Originally Posted by
Nikitau
I decided that rushing a 30 minute layover would probably not be in my best interest. And with my layover in Chicago, I could also catch the bus into Madison if my flight should get cancelled for whatever reason.
This is really the key point to your situation... What is your comfort with air travel? What are you doing with the rest of your day?
If you're a seasoned air travel warrior, used to all the vagaries of air travel, and not stressed about another rush off a plane and down the concourse to make the next flight, or missing one more connection of the 100 connections you have to make this year, by all means, keep the 30 minutes.
If you have some time that day and would prefer a leisurely travel experience, change your flights to a longer connection. If everything goes well, spend $10-$20 at the bar and meet someone new on the stool next to you. If it doesn't, you'll likely still make your connection.
It sounds like you made the right choice for you, and glad FT was able to help you out.
Originally Posted by
emcampbe
Some comments:
- anyone advising OP to call UA is wasting OPs time, and/or doesn't understand how ticketing works with travel agents. While UA may change schedules, it is the TA that is responsible for notifying their passengers about the schedule changes and doing any rebooking if necessary. OP has to call Chepoair if they want to change the flights. Pretty much any UA agent will look at the ticket, see it was issued by a TA, and inform the OP to call the TA directly, except for any irrops on the day of travel - those are handled by the carrier, in this case, UA.
Well, I would in general advise that if there are a pile of posts on FT suggesting one thing, they are probably right. And in this case, they were right, as OP has just proven.
I usually book my travel through UA directly, but sometimes there are fare constructions I can only get to book through 3rd parties. Once those flights have been booked through the 3rd party, however, I have never had UA not help me deal with a ticket (on their stock, at least).
Originally Posted by
emcampbe
- Unless there has been a major change in scheduled departure or arrival (1.5 to 2 hours or more) or the connection violates MTC, the TA doesn't have to, and likely won't, change the OPs ticket without the regular change fees (+ fare difference, plus whatever extra fee the TA charges for changes). I'm not sure what MCT at DEN is, though I'm sure someone with an EF subscription could post that detail
That is probably the letter of the law. But one advantage to calling the airline is they also don't want to deal with a passenger who misconnects because their connection time got changed to the MCT, and that passenger is willing to change to different flights. Classic case of a win-win if the two parties talk to each other.
Originally Posted by
emcampbe
- OP - if you miss the connection for any reason, you will be booked on the next available flight. If there aren't good UA options, ask about other carries. What another poster was referring to - if you miss the connection due to something out of UAs control, like weather, UA won't provide extras like a hotel room or food vouchers - they only provide those if it is UAs fault. They are always responsible for getting you to your destination on next available if you misconnect. Tip: if you experience a delay prior to boarding your first flight, proactively rebook from there where there may be better options/more routings (I.e., a single connection through ORD instead of DEN).
In this itinerary, there is almost zero chance UA will offer OP accommodation on another airline. OP would get accommodation on the next available flight, but that requires empty seats not taken up by any other passengers. OP's worst case scenario is a weather event in Denver, where many passengers need to be re-accommodated, and as an occasional flyer, he is at the lowest priority after all elites.
Originally Posted by
emcampbe
- whoever said never book anything under a 2 hour connection is ridiculous, over cautious and is probably wasting a lot of time. I book 1 hour connections or sometimes shorter often over the last several years, and while I have occasionally either misconnected or was delayed at departure city so I was going to, I have almost always been taken care of well. On those occasional times I have misconnected, it has been only very occasionally where I haven't been re-accommodated where I was scheduled to arrive within an hour or two of my original arrival. I can count those situations where I haven't on one hand over the last probably 5 - 10 years or so. Maybe that makes me just lucky, or maybe I'm better at handling than some other folks. I'm sure my status doesn't hurt. And there are certain situations where I do purposely book connections a bit longer than normal - when connecting to a once a day international flight, for example. For domestic, I try to book closer to an hour and a half these days, but that's only because I'm traveling with an infant most of the time, where the extra time comes in handy.
Never booking anything under a 2-hour connection on UA is indeed poor advice. Again, each individual travelers circumstances vary. On my return flights, I could care less when I make it back, so I book the cheapest flights and if I miss the connection oh well.
The people saying don't book under 2 hours were making fun of UA's recent history of horrible on-time arrival performance. I think that's mostly a thing of the past... leadership has changed and employee morale has changed and I get the feeling everyone is driving to get everyone where they need to be on-time in a way that hasn't been occurring until just recently.
As a last note, yes, United pads their arrival times. By a lot. So it's very common to arrive 20-30 minutes early.
The problem is, it's also very common when this happens to not have a gate or gate crew available to accept the aircraft that early, so the 20-30 minutes you didn't spend on the tarmac at takeoff becomes 10-20 minutes you do spend on the tarmac at arrival awaiting for a gate or gate crew, so your time out the door ends up pretty much the same.
Last last side note: If you check a bag on a MCT, you may make the connection but you're increasing the odds your bag doesn't, and if you don't but carry-on something that won't fit under the seat in front of you, board early or expect to check your bag through (mainline) or pick your bag up when deboarding (10-20 minute penalty, Express).