-CDG - AC870 - 22:25-10:20

canadiancow

I was going to say "there's no way MCT is that low", but apparently it is 40 minutes for AC/UA from US to AC international.

Boarding will have started by the time you land, but ITI formalities in most Canadian airports are pretty simple these days.

You're not going to have lounge time. You're not going to get to board with your zone (unless you're zone 5 or 6). But if you have no mobility issues, and the inbound is on time, you'll be fine.

billdokes

You better hope the flight ex-EWR is on-time...I would be very leery of expecting that to be the case, better hope there is no weather or ATC restrictions that day...EWR in the evening can be ripe for long taxis and serious congestion. On the plus side, it looks like the schedule is well padded with a planned sched time 12 mins longer than AC on the route.