Really want to book flights with Continental (in an attempt to use Onepass miles to upgrade) to go skiing in Stemaboat this coming February.

The only flights, from London, that I have found (which arrive in Hayden the same day) go through Houston and there is only a 50 minute connection time. This makes me very nervous: US immigration tends to be very "thorough".

My husband and I appear to have picked up "immigration alerts" (due to our passports being stamped incorrectly and US immigration thinking we spent 6 months on US soil...). Getting hauled into the immigration office (while entering the US) three times over the past couple of months is beginning to wear thin on my sense of humour (as well as time consuming). Am going to appeal to US Immigration to get the alert lifted, but have no idea how long this will take....

Anyway, 50 minutes seems VERY tight to clear imigration and make the next flight (with baggage) to Steamboat. There are no later flights between IAH and Hayden that day (with Continental or any other airline) and no direct flights with Continental the following day.

Would I be mad to book these flights? Do I have any chance of making the connection (would the international flight be in a different terminal, in IAH, to the domestic flight?)? Would I ever see my bags again?

Are there any alternative routes where I could use miles to upgrade (which don't mean a layover in New York)?

Thanks,
Boo
(Silver Elite)

I have only been through Immigration one time at IAH - and as a US citizen I have an easier time than someone visiting -

On average it takes 20 mins in my experience - yours might take a bit longer if most are people coming in on foriegn passpaorts - and the flight to Hayden will be a long walk more than likely.... but if you talk to the service desk they could probably arrange a golf cart ride

I don't think 50 minutes will be enough time. It's probably not even a valid international-domestic connection. You could call CO to see what their minimum connection time is. In my experience, luggage is usually pretty slow and you might have a long walk from the gate to the immigration hall (especially if you arrive into gate D-12).

I agree that 50 minutes is not enough time--it usually takes me 20 minutes to get through immigration and customs--however, last time coming in from LGW to IAH (and fortunately in BF), it took almost 35 minutes and I was #8 in line--I felt sorry for the poor guys in the back who probably had an hour wait at best.

I guess the good thing is that we didn't have to then wait for the luggage to come off the carousel.

Since you do come in at the International Terminal (Terminal D), you then must transit over to Terminal C to catch your flight to Steamboat--this will take you 10-15 minutes most likely.

Good luck on your trip. Steamboat is an awesome place to ski!!! I love it--have been there several times and will definitely go back--maybe even next spring as well!

Not enough time.

After landing in IAH you will most likely need to clear customs in terminal D before going to catch your connecting flight.

Your connecting flight will probably leave from terminal B or C. If it is B then you will definitely not have enough time.

Try to either:

1) Book an earlier flight or
2) Take another later flight to steamboat.

Welcome to the world of the INS. You cannot get the alert lifted, regardless of its accuracy. Any attempt to do so will have you labelled as a terrorist and beaten up by their thugs. Take it from one who has tried.

Yeah, but it's to protect
freedom.

How to avoid the INS giving you so much hassle:

1. Get you dog to chew your passport, drop it in a backet of water, or damage it in some other way
2. Call the UKPA (0870 521 0410), tell them you're travelling within 48 hours, and that your passport is damaged (The UKPA website - http://www.ukpa.gov.uk - says that they won't replace a damaged passport in 4 hours, but my personal experience they do ).
3. Goto your nearest passport service centre at your alloted time, hand over the forms, documentation and �75 ($85 if you want the 48 page passport)
4. Go back 4 hours later and colect your shiny new passport
5. Get into the US with no 'nasty' stamps on your passport

So long as you're not doing this to hide immigration fraud, and simply as a way to get hassled less, you should have no problems.

In my case, I've received replacements for a damaged passport, and for one that had several middle eastern entry/exit stamps (was travelling in October 2001). They let me keep the undamaged passport uncancelled as it still has several currently valid multi-entry visas in it for some 'interesting' countries.

HTH

Steve

[This message has been edited by steveda (edited 08-29-2002).]

[This message has been edited by steveda (edited 08-29-2002).]

Thanks for your responses: you confirmed what I thought :-(
Unfortunately there are no earlier flights from London to Houston and no later flights from Houston to Hayden (execpt for the next day - not desirable...). So London-Houston-Hayden is out :-(

So am looking at flying to Denver instead. Thinking of either flying direct with BA or via Newark/Cleveland/Houston with Continental. So am torn between direct flight with BA in economy or indirect (so longer) flight with CO with the "possibility" of them upgrading aome/all of the segments. Is it worth playing roulette with CO's upgrade policy? Any thoughts?

(Have been to Steamboat 3 times before - really like it there. Going via Denver we are looking at spending a couple of nights at Winter Park on the way up - never been there before).

The US Immigration alert is a real pain. Not sure that a new passport would do anything (the alert and the "false" dates are in their computer system) - wouldn't the new passport still bring up all of my old records and alerts? Certainly , up until now, the incorrect stamp has helped explain the situation to the immigration officers: seeing an entry stamp saying "23 Aug 2002" in June/July this year showed that something was obviously wrong... The officer in Miami, this July, said that he would try to have the alert removed, but I am not holding my breath... :-(

Boo

You might as well forget about upgrading on the LHR-IAH legs. For a good laugh, read Concorde Boy's Unofficial Onepass dictionary:
http://concordeboy.tripod.com/continental/onepass.html

Read the terms "Hokey", "BendForward" and "BusinessFirst". The segment from IAH-HDN may be a little easier to upgrade, if you are elite or have the miles.

Based on my own personal experience, I've had no problems with being upgraded flying LGW-IAH or vice versa when booking a 'K' class economy ticket. They've usually happened for me at the 26-30 day window.

Boo Boo Too have you considered flying LGW-CLE (personally, I wouldn't dream of flying LGW-CLE or vice versa unless I was guranteed a BF seat at the time of booking as I wouldn't relish 9hrs in Y on a isngle aisl aircraft) or looking at a CO ticket on a VS codeshare out of LHR? From memory, the timings of VS LHR-EWR flights are slightly different to CO's LGW-EWR flights, so you may have less of a layover.

HTH

Steve

Interesting: some people seem to be okay upgrading international segments, some seem to think it is virtually impossible. Continental sure do make people "jump through hoops" to upgrade - I think it is a terrible policy :-(.

The 30 day window is annoying: I don't want to book flights/accomodation that late.

Am considering connecting through either Cleveland or New York instead of Houston. If flying through Newark, what would have the better upgrade chances (using miles) on the international segments? I assume maybe the CO flights because the VS flights only have a few (10?) hardblocked seats allocated to CO...?

Thanks,
Boo