We have an award flight coming up February 6 to Japan, from SMF to NRT. The assigned 852am connection from SMF to SFO has a fairly tight connection (1 hr., 18 min.) to SFO-NRT and is on SkyWest. I've started checking status reports and it looks like the SMF-SFO flights are occasionally operating late, likely due to impaired weather conditions. On the other hand, the first flight of the day (approx. 6am) is a larger plane that stops in SFO on the way to Cancun, and that one operated.on time on the two days I checked so far.

I'm beginning to think of alternative options, including taking the train to SFO the night before our Japan flight and staying in an airport-adjacent hotel (and asking UA to drop the first flight segment), or perhaps trying to change our connection to the first flight of the day in order to have more connecting time at SFO along with the better chances for a more reliable flight. The latter would require an extremely early start from our location.

As a nonstatus passenger, would there be a fee to change to the earlier flight under Alternative 2? I'm assuming that I might be able to drop the first flight segment at no charge under Alternative 1.

I'm looking for the best option, rather than necessarily the lowest-cost option.

Because this is California, it's also likely that the weather might improve substantially in a few weeks from the current rain, clouds, and wind.