Rocky365

First off - wow what an incredible useful forum, with plenty of helpful advice!

I discovered this researching my current quandary after booking a flight AUK to IAH for next month. At the time, we hadn't locked in our plans, so I later booked in a domestic UA flight to NYC at a later time, allowing 3 hours connection which looked like it would work.

Experienced flyers will predict what comes next. AirNZ rescheduled the flight to land 3 hours later around 4:10pm, so now I have to rebook that damn connecting flight. I appear to have a choice of a flight 1hr 55mins later, or another at 3 hours later - but apparently the last for the day, and it gets in very late. On top of that I am hit with US$200 change fee, although my research tells me that if I leave it and change on the day, its goes down to $75 - but risks not getting a seat at all. This is the first trip to the U.S. for 15 years, and the sound of the immigration process sounds daunting, although I will be travelling with only carry on. Comments and suggestion welcomed. Book the 1:55 min later connection? Take a chance? And yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing - I should have just ticketed the flight all the way through.

kiwicyclo

sbiddle

Not much you can do if you want certainly but to pay the fee now. With the odd exception I will never ever book same day connecting flights unless they're on the same PNR. I want changes or delays to be somebody else's problem, not mine. Your travel insurance may cover change fees.

CBP at IAH is a breeze to get through. I've flown there a few times and it's been no longer than 20 mins from plane to landslide incl waiting for bags.

hodi

I did this a few weeks ago, arrived 430ish, breezed through as sbiddle says, even completed my global entry on arrival interview, ended up walking alongside the tram to the wrong terminal in my dazed state and coming back, through TSA and still made my flight. Then my baggy ex fat days trouser button fell off and I'd packed my belt so you can imagine what boarding was like...

My big concern would be the NZ flight arriving late if in your shoes not the transfer. Good luck!

Top of climb

One advantage to travelling with carry-on only and arriving in Houston is that it entitles you to use OneStop at USCBP, which means you can bypass the customs check that you would normally go through after baggage reclaim. Customs is cleared at the same time as you have your primary USCBP inspection, so all going well you can exit straight out.

What about EWR (if you are flying into LGA) or vice versa; or buying a new ticket on Delta?

West45

Both times I've been through (once on the old schedule, once on the new), there were no queues to be seen and we were back airside for our connecting flight 20 min after disembarking.

Often1

To be clear, OP is not connecting as he is on separate tickets. Thus, unlikely that insurance will cover change fees. Nonetheless, worth looking at.

The problem with waiting to change on the day of travel is that it is the same day fee + fare difference. If the fare has increased by any significant amount, you will pay that as well as the same day fee. As you point out, there may be no seats at all.

As this is not a connection, the question of what might be possible is not really part of the equation. If you no show for that UA flight due to a NZ delay, you will wind up purchasing a new UA ticket. Better to book the 3-hour transfer between tickets and then ask if you can hop on the earlier flight if you make it. Go straight to the earlier flight's departure gate and ask a gate agent. 9 of 10 times, if there is a seat, you will be handed a boarding pass without a fee.

MikeAKL

I have been affected by the NZ28 re-timing as well (which would have caused a missed connection). Called NZ and they rebooked me for the day prior (free of charge). My travel insurance will cover accomnmodation at IAH.
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Rocky365

Thank everyone, the experience of most is that on average there are few delays because of timing with this flight, and I note today's flight arrived 25 mins ahead of schedule. One point: I thought OneStop was a kind of 'transit lite' for international connections only. but it seems I can take advantage of this if I only have carry-on for domestic connections. Is this correct? I am leaning towards the flight 3 hours later, then seeing if I can board the earlier flight if everything is on time - that's a great tip, thanks!

SAT Lawyer

An hour and 55 minutes should be plenty of time to connect at IAH even for a non-U.S. citizen without Global Entry and without Pre-Check. After clearing immigration and customs at Terminal E, do what we IAH regulars do: head straight out of the exit, ignore the opportunity to turn right for connections, take the escalator at the far left corner of the Terminal E meet and greet area to the second level, check-in at the counter for your UA flight if you haven't done so already, and re-clear security at the regular Terminal E checkpoint as if you are a normal IAH-originating passenger. That will almost always save you some time. Once airside past the Terminal E security checkpoint, you can walk to the E or C gates to catch your onward flight to NYC.

Also, rather than digging out your credit card and paying a change fee for your UA flight without trying a possibly less-costly alternative, I suggest calling UA, explaining that its Star Alliance partner NZ made a flight schedule change that causes you to arrive three hours later than originally planned, thereby making it impossible for you to make your booked UA flight, and see if the telephone agent will change you to a later flight for free as a courtesy. If at first you don't succeed, hang up and call again. Based upon past experience with flight schedule changes on separate bookings screwing up UA flights from IAH onward, I suspect you will find a UA agent who will help without charging you a change fee. It's certainly worth a shot or three.

Rocky365

all options being explored -thank you so much. I'm still not sure if the OneStop thing helps or not, or if I should just head straight for immigration with everyone else.

Top of climb

OneStop is available for both IAH terminating/domestic connecting pax with carry on luggage only, and UA international-international connecting pax. OneStop will spit you out where everyone else comes out after clearing customs, so I don't know why you would want to subject yourself to two lots of queues when OneStop gives you the opportunity to easily bypass one of them.

DCF