antipest

Greetings,

I am off to ICN for the weekend and it appears that HAM is a good place to start from, the Ex-Euro dashboard tells me it is a excellent place for back to backs unless you get a remote stand and bussed to the terminal.

Could the experienced here tell me with a 45 minute turnaround should I get a remote stand is this enough time to get back on the plane I arrived on?

Just on a side note and not wanting to start another CX v BA 'Whats the better business class scrap', I could for the same price Ł1400 go ex BGO-HKG-ICN on CX or BA HAM-LHR-ICN on a 787.

I have never flown the 787 so that would be a first, don't need the tier points as requalified for gold & have 1.4million Avios so have plenty of those. There is Avios availability in J but for Ł900extra it seems a waste of between 165-180k Avios that could be used for reward bookings that I can force.......Any thoughts.

Thank you for your help.

Cymro

None really, except that if you are Avios rich then it might not be such a waste of Avios even at 0.5ppm.

If HAM and the bus gate risk are too great, BGO would be safe.

corporate-wage-slave

BGO (and SVG) are safer than HAM, but HAM is reasonably safe. Even if you did end up on bus - and you weren't too late - it would be do-able if a bit fraught - you would leave the bus by a passport check area, through a short corridor to baggage reclaim, then up the escalators to departures, through security, bit of walking, passports and gate again. Sometimes the bus offloads to another area which takes you up into the main departure hall, in which case there's no problem.

My perception is that in fact the bus risk is greater on the final flight into HAM each day, not on services which go B2B the same day. It's 80 to 90 % airbridge I would say.

Hoch

Blimey, I fly into HAM two to three times a year and I never knew that there was a possibility of having to take a bus. Mind, if what CWS suspects is true, then I would not as I always take late morning or early afternoon flight.

Learn something new everyday!

H

aidanc

Given the short turn around at HAM for the back-to-back flights, those that do a rotation LHR-HAM-LHR, there's a strong likelihood of a gate position. Either B30 or B31 are the typical gates.

Aer Lingus uses the same or nearby gates, and they also have a tight turnaround. I've probably never had/seen EI at an apron position in HAM.

The first/last flight of the day generally does not have an apron position, but does occasionally. On a weekend, the C gates (C5/C6?) are sometimes used if there are building works elsewhere on the apron that affects access to the B3x gates.

Usual terms and conditions apply to B2B connections. If your inbound gets delayed by much, then you might yet be OK back to LHR, but your ICN connection might yet be interesting.

Delays of up to 30 minutes can be mitigated in-flight, assuming Heathrow is not too busy.

If you are unlucky and get an apron position, as c-w-s says, you'll be able to get around the airport quickly enough. You will have to enter and leave the Schengen area - this means off the bus at the building, through passport control, head through baggage claim, out into the public area, upstairs, through security (fast lane!), and back down towards the B3x gates. More passport control and then the gate. Efficiently done, this is 10-12 minutes max. Schengen gates are typically B3x, and there are both bus and jetway gates in this area.

TL;DR - Bus risk low - HAM generally OK

How did you get the cheap fare from HAM? I find that there is a huge surcharge for flights from Germany (in comparison to DUB).

Calum

If the fare is from HAM it will likely be from other DE airports so maybe try DUS.

LondonElite

As a very regular HAM flyer (just cam back yesterday evening), I'd agree with the above. I cannot remember an apron position when flying with BA in probably the last 30 flights there, though I agree that the last flight of the day has probably the greatest risk. B31 is currently the standard gate, and they do like to turn around the aircraft quickly. This is not a problem if you have a gate, but if you are bussed the security queue may be a problem for you, but it very much depends on the time of day. As a Gold, you have access to the Fast Lane but you need to show the lady your BP, as the scanner doesn't recognise your privilege. Even then this Fast Lane can be surprisingly slow. This depends on the time of day/week. Before 8am and between 4pm and 6pm, the fast lane can take 10 minutes or more. There is one particular security chap (he looks like the 'actor' Blake Shields but fatter and balder) who is s real pain and will require you to empty everything from your pockets, including kleenex and lint.

antipest

Thank you all for your input, food for thought. I think I will now take the LHR-HAM-LHR flights the afternoon before, come home and go to LHR the next day for the ICN flight. I only live 20mins from the airport so its no real hassle.

Globaliser

I was recently having a look at options, particularly as between DUS, HAM and TXL. One thing which struck me, from the information already here on FT, is that although both DUS and HAM have a small risk of a bus, the walking circuit at DUS (if you have to do the full landside/airside thing) looks shorter than that at HAM. A few minutes saved could actually be critical if things are going pear-shaped.

Is this impression justified and/or accurate?

In addition, although TXL guarantees you an exit to landside, the walk also appears almost guaranteed to be no more than a few tens of yards to a security point usually dedicated to your onward flight alone.

These details seemed to me to be potentially important as the fares from all three points are usually the same, and CW ex-EU fares book the short-hauls into J so there isn't normally any difference between the three points so far as availability is concerned.

LondonElite

I do believe that DUS would be better than HAM in the event of a bus. With TXL a bus is even more unlikely (but here you would virtually be guaranteed to make it, since you'd have to go back on a bus and the security for that is short.)

corporate-wage-slave

I don't think there is much in it distance wise, and it's not that factor that will deny your return, assuming full mobility. It's security. Now HAM isn't dreadful by any means, in fact TXL is probably the worst one here, but it can be clunky in HAM, and DUS strikes me as the most efficient. Anecdote rather than data however.

I would put DUS above HAM since it's less congested in its pier area, so less likely to bus I would say - and risk is low in both cases. TXL? Well it's a slightly longer flight, but as you indicate it's difficult to see anyone missing a back to back in normal circumstances, not least because if the aircraft is late the lounge tends to keep people back until the aircraft has arrived. It's not as though security can close down before departure.