San Francisco - Connecting flight at SFO. UA510 to SQ1

Anyone knows if it is possible to connect UA510 to SQ1 at SFO? UA510 from MCO arrives at 20:57. SQ1 departs at 22:50. So the connecting time is 1 h 53 m. I know the min connecting time at SFO is 1 h 45 m. Is this itinerary possible? Can somebody help me.

Hi Biamasser,


Welcome to flyertalk!

This might be better on the United airlines forum.

If you have bags they should be checked through to SQ. ( you may be able to get your SQ boarding pass at MCO checkin)

http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/as_airportmaps.htm

United arrives at T3 and SQ leaves from the G gates at the Intl terminal.

There is a connecting corridor between T3 and G so you do not have to reclear security again at SFO.

Assuming your flight from MCO is on time ( or even slightly late ) you will have plenty of time to connect.

Regards

TBS

I hope those flights are on the same ticket? I'm just not sure if UA can provide a BP for the onward flight. Even though they're on the same ticket, those overseas flights usually require you to check in with the transpacific carrier. Better download a terminal map because SFO is huge and even the checkin counters at the international terminal take up several acres.

Assuming both flights are on the same itinerary and your flights are on time, you will have no issues.

Thanks everybody. The flights are purchased separately on different tickets. That is why I am worried united cannot give me SQ BP and need to check in again at SFO. Any delay would be a disaster.

SFO is a high-delay airport, so this itinerary is risky, especially if you have to collect checked baggage from UA, check it at SQ, and then re-enter security.

Thanks everybody for your help. I'd rather take an earlier UA flight and wait for 12 h at SFO for SQ1 in that case, rather than risking missing it!

12 hours is plenty of time for a quick visit to San Francisco; you can use BART ( http://www.bart.gov ) to get there and back.

I would differ slightly from the above posters, especially if you can avoid checking bags.

In the evening there are fewer delays at SFO, because any weather mostly affects daytime rush hour flights when airport capacity is maxed out. So if you accept the average likelihood of your inbound flight being on time, 1:45 would be enough time.

To walk from the United "normal" gates to international terminal is about 10 minutes. By then you are at check-in. Security at intl is never more than 10 minutes, 15 at most if there is a rush. If you could print your BP in advance you wouldn't even need to leave secured area.

If you have bags then allow 20 more minutes.

I would say it depends on how confident / risk-averse you are, whether you have bags. Although the 2 separate tickets does make it more troublesome in the rare likelihood of severe delays.

Moving this thread to the San Francisco forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
TravelBuzz co-moderator

To walk from the United "normal" gates to international terminal is about 10 minutes. By then you are at check-in. Security at intl is never more than 10 minutes, 15 at most if there is a rush. If you could print your BP in advance you wouldn't even need to leave secured area.


Unless OP leaves the airport, there is no need to re-clear security at SFO. There is an air-side walkway between the United domestic gates and international terminal G.

There is also a chance that the MCO flight arrives at T1 rather than the usual T3. This is a recent change at United at SFO. If this occurs, you can still connect air-side via a shuttle, but I would leave extra time for the shuttle.

Given the state of affairs at United -- namely, frequent delays -- I would NOT schedule a two-hour connection on separate itineraries. If they are a single itinerary, meaning you will be protected in the event of a misconnect, that is fine. If you want to visit the City, then by all means, stay 12 hours.

I would differ slightly from the above posters, especially if you can avoid checking bags.

In the evening there are fewer delays at SFO, because any weather mostly affects daytime rush hour flights when airport capacity is maxed out. So if you accept the average likelihood of your inbound flight being on time, 1:45 would be enough time.

To walk from the United "normal" gates to international terminal is about 10 minutes. By then you are at check-in. Security at intl is never more than 10 minutes, 15 at most if there is a rush. If you could print your BP in advance you wouldn't even need to leave secured area.

If you have bags then allow 20 more minutes.

I would say it depends on how confident / risk-averse you are, whether you have bags. Although the 2 separate tickets does make it more troublesome in the rare likelihood of severe delays.

The bolded part above is incorrect with respect to San Francisco. SFO's delays, when they happen, occur as a result of low clouds or fog closing one of the two active arrival runways. When that happens, morning flights are almost always fine because so many aircraft arrive the night before and overnight at SFO. The delays start to build in the mid-morning, getting worse all day until they peak late in the evening. It's not uncommon for morning departures to go out on time or 30 minutes late, whereas 8 p.m. departures are two hours delayed.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the long-haul overwater flights are often prioritized over the domestic flights, meaning the OP's MCO flight might be delayed by two hours or more, while the SQ flight goes out with little or no delay.

Given the state of affairs at United -- namely, frequent delays -- I would NOT schedule a two-hour connection on separate itineraries. If they are a single itinerary, meaning you will be protected in the event of a misconnect, that is fine. If you want to visit the City, then by all means, stay 12 hours.

Agree that either UA or SFO means a high risk of delay; putting them together means an even higher risk of delay.

Also, even on a single ticket, being protected on a misconnect only means free rebooking on the next available flight. Long overseas flights have relatively low frequency, so that could still mean a day or more delay.