themrock

Minimum connection time domestic-international is 30 minutes. Involved in this case has been 3 agents and all said the same.

DCdeacon

I love threads with sweeping generalizations and overreactions! You spoke with one person one time, and all of a sudden you're "shocked" by the ignorance of a staff of several thousand people at an airport? Give me a break.

I had a United Club agent at Dulles last week not know that I was allowed to be admitted because I'm Star Alliance Gold with Turkish airways. Was I "shocked" at the ignorance of "the staff" at IAD? No - I had a one-off encounter with someone who wasn't clear on the rules, nothing more. Let's cool the hyperbole.

Jaxxon

trying to be helpful and they weren't perfect.

SHOCKED.

....Such ignorance.

ericcheung

There are various types of flyers out there. Some like long connections and the thought of a tight connection is stressful. If the mechanical was delayed further, it maybe too late to accommodate to something else.

When presented with a tight scenario, i usually call or ask. They usually provide an option that they will rebook for free, or you can take a chance and see if you can make it. Sometimes the chance pays off, sometimes i'm stuck somewhere.

I paid for trip interruption insurance last year. I flew out of NYC on tight connections in the evening often. The insurance was money well spent fo rme.

Also remember that most of the airport ground staff do not fly as often as most of us here. They show up to work everyday (at the airport) and go home. They don't have the same experiences and probably have never been to IAD.

themrock

I wrote " they" so it was not 1 person, it has been 3 later 4 persons and that was the complete staff there.
And that they tried to help me, no question, but this was a ( i hope so ) trained staff from US Air and not some other passengers who tried to help me.
And to advice me to rebook a connecting flight, which was easy to get, without any knowledge of IAD( and thats not an exotic airport in another country) and the minimum connecting times there (when i didnt know something i inquire about it) is , i am sorry,shocking.
It costs US AiIR a lot of money ( i think so) to book me on other airlines, and last not least for me as passenger it generates a lot of stress, coming home 1 day later, flying coach instead of Business and costs, i dont know if they had paid me a hotel.
They have been friendly no question, but when i work at a helpdesk and the whole stuff tells a passenger totaly wrong things, thats not okay.

GrjApp

When flying through an airport new to me, I try to do some homework ahead of time in terms of terminal layout, transfer options, etc. Check FT too for connection experiences.

The more you know what to expect even if you haven't been there, the better you can figure out how to handle any possible delays. Knowing your airside transfer options (or if you have to transfer landside) is big for me in making a transfer as smooth as possible.

Usually you can get what you need on the airport website or the terminal maps on the airline website.

saneman

So followup to my story. My relative ended up going on the flight 6 hr and 10min earlier without having to use the standby or moveup option. THe ticketagent just nonchalantly gave her a new boarding pass for the earlier flight without even really paying much attention. So she didnt even have to give them a story.

bkafrick

So next time, when the staff doesnt err on the side of caution, and says you'll have no problem making the connection, and you don't, you'll be on here SHOCKED at the ignorance of the staff, complaining to everyone, and probably wanting compensation from US for giving you bad information.

There's no right answer for US here. You're gonna be pissed either way.

Get over it.

LowlyDLsilver

Expecting a CLT employee to be intimately familiar with CLT could be a stretch at times. Expecting them to be intimately familiar with another airport they don't work at - too much to expect, or rely on.

circitmage

AUS>CLT>LGA on 5/29/14 ... you'd think after delaying/cancelling/rebooking/delaying/wait-till-the-last-minute-and-cancelling/your-flight-crew-is-unavailable/ohh-now-we-can-claim-its-an-atc-cancellation/you're-SOL-sleep-in-the-airport/rebooking my flight to another destination "nearby" (BRD vs LGA), they'd make some sort of accommodation to compensate me for flying me out in coach middle (vs. the first aisle I paid for) ... but no, this joke of an airline says "since you accepted "accommodation", you're not entitled to anything" ... they make ZERO effort to try on behalf of impacted customer (GA were laughing uproariously when they cancelled our second flight after a three and half hour delay at 2am) ... not possible to talk to refunds ... managed to get them to call me, where they told me they'd do nothing to make amends ... NEVER flying this airline again!

ubernostrum

OK. Never fly US again. Also never fly AA, DL or UA, because they all do this too.

PaceLaw2012

Well, your profile says you're an EXP, so go email [email protected] and write in a complaint. I'm sure you'll get compensated for the class in service which would be a fare difference. Question though: did you ask for a different flight/OAL in F or did you knowingly accept the reaccomodation in Y?

Biggie Fries

I'd be pretty upset, too. Stories like this one -- and it is hardly the first I have read -- have conditioned my own behavior / perspective on air travel. Basically, it's one of the reasons I'm the grifter (targeted mile and status-seeking for "free" upgrades and the like) that I am today. There is a school of thought that says that if you want first-class service, you should pay for it, and I can see -- in theory -- the validity of that. There is also another school of thought that says, "Stuff happens," and I can see -- in reality -- the validity of that, too. So a lot of what has kept me a grifter-sort-of-marginal-first-class-travel-guy and not a real "swell" is that paying more doesn't seem to insulate one sufficiently from the "stuff happens" stuff. I figure I can better bear the consequences of weather, weather-that-is-mechanical-disguised-as-weather, weather-that-is-poor-management-disguised-as-weather, FAMs, plane swap outs, FAs who ask me to move (since I'm not "with anybody") so that some poor souls can sit together, dogs on board for other folks' emotional support, being stuck with the miso chicken when they take orders the same way E to W and W to E, and so on -- not to mention the moral tutelage available on this board -- if I'm not actually paying a lot.

PaceLaw2012

Ain't nothin wrong w/ the miso chicken

AZ Travels the World

This is an excellent description -- I think it describes me as well.

I've purchased my share of first class tickets, on US and elsewhere, and I've very definitively concluded that it buys me nothing over the person who was upgraded or who purchased the seat next to me at the gate, especially in an irregular ops situation.

Consequently, I try to calibrate my expectations to the lowest common denominator and am pleasantly surprised when they are (occasionally) exceeded.

I just see it as the nature of the beast with most airlines these days and attempt to be as zen-like as possible when I'm suck in the thick of it. With reasonably good success.