polygonfla

Hello frequent flyers,

My Fiancée will be coming to her new home in Florida next week. She is flying from Tokyo to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) and is scheduled to arrive at 9:15 AM Terminal D. Her connecting flight is scheduled to depart 10:35 AM Terminal A.

My question is, will it be possible for her to clear customs and make her connecting flight?

She speaks fair English and of course we do not expect any problem clearing customs other than the normal delays. But she will need to find her bags and recheck them for her domestic leg. I doubt there are many people who could make this work. Do we have any options here?

Redhead

Is she in business or first? She will have to run to Immigration and hope that other flights aren't arriving at the same time. Is she a US citizen? If not, it will be much harder for her to make her next flight.

Good luck and make sure she has a mobile telephone that works in the US and the numbers to rebook her connection on the fly if she misses it

polygonfla

No she is not a US citizen yet. She will be coming in on a K-1 Visa. Her cell phone only works in Asia and I don't have time to Fed-ex her new phone to her. I seriously want to fly out to DFW to assist her. I can book my return to TPA on the same flight she is booked on, but if I miss that flight because I am waiting for her to come out of customs, I don't see the airline being too sympathetic to my needs.

When I first looked at doing that the cost would have been $318 for me, today it is $485. I need to make up my mind soon.

BTW she is flying coach.

tom911

Keep in mind she'll also need to reclear security to get into Terminal A. I've seen immigration lines at DFW that can be 30 minutes long, and other times just 10 minutes. It's really hit or miss depending what other flights arrive at the same time as yours, how many inspectors are on duty, and where you're going to fall in the line. I'd say she has a good chance at making the flight if everything runs on time.

AndyAA

It may be quicker to clear security in Terminal D, and take Skylink airside from D to A. Otherwise, its will be a bus transfer landside.

tom911

I've always cleared security at D and just taken the train over to A.

polygonfla

I was considering flying out to meet her in DFW but it isn't looking good for that. I will advise her to clear back through security in terminal D and take the tram to the domestic terminal. I am also going to advise her to try to change the last leg only to a later flight. There is another AA flight that departs Dallas 2 hours latter. That would give her 3 hours to debark the 777 clear through customs, recheck her luggage clear security and find the departure gate.

I hope they allow her to make this change.

Peetah

Gone.

swag

DFW allows you to clear security at any terminal with any valid boarding pass, no matter what the departure gate is. The Skylink is likely much quicker than the land-side terminal link bus, so re-clearing at D is the way to go.

Once back thru security, the maximum Skylink ride time to her gate's stop is 9 minutes, and maybe add up to 5 minutes to walk from there to the gate.

It's also worth noting that there's no reliable way to tell what terminal her DFW-TPA flight will use. It may have been A the last few days, but next week, it could be A or C or D. Domestic AA flights at DFW are not consistent.

All that said, if AA won't let her switch now, if she does miss her connection, she can just go standby on that same later flight anyway.

Good luck.

tjl

The shortest delivery time for shipping a cell phone to her is more than the week that you have before her flight?

If you do not already have a cell phone for her to use in the US, you can buy a cheap prepaid one at Target or Wal Mart, activate it, program your and airline phone numbers in it, and send it to her if some shipping company (FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS, etc.) can get it there fast enough.

Another option is for her to see if there are any local (to the country she is in now) companies selling prepaid cell phones for use while traveling to the US.

A misconnect could be quite inconvenient if you and she are unable to communicate which flight she gets rebooked on, since you won't know when to pick her up from the airport.

JOUY31

Please continue the discussion in the Southern United States forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
TravelBuzz moderator

polygonfla

Thank you everyone who replied,

First sorry I posted my question in the wrong Forum.

Because she is traveling around her country right now saying her goodbyes to family and friends, sending a cell-phone to her is unlikely to get to her. We talked it over and I faxed her a long distance calling card. Hopefully there are a few payphones left in DFW.

I fully expect her to miss her connection and I am prepared to be there for her for every AA flight into Tampa until she arrives. She is confident that she can make the connection and I hope she does. I have sent her samples of the border entry forms so that she will be familiar with them and have the correct information.

I haven’t been to Dallas in 20 years. Looking at the terminal maps, it appears that after she comes out of customs she will need to change levels to go through security again and board the tram. Is that correct?

Blumie

If she misses her flight, the next one is at 1210p. I'd call AA now, point out the near impossible connection time, and ask if she can switch to the 1210p. They might say no, but it's worth a shot.

oldpenny16

Tell her not to be shy and to ask for help. Not only are their airlines employees, but the volunteer DFW Ambassadors at at every SkyLink station and elsewhere in the terminals. They wear big buttons that say "Ask me". They will make sure she gets going in the correct direction.

They can get her help if she needs it including people who speak Japanese if need be.

The DFW Ambassadors are eager to help and are a valuable asset to DFW airport.

link to the Ambassadors: http://www.dfwairport.com/ambassadors/index.php

techgirl

There is not much other traffic in immigration/customs at that time of the morning - when I've been on the morning arrival from NRT, I've never had any problems getting out of immigration/bag reclaim/clearing customs quickly.

Tell her that when she comes out of the immigration hall to go upstairs and follow the signs for the Grand Hyatt. There is a security line there that is virtually unused - 5 minutes wait at the busiest times I've seen it (and its close to where immigration will spit her out). From there is about six to seven minutes on the interterminal train to A.

I'd see no problem making this. The last time I came in on the morning arrival, I was at my office (five minutes drive from Terminal D) less than 30 minutes after landing and that was WITH checked bags.