Customs/Immigration Question for flight to BCN

[will work to cruise]

We are looking at flights for our June 2012 Med cruise out of Barcelona. We are leaving from Denver and our choices, so far, are stop overs in an east coast airport and on to Barcelona or flights that stop over in Toronto, Heathrow or Frankfurt. The ones that stop over outside the US are cheaper than the ones stopping in the states. My question is, if we change planes in one of the European airports prior to Barcelona will we have to clear customs/immigration there or when we arrive in Barcelona. Just trying to figure in layover times just in case we need to clear customs in Europe before we arrive in Barcelona. We still have plenty of time to book, but I'm researching early.

 

Thanks for any and all help,

 

Mike

[hkto]

Toronto - yes & then again in Barcelona, Heathrow - probably not & in Barcelona, Frankfurt - yes & not in Barcelona. I am not a fan of Heathrow transfers; had bad experience there. London Gatwick is somewhat better.

[will work to cruise]

Toronto - yes, Heathrow - probably not, Frankfurt - yes

 

Thanks for the quick reply. How long of a layover should we look at if we stop in Toronto?

[hkto]

1 to 2 hrs is fine. The only scheduled airline that goes from Denver to Toronto and then to Barcelona directly is Air Canada; others are charters. Presently AC has only 1 flight to BCN leaving @ 5:50pm & arriving 7:30am next day. If you buy a ticket with them they'll pick the right connection, London & Frankfurt got more frequent flights.

[ab0si]

If you go through FRA, you will do immigration there but won't have to worry about our luggage until you arrive in Barcelona. The flight is scheduled to arrive at 11:35 a.m. or something like that. The connecting flight leaves at 1:20 pm. If you miss that one there are 3 more Lufthansa flights latter that day.

 

FRA is a large airport, but is well signposted (in German and English).

[slidergirl]

Whether or not you go through 2 sets of Immigration and Customs control is dependent on which country you are using for the transit point. In Europe, if you land at a Schengen country and are transiting to another Schengen country, you only go through the process at the first airport - after that, it's like going between States in the US. Germany and Spain are Schengen countries, but Great Britain is not. So, if you go via LHR, you'll be clearing twice. If you go via FRA, you clear once. Actually, you really don't do Customs. You go through Passport control. You don't pick up your baggage until you reach your final Schengen country.

[4774Papa]

I would avoid Heathrow like the plague.

[quercus alba]

I would try to manage it so that you only have to do this once also--e.g Frankfurt, Amsterdam, or Paris, instead of a Canadian or British airport.

We had a bad experience with a transfer in Montreal on our way home that kind of took the luster off of an otherwise perfect vacation.

[wcook]

I flew USA -> Toronto -> BCN for my cruise this summer. Very easy. Your luggage is checked through. You have to make a stop at Canadian immigration as you transfer between planes... but even with a long line it only added 10 minutes. Given the far distances you can walk in the Toronto airport, and the early boarding times for big international flights, I would want 90 minutes transfer time, but that's adding some margin. Assuming your flights are on time, it should be doable in less.

 

You do still have to go through Spanish customs and immigration at BCN. But I can honestly say that was the quickest and easiest border crossing I've ever done in my life.

 

Coming back from Spain, you clear US customs and immigration in Canada. That's a bit more cumbersome, as they want to see your luggage. I'd want 2 hours minimum coming back.

 

Note that if you are flying Air Canada to BCN, this year they were using their non-upgraded jets for those routes. So no power plug or seatback entertainment.

[baggal]

I don't think you mentioned it in your original post, but it is very important that if you are planning to book a flight with a stop in either the U.S. or Europe, you should (must!) fly into Barcelona the day before your cruise begins!

 

We just had the misfortune of flying Lufthansa from Newark to Frankfurt and then on to Barcelona. We booked through RCI Choice Air which makes this story even more infuriating. The first leg of our flight from Newark was delayed 3 hours. So before we were even in the air, we knew we were going to miss our connecting flight to Barcelona. Upon arrival in Frankfurt, Lufthansa had already booked us on a flight through Milan that would get us into Barcelona at 7 p.m. - two hours after the ship left. We raced through the airport to the reticketing desk in an attempt to get on the next non-stop plane to Barcelona. Luckily, we made the plane and arrived in Barcelona at 3:15 p.m. We had no idea if our luggage had come with to Barcelona. Long story shortened: we arrived at the RCI check-in at 4:15 p.m. - 15 minutes later and we would have been out of luck to make the ship.

 

We learned our lesson the hard way. You have enough time to shop around for flights and a reasonably priced hotel in Barcelona.

 

P.S. RCI Choice Air gave us no help in trying to get to Barcelona on time. I would never book with them again unless I could save a lot of money.

[hkto]

For people who have the extra day flying the day before is not a bad idea. Apart from better probability of not missing the ship it also gives a chance to catch up on sleep & start functioning on European time next day.

 

For flights arriving to BCN very early in the AM (like AC from Toronto) probability of missing 5pm sailing is quite low unless there is massive disruption in air travel (weather, volcanic ash, etc). The only bad weather in Toronto in June are thunderstorms. I had 1 hr delays two years in a row in June due to lighting. Also check with your CC provider for trip cancellation/interruption insurance. Mine has it. I've never had to claim yet but the coverage is up to $500 pp for extra expense in case of missed connections.

[cruiseluv]

Agree 100% with baggal's advice. We fly out of Newark all the time. In the summer months it is not unusual to get rolling thunderstorms late in the afternoon and evening flights get disrupted. I think it is very risky to fly the same day of the cruise , specially if the cruise leaves in the afternoon rather than late at night.

