I should've known flying from Charleston to Wilkes-Barre with an hour and a half layover in Newark was a recipe for disaster yesterday, but I didn't have many other options for the trip.

Anyway, we were delayed 2 hours out of CHS and after speaking with the GA, he said it was going to be really close in making my connection. My options were staying in CHS or trying my luck, so I hopped on-board.

Well, we were delayed another 15 minutes once boarding the plane. When I got into Newark, I believe they just closed the gate on my connection (probably less than 3 minutes before I talked to the GA). They weren't going to hold the plane and shuffled me off to Customer Service where I was informed the next available flight was 2:30 pm today.

I pleaded with her to see if there were any connections to another city that could get me to Wilkes-Barre faster where she rudely said "we can get you on the 2:30 pm tomorrow, otherwise call the number on here". Gave me a Continental brochure and basically turned her back to me. I was so furious.

But it got worse.

I got on the phone with a customer rep and was following signs toward the C terminal where I ended up on the AirTran. Well, admittedly, not really paying attention that I had crossed over security, I ended up on the outside looking in at 10pm. So I found a CO ticket counter where they were closing up shop. I explained what happened and asked for assistance and was told "we're closed for the night, you need to find someone else".

Now, I was cursing under my breathe. I found another CO agent on the other end and she told me I need to find a person in a red coat and that she was off the clock.

I wandered around a little more and found an Airport Customer Rep who turned out to be my saving grace. She walked around the airport looking for anyone from CO that could help me out. Eventually she found a manager I guess who took my ticket and disappeared into a room. When he emerged he had me on a 11am flight into Wilkes-Barre.

In hindsight, I should've just rented a car and made the 2 hr drive as it would have been cheaper than the hotel for the night. Anything I should've done differently in this situation?

Doesn't look like you could have done anything else than what you did.

Appears your flight 2051 arrived 1 hr 12 minutes late at 9:32pm from CHS at gate A23A, and the connecting flght to AVP left 25 minutes late at 9:25pm from gate C85X. So you would have had to take the shuttle bus between A and C and that would have taken at least 15-20 minutes depending on where the bus was at your arrival time. Bus does not run as frequently that late.

I am a believer that CO should hold the last flight of day for connecting passengers - but likely not more than 1/2 hour. In this case the flight to AVP left 25 minutes late. For you to have made it - they would have likely needed to hold the flight another 25 minutes past 9:25pm which is not reasonable to the other passengers.

I am guessing that your flight out CHS was delayed due to ATC and then they likely blamed it on weather. You were arriving at a prime time on Wed, and there is always a risk that RJ's will be held for delay.

Bottom line, you had risky connection for that time of the day for EWR - but you took the chance and it did not work out. Next time it could, but you never know. Sounds like you could not leave earlier in the day - so the risk was justified.

You might consider taking US through Charlotte, NC - it would not be as risky as EWR, and you do now get OnePass miles on US.

I'm going to second this.

Yeah, when I booked the flight, I actually thought I was connecting through Charlotte. It turned out to only be the flight back.

When I arrived at the gate in CHS, they were actually just finishing boarding the earlier flight to Newark. I asked if there was room, but was told they were full.

I was upset about missing the flight, but more upset about the Continental customer service. I don't know why I needed to talk to about 5 people before getting decent service. Also, I'm not sure why i was told by 2 different people that the next flight was at 2:30 and then I was able to get on an 11am (not that I'm complaining).

It all worked out in the end, so lesson learned.

The 2:30 flight was the one that had seats to sell. The 11am flight was booked full and the Red Coat overbooked it for you.

Unfortunately people at quitting time are not very helpful. I am sorry that you had to experience this. I hope you were home in time for turkey.

Ah makes sense...plane wasn't full so I don't think I took anyone's seat atleast.

I made it back in time so it was all good.

You sure there was an hour and a half layover? The schedule shows CO2051 arrives EWR from CHS 8:20pm and CO 8661 departs EWR for AVP at 9pm. That's a 40 minute layover.

Booked a longer layover...

Or fly US through PHL, where at least the last flight of the day is at something like 11PM. The one advantage I'll give to US over CO is that there are many more options in and out of AVP.

I have been really lucky flying through EWR into AVP, but only because I connect onto the 5:35PM flight, which gives me a cushion of one more flight in case I misconnect.

Connecting onto the last flight of the night is always risky, no matter what hub you fly through, or where you are headed. But at least you finally made it to the Wyoming Valley.

Ugh, I am sorry to hear about your luck!
I fly CO quite frequently out of CHS and I NEVER take the 430 or the 645pm. They are some of the most frequently delayed flights going into EWR. I usually take a 6am on Sunday or the noon flight but mainly on Sundays.

The CO crew at CHS are VERY good and I frequently rave about them to HQ. When I was at the CO DO this past Feb, I pulled one of the route schedulers aside and literally begged for another flight since all 3 of our CHS-EWR are booked pretty full most of the week. I even begged for our CLE flight back due to such horrible delays on the CHS-EWR route. There are no easy ways to AVP through EWR or PHL as the delays can be quite frequent and long. Next time, I would book the first flight of the day out of CHS into EWR or take UA through IAD to ensure you get there on time.

Hope you got there in time for some turkey....You are missing some great weather here!!

Could've only been 40 minutes...though when we finally took off the flight time was only about 1hr and half (about 8-9:30) before we were at our gate in Newark so if we would've left the gate at 6:15, there's no doubt we would have been at EWR before 8:20.

Either way, I already agreed that that was a mistake. I was more looking for advice on dealing with CO customer reps after the fact. If I decided to grab a rental car for the rest of the trip, would CO reimburse that?

Yeah, the staff at CHS was really good actually. The GA explained my options pretty well. It was the Newark crew that wasn't too happy with my presence.

Continental Flight: 2051
operated by ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. dba Continental Express
Departure Date: Nov 25, 2009
Status: Arrived Gate 1 Hour 12 Minutes Late

Departed:
Charleston, SC (CHS)
Scheduled: 6:12 PM
Actual: 7:06 PM
Gate: B3
Check-in: Main Terminal

Arrived:
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Scheduled: 8:20 PM
Actual: 9:32 PM
Gate: A23A
Bag Claim/Arrivals: Terminal A

Aircraft: Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft #905

------------------------------------------

Continental Flight: 8661
operated by CommutAir dba Continental Connection
Departure Date: Nov 25, 2009
Status: Arrived Gate 13 Minutes Late

Departed:
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Scheduled: 9:00 PM
Actual: 9:25 PM
Gate: C85X
Check-in: Main Terminal

Arrived:
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA (AVP)
Scheduled: 10:12 PM
Actual: 10:25 PM
Gate: Not Assigned
Bag Claim/Arrivals: Main Terminal

Aircraft: Bombardier Q200 aircraft #760

------------------------------------

Schedule - 40 minutes connection with a terminal change.

Nope, not likely. With ATC or weather delays they are not obligated to do that.

You could try to get to ABE and drive from there, though you would then need to reroute your return and be stuck having to return the rental car at ABE or pay a stiff one way drop fee. I would have rented a car (if it were even possible to get one on a holiday weekend in the NY market)

Not necessarily reimbursement, but in that case since you didn't use all of the ticket, you could request a partial refund of the outbound.

We didn't depart till 8pm. We sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes.