US Airways Dividend Miles - Tight connection at CLT?

http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s430/sh76us/clt.jpg

Should I be worried about a 39 minute connection late in the day? As far as I can tell, there are no flights after 10:15, so if I miss my connection, I'm stuck in CLT for the night.

I once had to run for a connection in CLT and I seem to remember it being a pretty small airport.

Is there any way for me to tell how many concourses I'm going to have to cross since the first is a regional jet with a satellite carrier and the second is a regular US 319?

That is a very short connection.

I usually look at the gate assignments for a few days to see which gate is often used and then check an airport gate map like this one.

http://www.airportterminalmaps.com/charlotte-airport-terminal-map.html

Don't worry. LGA flight will be late. But you should check the time of the last EWR flight as well. And checking a few days before isn't much good -- check gate assignments a few hours before your first flight.

If it were me I'd be worried.

All depends on how significant your schedule is. If you have a "drop dead" meeting at 8:00 AM the next day, this is way too tight.

If you have some flexibility, quit worrying and understand that if you get stuck overnight, you can sit in a hotel room, order room service and relax.

That said, I would do the proactive research on other flights and carriers, particularly *A, to not just LGA, but EWR and JFK and maybe even PHL (90 mins via Amtrak to NYP) so that you've got every flight option written down. In IRROPS, CSR's don't necessarily check every option, but are more likely to acommodate your request if you have the details handy.

Formal minimum connect time from that US RJ to that US mainline is 35 minutes.

I think airlines set Minimum Connecting Times with an assumption of some amount of "breakage". They're not so much a guarantee of making the connection, just an acceptable risk -- to the airline, not necessarily to the customer. The cost of a higher MCT is that their connecting flights will appear less attractive on booking sites.

In the end, the cost to the airline of a missed connection is often quite low, as they can pawn off almost all weather/ATC/volcano/etc related issues (even many flight legs back, and even if their own decisions and scheduling is the real culprit) and take no responsibility other than "graciously" letting you sit in an otherwise empty seat later or the next day. Even if it takes 2-3 days to get out, they have no more responsibility. And when it's a mechanical/crew etc issue, their cost is limited to a negotiated hotel room and a few dollars in meal vouchers.

So you have to decide what's an acceptable risk. I booked a 30min mainline-regional connection in EWR for our family -- knowing that there was a good chance we wouldn't make it. I did so only because it was close enough to our destination, and rental cars were available reasonably cheaply that I had a good backup. And sure enough -- when our overnight mainline flight was looking to be 15-20 minutes delayed, I called to be protected on a later connection -- the next 3 flights were full and all they could do was put us on the 10pm flight (vs 8am originally). Luckily we made it (sprint from EWR C132 to C84x in less than 10 minutes, with a short 6yo no less!), but I was prepared not to.

So the lesson is that a short connection can be fine as long as you're mentally (and possibly financially) prepared to enjoy a night near CLT, no big deal, but as others have said if not getting there that night will stress you out, this is not the flight combination to take.

Well, thanks for the help everyone. Seems like there's nothing later to anywhere near NY from CLT that night. I don't absolutely need to be home that night and I already booked it, so I'll chalk it up to an adventure and see what happens. ;)

If I have to spend the night in CLT, I guess it's not the end of the world. With the # of flights US has to the NYC area in the morning, I'm not too worried about not being able to get out in the morning.

Don't forget to look at PHL, then Amtrak up to NYC.

Don't forget to look at PHL, then Amtrak up to NYC.

US doesn't codeshare with 2V (Amtrak) only UA does so it is unlikely that US will do a re-route onto Amtrak. But, if it is your dime...

I've connected in CLT with 31 minutes from mainline to regional. This was after an AA cancellation and having to get to STL for an emergency. No problems making it, even with a run, plenty of time.

The nice check-in agent at DCA gave me priority broarding to make sure my carry-on would get on and also the bulkhead so first out at CLT.

However, I've also made a 34 min connection after a late inbound with plenty of time as well. I wouldn't worry, just be ready to run and maybe buy seat up front to get out quick.

The nice check-in agent at DCA gave me priority broarding to make sure my carry-on would get on and also the bulkhead so first out at CLT.



This is a good point. If you are worried, I would avoid yellow tagging your bag and just check it in Savannah. If your bag doesn't make it to LGA it can just get sent home with you, but if it takes them extra time to unload the bags you could be out another 10 minutes.

Then again, I wouldn't hesitate to book this itinerary unless there was some reason why I absolutely had to be in New York. I would say 90-95% of the time you will be fine.

Charlotte is a small enough airport that if you walk briskly you can get from the end of the E terminal to anywhere else in the airport in <10-15 min. You also don't have to worry about trams or trains or anything, and it should be pretty empty at that hour.

Speaking of which, I'm looking at flights CLT-EWR that night just in case, and I see this:

http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s430/sh76us/us-ua.jpg

As you no doubt figured out, that's the same flight on the same plane.

I mean, I know airline pricing is a strange science.

But... really?

Gee, I wonder which one I would book.

Barring weather, SAV-CLT arrives early every time. I normally have a 35-40 min connection window after that in CLT. Depending on how quick you move, you will either hear all the boarding announcements or just the most important one: Doors are closing!