slutide

Greetings,

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide. I didn't know the appropriate forum for this question (DL? WN?) but I thought there plenty of knowledge on this forum.

I had a trip planned from DCA to HOU on Southwest on Sept. 15. Upon discovering that DL was running a 747-400 between DTW and SEA, I'm exploring taking a bit of a detour to fly on this disappearing legendary aircraft.

The preliminary plan is to on Sept. 15th fly DL DCA-DTW-SEA and then WN from SEA to HOU. The DL 747 gets into SEA at 10:15 AM and the flight to Hobby leaves at 2:40 PM. This gives me about 4.5 hours on the ground. Having never been to SEA I have a few questions for those in the know:

1. Is this even a good idea? Or could too many things go wrong as to render it not worth it?

2. Assuming there are no issues, 4.5 hours on the ground in SEA should be plenty of time to exit the airport and turn around to check a bag on WN and reclear security, correct?

3. My main concern is that should something happen in DTW (cancellation, involuntary denied boarding, ect) DL will only be concerned with getting me to SEA, while my ultimate destination for the day is HOU.

If anyone has any advice I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

KDCAflyer

Your connection time is fine, but there's always a danger of things going wrong when connecting to another carrier on a different reservation. You have to be prepared to buy a walkup fare to get to HOU in a worst case scenario, but I don't think you'll have a problem.

synergistic

Arranging your own 'interline' is always a bad idea. Like, always - you're totally right, DL will have zero obligation to get you to Houston. That said, sometimes the risks are worth it - in your case, I'd give it a go in a heartbeat. Delta is reliable enough that I would consider the risk of a misconnect to be minimal. 4.5 hours is a lot of time, I've taken more risk (much shorter connect time) for less benefit (747, lucky dog!) I'd honestly be more concerned that they'd sub in a different aircraft than them running so late that you wouldn't be able to reclaim and reclear.

Good luck if you decide to do it!

jrl767

on a good day in Seattle you could accomplish that (disembark from a DL 744 with 360 other pax, take the train from the South Satellite to the main terminal, collect your bag, and go upstairs to check in with WN) in under an hour, so the likelihood of making it in 4.5 hours is extremely high

gpez

Short answer: IMO not a bad idea but certainly not without risk. I'd probably do it but I'm a risk taker

Be prepared to be patient, humble, and potentially have to pay a lot out of pocket if something goes sideways.

I see two big issues:

1) Your risk is compounded by the two legs to get to SEA, effectively doubling the chance that one thing will go wrong. 4.5 hours gives you a little wiggle room if the DTW-SEA leg is slightly delayed, though since you're checking a bag your buffer is really only 2-2.5 hours.

2) If there is a schedule change before September on any of the legs you may lose your buffer.

I didn't see any more non-stop flights so if you can deal with a layover on WN and the late arrival it may be worth looking at one of the later flights out of SEA to HOU via DEN or PHX. Though you're really looking at 30 extra minutes every additional second you have in SEA means you can absorb more delay. I'm not familiar with the WN standby/SDC rules but if allowed to you could always switch back to the non-stop.

That is plenty of time, especially if you are pre-check or have elite status.

This is correct. If you do decide to roll the dice and something does go wrong a little honesty and humbleness goes a long way. Gate agents tend to be much more sympathetic if you take ownership of the situation and ask for help. For example if you find yourself stuck in DTW due to a mechanical issue you may be able to get on the 8:52am DTW-MSP-SEA which will get you in at 12:54pm. Obviously status on DL will help that conversation, too.

MCO Flyer

How long is your layover in DTW? If there are any delays to your DCA-DTW route DL could reroute you through another hub ATL/JFK/MSP/SLC/CVG which would result in you not even getting to take the 747.

The Situation

Its is certainly not without risks, but you can manage those risks. My biggest fear would be the equipment swap. 4.5 hours is more than enough time in SEA. In the event of a delay/cancellation, make sure you are prepared with a list of alternative flights that can get you to SEA in time, which does require a bit of work. The next DTW-SEA looks like it will arrive too late, so 922/589 through MSP might be a good alternative, but those usually run pretty full. Research if there are flights going to PDX, SFO, SLC, etc leaving DTW at about the same time, and matching them up with flights to SEA.

slutide

Thanks for everyone's replies. The consensus seems to be what I thought, that it is risky, but it may be worth the risk, assuming I'm prepared with solutions to the issues that may arise along the way


This is something I had also thought about. The layover in DTW is an hour, so little room for error should anything delay the DCA-DTW leg. Having a departure time of 0600 from DCA, I feel the chance of a weather related or ATC delay is minimal, but then there is always the chance for a mechanical issue. Again, it comes down to my risk tolerance.

davetravels

It looks like DL281 on Sept 15 is available in F for a mere 45,000 miles!

ATOBTTR

Keep in mind that the 747s have been having reliability issues, with delays and cancellations not uncommon. Be prepared for this - both on how it could impact your desired flight on the 747 and it impacting your arrival time into SEA via alternative options to make your SEA-HOU WN flight.

toomanybooks

Book your Southwest flight on points if you can. Can transfer 1:1 from UR if you do not have any. No penalty if you have to cancel, but try to do it at least an hour ahead. Cutoff is 10 minutes as I recall.

No standby/SDC on Southwest if you have no status.

Often if you miss your flight they will put you on next one (search "flat tire rule" in Southwest forum for details).

tvnwz

No guts. No glory. Do it.

steved5480

What he said. Do it without a moment's hesitation. Looks like currently 3 upstairs seats open on the 744 leg; any will be fine on this short ride.

Could something go amiss? Sure, albeit probably unlikely in the grand scheme of things.

Southwest SEA-HOU currently = $119 or 7,025 RR points; can't beat that.

As toomanybooks wisely suggests, book the SW leg on RR points if you can. Worse case scenario if you mis-connect and/or end up re-routed without a chance to CX, 100% of your RR points will come back to you after the flight completes.

jrl767

there were four upstairs seats available half an hour ago

BWI-DTW-SEA in P for $642 ... a bit higher than the $490 I'd pay on other flights, but I have to be home on Fri 16th anyway and I'm not gonna mess with SDC for a 744

slutide

Good advice. The Southwest ticket was already booked with RR points. I just changed the ticket from DCA/HOU to SEA/HOU. Saved about 500 points in the process too.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Seeing that the 744's days are numbered, I'm going to go for it. Here's hoping everything goes according to plan.