wilkobrfc

I’ve tried to search the forum for an answer but didn’t find one, so apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.

I’ve been looking at using my Avios on the Sun-Air flights out of Billund, as I’ve seen very good reviews regarding the service. Pairing it with a cheap FR positioning flight, I’ve found a good itinerary for a day trip MAN-GOT-BLL-MAN, with GOT-BLL-MAN on the same BA ticket. The only issue is that it’s a 30 minute connection in BLL. To my mind, this is impossible to achieve, with passport control being required. What would actually happen on the ground with this on the day? Automatic rebooking onto the next routeing back to MAN?

corporate-wage-slave

It would be possible at BLL, it's a medium sized airport, and very efficient. You could email Sun to tel them you are coming in on FR, who have a vastly better reliability than BA. They may wait a few extra minutes if that's on your PNR. I suspect FR will arrive early if the weather is OK. If you really want to preserve the experience then go the night before, there are a few things to do around BLL, a "town" in walking distance of the airport.

wilkobrfc

Apologies, reading my message back, I wasn’t very clear. The MAN-GOT leg is Ryanair, with around 7 hours in GOT. GOT-BLL-MAN is all on Sun-Air (quite possibly the same plane!), with the 30 minute transfer. I’ll drop Sun-Air an email, they must have come across this before many times.

scottishpoet

Can i check

man got on fr then got bll and bll man on ba sun?

Basically a back to back, off the plane and back on it?

you concern is the schengen exit passport check?

SK AAR

I pass through BLL often. It is a really small airport and passport control leaving Schengen is really fast usually (for a Sunair MAN flight there will be no lines unless there is another departing to a non-Schengen destination at the same time). There is also a dedicated connecting flight/transit entrance (before you pass the gates into the luggage area) which I guess will allow you to proceed straight to the departures level (airside) after a security check; but admittedly I have never used it. So 30 min at BLL is def. doable.

cgtechuk

Hi there, I did this exact trip last week.
At GOT (Check in desk 7) you will get Boarding passes for both flights ( I was doing GOT BLL LCY) but the same applies.

During the GOT BLL flight the cabin crew member will have a list of who is connecting on to LCY / MAN and who is ending the trip there in BLL . As you are connecting you will be told that someone will be awaiting for you at the door of the plane on arrival and they escort you through the terminal building and through a few corridors and you will appear at passport control and they will stamp you out of EU / Schengen then they will then escort you to the gate where it will likely already be boarding.

Its a common connection and has a well practiced process. I felt like the guinea pig last week but it was very much a common occurrence so nothing to worry about

Onboard GOT there is no service other than water and some chocolates but its obviously full service from BLL to LCY / MAN and its really really good.

Enjoy the trip and anything else you need to know or I have missed please let me know

Ryanardo_daVinci

I did this a few weeks ago.

It’s the same plane and crew.

I asked the flight attendant about it, and he said “don’t worry, we’ll wait for you”.

Ryan

wilkobrfc

Thanks everyone. Sounds like a really smooth process - just looks concerning at first glance with a connection that short!

cgtechuk

In my case it was not the same crew, the plane I had went to Manchester whereas the one I was going on was to LCY just to make it clear to others who read this thread. I heard this is due to only one of their aircraft being able to land at LCY and has a different setup / config.

But I appreciate there will be times when its the same

flarmip

Yes, it's only OY-NCO that has the speedbrakes required to conduct approaches at LCY. So if you're on any other aircraft from GOT and you're heading to LCY, you're going be swapping planes.