yulred

Color me impressed. Almost feeling a bit sheepish for deriding the airline; very impressed that they have a rep on here. Now it would be nice if they could serve a cup of water on intra-EU flights and maybe mprove their customer service phone availability.

Stranger

7 posts. The lady is new to FT. Welcome aboard in any event.

cooleddie

Wow that is great. You guys offer great online presence customer service! AC should follow suit! This post has definitely swayed me over for sure

cedric

IB has 4 daily non-stop BRU-MAD flights. If you miss the SN connection, I can't imagine why you wouldn't be protected on one of those. I've flown through BRU on several occasions, and always found the staff there ready to assist. On one occasion I was flying BRU-MAD and cutting it close - train from Brussels that I was aiming to take was cancelled so I high-tailed it in a cab. No problem getting me on the flight despite the late arrival to the airport. Typically in Europe these types of things are pretty strict; I've been forced to pay a change fee in similar circumstances at other airports. BRU seem to be more in tune with passenger "irrops".

Antonio8069

cooleddie, I have done this cnx. twice - once on the same tix, and a 2nd time on a stand-alone BRU-CDG tix. Here is the problem:
- BRU is your 1st point of entry into the EU. If you travel on an EU passport, you will be fine. If not, it can be a 40 minute wait (NB there are lots of positions available, but few are open. More on this later!
- Your cnx. is in another terminal. You take a hard right turn after immigration (the signs are very poor, so ask at the BRU info desk) and go down two escalators and take a long walk (under the tarmac?) to the next terminal. That is where you find the Brussels Airlines lounge - nice, but no showers!
I agree its cool to hear from the BA rep on this forum. The real problem is with the airport authority. Both times, I wrote to them about the long lines, poor signs, and the absence of an in transit line. Their replies are complete rubbish (PM me if you want to read them!)
The bottom line, I would not advise doing this cnx. on a separate tix.

Ruuud

I find Brussels airport very relaxed and quite enjoy the Lounges and snacks on offer - good croissant and pain au chocolate and friendly service.

PointWeasel

Good show by a Social Media SN staff member! ^

BRU cnx are super easy, except for passport control line which can go from a trickle to a flood in no time. I do recall it being a fairly lengthly walk as well which didn't excite me. As far as BRU being worse than FRA...hardly, IMHO.

You should be fine and MOST SN staff tend to be quite friendly on the ground, especially if you mention Star Alliance to them, etc.

heraclitus

In case someone happens to stumble upon this thread in the future, I thought I'd relay my recent experience.

I had slightly less than two hours to connect from a ORD-BRU flight to one for another EU destination. I was a bit concerned especially given that I had a couple strikes against me, travelling with an infant (diaper changes!) and having checked bags.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Contrary to Antonio's experience, I blasted through the passport control - unlike the interrogations some people get at US customs, these guys seemed to be just making sure you had a passport and not much else. Lots of windows open, short and fast moving lines. No problem.

Being in J I had access to the fast lane for security, but it didn't make a huge difference as the place was not terribly busy. Yes there was a bit of a walk between the two gates but nothing major. Once that was all done there was time to sit down in the somewhat underwhelming SN lounge for a while.

Obviously 50 minutes is a lot tighter but my experience is that things move pretty fast at BRU. Without a kid in tow there are pretty good odds of making a 1 hour cnx.

WhyPayRent

I have an upcoming reservation TXL (Berlin) - BRU - ORD. I arrive at 10:05 AM and depart at 11 AM so 55 minute connection. It appears that I am arriving A and departing B.

Since I am coming from EU Schengen country, I will not have to go through passport control and security again, correct?

Based on what others are saying, 55 minutes is tight but should be doable for an intra-EU flight?

EDIT: In doing additional research, it looks like I will have to go through passport control between A and B. I am towards the front on the TXL-BRU flight and can hustle. Fast Lane may help a bit as well. Any reasons to think this won't work aside from the previous comments that it is tight but do-able?

malmostoso

Incorrect. You will not go through any passport check in Berlin, but you will have to do in in Brussels. The good news is that in Brussels you won't have to go through security, the bad news is that since you're flying to the US terminal B is generally a zoo of epic proportions.

55 minutes for such a connection seems a bit of a stretch to me. BRU is fairly compact, but you have literally zero error margin. If you could take an earlier flight to BRU (even the night before) it would be advisable, IMHO.

MichielR

Even when arriving from "secure" Schengen, Brussels airport will put you through security again.

You will arrive at A. Follow signs to arrivals and to B. Through the tunnel and then up again. Take the left doors to go to B, a few strange turns and you will arrive at passport control and then B security. There is a fast lane there.

As said, it will work if your incoming flight is on time but there will be little margin.

By the way: The elevators are usually a faster way down to the tunnel than the eacalators, if you're pressed for time. Up from the tunnel it makes little difference at the end of the terminal.

WhyPayRent

Thank you both. It looked like that flight was getting in 10-20 minutes late the last few days, so I switched it to the earlier flight for a 2:45 min layover.

I will still move quickly from terminal to terminal and report back how long it takes.

Now to find a good lounge...

WhyPayRent

As an update, I made the transfer (even with getting lost once due to poor signage) well under the 55 minutes including going to the United transfer desk to get my new boarding pass. The earlier flight came into an area where we had to get on buses from the plane and still made it it with plenty of time.

While boarding, I spoke with a few people that did take that later flight from Berlin and they also, obviously, made it.

Of course the flight was on time. If it wasn't, that would have obviously changed things.

DealAddict

Connection time of 1 hr 35 min OK?

Connecting from SN flight (Madrid-Brussels) to SN flight (Brussels - JFK)

malmostoso

Assuming you won't be late and it's all on one ticket, you'll be fine. Don't waste time looking at the shops.