[Langley Cruisers]

I would avoid Heathrow like the plague.

 

Sometimes you have no choice but to go through Heathrow. We did last month and everything was wonderful. We did not encounter any problems, signage was great, food plentiful, changed terminals with absolutely no trouble, we have no complaints. I absolutely understand it can be a nightmare, but we had a good experience in transit both ways.

[hkto]

My experience in Heathrow was very bad. First time BA flight delayed for 3 hrs on a bright sunny day (explanation: it was too hot for planes to fly). It wasn't. Second time BA plane broke; another 3 hr delay. Airport is too busy; every small disruption is causing major rolling delays. This winter they had 4 inches of snow and airport was shut down. Frankfurt worked fine.

[6rugrats]

I don't think you mentioned it in your original post, but it is very important that if you are planning to book a flight with a stop in either the U.S. or Europe, you should (must!) fly into Barcelona the day before your cruise begins!

 

We just had the misfortune of flying Lufthansa from Newark to Frankfurt and then on to Barcelona. We booked through RCI Choice Air which makes this story even more infuriating. The first leg of our flight from Newark was delayed 3 hours. So before we were even in the air, we knew we were going to miss our connecting flight to Barcelona. Upon arrival in Frankfurt, Lufthansa had already booked us on a flight through Milan that would get us into Barcelona at 7 p.m. - two hours after the ship left. We raced through the airport to the reticketing desk in an attempt to get on the next non-stop plane to Barcelona. Luckily, we made the plane and arrived in Barcelona at 3:15 p.m. We had no idea if our luggage had come with to Barcelona. Long story shortened: we arrived at the RCI check-in at 4:15 p.m. - 15 minutes later and we would have been out of luck to make the ship.

 

We learned our lesson the hard way. You have enough time to shop around for flights and a reasonably priced hotel in Barcelona.

 

P.S. RCI Choice Air gave us no help in trying to get to Barcelona on time. I would never book with them again unless I could save a lot of money.

 

Your comments are very interesting, especially in light of the thread linked below, which is a discussion about how great Choice Air is. Your experience seems in directly contradiction to some of it, especially the care they state you will receive from Choice Air. It would be interesting if you posted your experience, and see what the representatives for Choice Air have to say about it.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1453874

[baggal]

Your comments are very interesting, especially in light of the thread linked below, which is a discussion about how great Choice Air is. Your experience seems in directly contradiction to some of it, especially the care they state you will receive from Choice Air. It would be interesting if you posted your experience, and see what the representatives for Choice Air have to say about it.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1453874

 

More information: we called Choice Air several times from Newark while we waited in line for 3.5 hours to check in to our Lufthansa flight. All they could say to us was "tell someone on the ground that you have to make a cruise in Barcelona." The huge problem was that Lufthansa was completely overwhelmed and understaffed: 3 jumbo jets scheduled to depart with a total of nearly 1,000 passengers and only 4 people at the check-in counter. Not a supervisor in sight! We called Choice Air from Frankfurt as well and was told the same thing. I didn't need Choice Air to do that. We solved the problem ourselves thanks to a concerned Lufthansa employee who put us in the handicapped seats on an otherwise full plane. At the same time my daughter in NYC was on the phone with someone from RCI Customer Service who did in fact notify the ship and the Barcelona port agent. They knew we were on the way but I couldn't imagine that they would hold the ship for us. Finally on arriving in Barcelona we were met by a WONDERFUL RCI representative at baggage claim who helped us (exhausted and anxious) get our luggage and into a cab. We got to the ship's check-in at 4:15 p.m. They were waiting for us.

 

As I said, we learned our lesson. If you must fly in the same day, do it at least on a non-stop. Otherwise, flying in the day before is the way to go.

 

I'll now cut and paste, along with the letter I sent to Lufthansa customer service (its been a week and haven't received a response from them yet) to the Choice Air thread and see what they say. Thanks.

[6rugrats]

Thank you baggal. Supposedly, there will be a new Choice Air thread on the Air forum sometime this week. I would be really interested in any comments about what happened to you. I am glad it eventually worked out!

[Desert Cruizers]

We have our flights booked from Calif home Airport, Connect in Phoenix, AZ, then Phil, and arriving in Barcelona at 8:35 AM the following morning. We have a 2 hour layover in Phil

[CruisinGerman]

Greetings from Madrid.

 

If you fly to Frankfurt, you will clear Passport control in Frankfurt, but your luggage will be checked through to Barcelona. Once you clear passport control in Frankfurt, you are admitted into the Schengen area which makes all flights to other Schengen destinations technically domestic flights. Therefore, you will arrive in Barcelona, pick up your luggage and merely exit the airport.

 

The UK is not part of the Schengen area, so that will not apply if you use Heathrow. If you use Heathrow, you will clear passport control in Heathrow, and then again in Barcelona, although your luggage will be checked through to Barcelona as with Frankfurt.

 

Do not use a U.S. connecting point. The reason is if you use a U.S. connecting point on your flight home you will have to clear passports, claim your luggage, clear customs at the first point of entry into the U.S., then re-check your luggage before proceeding to your connecting flight. That is a pain in the neck in my opinion.

 

If you use Frankfurt, your luggage will be checked through to your final destination in the U.S., you will go through exit passport control in Frankfurt, and then immigration, luggage and customs at your final destination in the U.S.

 

Enjoy your trip -- even though it is not until next year.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta