Reason077

I have an upcoming Cathay Pacific itinerary starting in ARN, with the first flight to LHR on BA781.

I'm currently in London and looking at booking BA780 LHR-ARN to do a same-aircraft turnaround.

I'm confident there won't be an issue with this as long as I'm checked in for the CX itinerary. But what if online check-in doesn't work for some reason? Will I have any issues checking in airside at ARN? Can BA check me in for the ARN-LHR flight at LHR? Are there any other potential problems with this plan?

Thanks!

orbitmic

ARN is reasonably good for B2B but by no means perfect. When you arrive, you have to ring and wait for someone to come and open to you/put you through transfer security. It is usually quite fast (about 5-10 minutes) but I have had occasions when it was a bit longer than that (say 15 minutes) as the staff is limited.

There is 100% chance of contact gate, which is good, but the biggest risk in my view is what happens if your plane arrives late and BA effectively starts the boarding almost right away making people queue in the corridor ahead of time to be able to board as soon as passengers have disembarked. Or indeed, what if you can't OLCI. BA are usually able to print same day BPs from another airport at LHR but I have in previous threads mentioned cases when for reasons nobody understood (including the F wing staff) it wouldn't work.

On the whole, I'd say that you are 90%+ safe and it would take serious bad luck/stars alignment for you to miss your departure but again, this is not a foolproof model either. In the area, both CPH (ideally) and HEL (to an extent) would be safer for B2B.

Reason077

Thanks @orbitmic! In the end, nerves got the better of me and I booked the earlier flight to spend a few hours in the lounge at ARN. I did not see any obvious transfer security nor any signs for transfers - the only route at Terminal 2 seems to lead to immigration and baggage claim. is there some trick to finding it?

Of course I need not have worried, my flight arrived early and I would have easily made it back onto the earlier return flight with plenty of time to spare. Immigration was ~2 minutes and the only delay was around 10 minutes in the line for security.

orbitmic

When you arrive you go up to follow directions for arrivals and you’ll see a sign on your right for international arrivals pointing to a close glass door with a button to ring and message which is a bit Alice in wonderland style. You ring (once) and wait for people while the rest of the plane keeps walking behind you wondering what on earth you are waiting for! Glad you made your flight!

jdsworld

I flew MEL-SIN-ARN on SQ last year, then SAS ARN-LHR on a separate ticket. As SQ and SAS are both Star Alliance, my bags were checked through all the way from MEL to LHR (which is why is used SAS as opposed to BA for the ARN-LHR leg.)

Anyway, on arrival at ARN, I got to the glass door and rang the bell to enter the T5 non-Schengen departures area. I waited and waited, and when a police officer passed by me I asked how long more I'd be waiting, she just said to keep waiting and someone would be along. After about ten minutes, I gave up and said I'd just clear immigration, go landside and reclear security (I had some time, and had fast track security with my SAS ticket) as I wasn't sure if anyone was going to arrive. When I cleared immigration, I then saw another sign for transit passengers. I followed it, cleared a security checkpoint, then found myself in the departures lounge of T5. I had to clear passport control again to enter the non-Schengen area but it was all pretty quick, and probably faster than the ten minutes I spent waiting.

So it's good to know this, as it may be just as swift to follow that path to T5 departures.