deac83

Today LIM-MIA-DFW.

LIM-MIA delayed by 1 hr arriving at 6:05am instead of 5am. DFW connection at 7am.

Only carry on. Had to fight the Lima staff at check in about not checking my carry on bag (even after they told my my connection would be tight - side note the agent at check in tried to move me to the 8:55am flight -not protect me on it but change flights - but I refused

No pax at immigration (I was the first one there). A couple of pax in customs. 'Luckily' I got selected for the luggage scan. Fortunately nothing for them to dig through, so only a minor delay.

MIA DFW at gate D43. Hit the Admirals club at 6:25 for a clean restroom. At the gate 6:35. Already had announced boarding for all groups.

So in almost the perfect situation it takes about 25 min from door open to a fairly distant gate.

If you are in coach add a min of 15 minutes plus having to wait in immigration.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

I walked off a GIG flight at 4:15AM Tuesday 6/1 seated in 11A, hauled a..s to customs so was the first to arrive, no questions, just a grunt from the officer. Standing in the PA lane at 4:25AM waiting for Security to open at 4:30AM. At the FL by 4:40AM for a shower and breakfast.

dextbr

Hello FTers,

I will be flying ORD-MIA-CNF (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) on AA this Sunday, and I'm a little concerned about my connection in MIA being too tight (80 minutes). I've connected in MIA going to Brazil multiple times, and never missed a flight. But I was checking the ontime ratings for my ORD-MIA flight, and it's not good. Today this flight left ORD over 2 hours after schedule! I checked the weather and it's scattered thunderstorms both in Chicago and Miami. To make matters worse, the flight to CNF operates 4x weekly -- which means I'll have to wait 48 hours to get on the next one, if I miss it. My questions are:

- Will they reroute me via GIG or GRU in Brazil so I could fly the next day?

- If I have to wait 48 hours to catch the same flight, will they put me in a hotel (I *know* airlines don't give anything when delays/missed connections are caused by weather, but could they make an exception given it would be 2 nights in MIA?)

- There is an earlier flight out of ORD on Sunday that would likely solve this problem -- except that AA says on its website that stand-by can only be done for "domestic travel." Despite being part of an international itinerary, would I be able to fly stand-by given that the first flight is domestic?

jammanxc

this is where we ask you the million dollar question: Do you have status with American Airlines? If so, it would greatly help you when you run into IRROPS....even if its due to weather.

videomaker

Delays in the flight today have nothing to do with the on-time performance for Sunday. It's no indicator at all.

AA only allows free standby on domestic segments for those with elite status or premium (such as first-class) passengers.

If you do get delayed because of weather, don't expect AA to pay for your hotel.

dextbr

Unfortunately, no. I'd been flying *A in the past 3 years and only went back to AA because this MIA-CNF direct flight is convenient and lets me avoid GRU hell. I will reach Gold after this trip.

emma dog

Depending on your physical condition (I'm late 30s, average dude), I can make it end-to-end D terminal walking purposefully in 10-15 minutes at MIA. I can do the low E gates to the high D gates in 15 minutes. Unless your plane is 1 hour late and the MIA-CNF flight is on time, I wouldn't be concerned.

MIA T-storms affect all flights, so that's not an issue. I've never had other weather issues in MIA where only some flights are late.

And you can fly "confirmed stand by" ORD-MIA for a fee. Depends on your level of anxiety. Maybe it's worth it for you.

dextbr

I know that. I only used yesterday's flight as an illustration. When I said "on-time ratings," I meant actual ratings based on 57 observations over the previous 2 months (data from flightstats.com). This flight has one of the worst on-time of all ORD-MIA flights on AA.

I didn't realize they had changed their stand-by policy earlier this year -- my bad.

I don't expect anything due to weather, as I already stated in my original post. I was just wondering the likelihood of getting something, given the extreme circumstances of waiting 48 hours for the next flight. You're right, though -- I shouldn't expect anything from AA, or any US carrier for that matter.

dextbr

I have run through that terminal to catch a flight many times. Once I even reached my gate as they were literally closing the door. I shouted "please wait!" -- they held it and let me in

I think I'd be fine even with only 10-15 minutes to connect. My fear is sitting on the tarmac at ORD for more than an hour and knowing I'll be screwed when I get to MIA.

True. I didn't think of that. Hopefully my int'l outbound would be delayed as well.

I might do that. Thank you!

videomaker

The lower your expectations, the less you'll be disappointed when flying.

There are some things I do expect, like a reasonable effort to get me where I'm going on time, employees who are pleasant to deal with and will help with solving problems if they occur. AA payng the bill for a hotel for a weather delay (if it even happens) is not one of those things I would expect.

There have been a few reports here of EXPs getting comped hotels even on weather delays. But that's something I haven't experienced.

cmhua777

One thing that you have probably noticed from flying is that each agent seems to play by their own set of rules. So you never really know what you are going to get, even if you already know the precedent.

Here is what I would say: go to the airport in ORD early and stand-by on an earlier flight if you are concerned about missing your CNF leg. If you do miss your CNF flight, AA will likely route you on a GIG/GRU flight if space is there. If they don't, just find/call a different agent. If you do end up spending the night in MIA because of a weather delay, that is almost certainly going to be on your dime, however.

dextbr

I think I'll just try to get a confirmed seat paying a same-day change fee. Better to spend $50 and get to my destination in time than paying for hotel in Miami, flying through GRU/GIG and getting there one day later.

videomaker

Why would a GA allow this when we've established that dextbr does not qualify for free standby?

The $50 confirmed flight change may be an option, but it depends on availability. If the flight is heavily booked, it might not be available.

Granted, airport GAs and TAs have a lot of discretion--and favors and waivers do happen on occasion. But IME, each AAgent does not "play by their own set of rules." I've found AA to be pretty consistent about this.

mvoight

I agree.. While there are exception, most often depending on status, the rules are fairly standard for this situation. If the OP misses a connection due to weather, AA does not have to provide hotel, meals, etc. Additionally, I opposed the EU rules which seem to indicate airlines need to do this, even for the ash problem. There is a cost to this, and consumers will pay it... I'd rather have the people affected pay it, rather than all air travelers.

Flyer_70

I am sitting here at MGA. The inbound flight 969 was delayed 2.5 hrs for maintentance (got the screenshot from aacargo.com), leaving me a 1 hr connection to my mia -jfk flight. Reading through this thread and others, sounds like MIA can be quite busy on Sunday afternoons. My MGA flight arrives at 7:50 pm - any ideas if customs/security has died down by then? I still plan to put on my track shoes..

Anyhow, I'm going to keep reading the threads - apologies if my question was a bit premature.