atourgates

Short Version: We have a big group (11) booked into Delta One for a SEA -> CDG flight in August. Right now, our feeder flight from GEG -> SEA only gives us 41-minutes for our connection. What are my best options for getting an earlier flight from GEG -> SEA so I can sleep better at night and not worry about missing our flight, and actually enjoy our time in DL's excellent SEA lounge?

Slightly Longer Version: We're taking a big multi-family trip this summer. Our outbound trip originates from GEG, with a 41-minute connection in SEA before getting on a flight to CDG. I'm worried about that connection and am looking for the best/lowest cost options for getting to Seattle earlier.

Our group is in two bookings, 5-pax on a single paid booking, and 6-pax on a single award (via DL) booking. We won't be checking any baggage, so that's not an issue. I don't care what class we travel in for the 45-minute GEG -> SEA flight.

The options I'm thinking/aware of are:

Buy Separate Tickets for that Leg - $50/pax
There are tickets available for the ideal flight that AM (2-hours earlier) for $50/ea from Delta or Alaska. My concern is that I know typically if you don't make the first leg of your trip, the rest is canceled. If we decided to go this route, what would we need to do to make sure our SEA-CDG and return legs aren't canceled if we don't take that first leg?

Hope for a Schedule Change - $0
I know that this far out, the possibility of a schedule change for at least one leg of our trip is reasonably high. That would theoretically allow us to modify our itineraries without any change fee. My concern is that I already made a change to the return leg of the trip for the pax on the award ticket (fees kindly waved by the agent), and when I inquired about changing our feeder flight, was told that change would more than triple the cost of the whole trip (160K/pax to over 600k/pax). Will that still be the case with a schedule change, or will the agent have more latitude?

Make a Same-Day Confirmed Change - $75/pax
I think we might be able to make a same-day confirmed or standby change for an earlier flight, but that would depend on last-minute availability on that flight - so I'd put this at the bottom of the list.

Are there other better options I'm not thinking of?

Duke787

You can't do #1 -- you will have the rest of your trip canceled, they won't make an exception. I would hope for #2 but the reality is it's legal connection so if you misconnect, DL has an obligation to get you to CDG though with 11 that's going to be difficult.

Potential options if you misconnect include the evening SEA -CDG flight on AF, the VS flight and routing via LHR, or being re-routed to ATL and taking the late night ATL - CDG flight.

Given all the flight changes happening because of corona virus and the impact on demand, it's likely you'll get some sort of a schedule change from DL moving around the fleet and the schedule which will be your easiest path to achieve this.

MarkCron

re: option 3, can you do a SDC on first leg of an intl itin? Even if you can, will require the same fare bucket(s), if not then you'll have to SDS

atourgates

Thanks for the info. Good to know that #1 isn't an option. My concern is that in reality, it's pretty unlikely they'd be able to get us all to CDG in J, on the same flight, without a day or two delay. We'll hope for a schedule change that lets us move things around without penalties between now and then.

jrl767

SDC on an intl itinerary won't work unless it's the last domestic leg (i.e., after you've flown all the international segments)

ekozie

SDC is only allowed on the domestics leg(s) after all international legs have been flown, though their are anecdotal reports of agents moving people to earlier flights on the outbound, especially when it helps them balance loads.

OP - Depending on what the weather looks like on your day of travel, if there are concerns you could always call DL a day or two before and see if they'll move you to an earlier flight. They, too, would rather avoid having you misconnect and need reaccommodation. I've had this happen even without a waiver, but I can imagine this would be more difficult with a group of your size. If you were a smaller group, I would have recommended just getting to the airport before the earlier flight if there are still seats left to sell. I've had great success just showing up and getting moved for free before.

SamOF

Which GEG-SEA-CDG connection are you on? If it's the 11-something AM, I would be a lot less worried—there are connections from GEG through either MSP or SLC that would get you in with only a few hours of delay. If it's a tarmac delay or somesuch, there should still be same day options out of SEA.

Often1

Booking a 36 minute connection to a one-off international flight is way below SCT (Sensible Connection Time). You are one bit of wind or a rain drop away from a misconnect. I would consider doing one-way rentals and driving GEG-SEA if DL is willing to drop the domestic segments without penalty (which it may do as a customer service gesture).

It's worth a call, but only if you are prepared to accept on the spot if the agent is prepared to do it.

atourgates

Will try this if a schedule change doesn't let us move things around. Generally August weather here is pretty decent, but I'd imagine that if I was someone at Delta, I'd rather have all 11-of us with a longer connection in SEA than risk trying to rebook the whole lot of us.

atourgates

Yep - 11:08 from GEG to SEA - and 1:11 from SEA to CDG.

Thanks for the reassurance. Looks like there's a routing through SLC that could theoretically get us there later in the day as well.

Often1

Don't count on an agent thinking that way, There are plenty of routings to CDG, it's just that most involve at least one domestic connection and that may mean splitting up your party.

indufan

If 11 people are missing in D1, chances are they will wait some amount of time. How much is some depends on a lot of factors.

jrl767

weather notwithstanding, SEA is generally slammed in the mid-day hours (~1000-1400) during cruise ship season; it's far from unusual to land 15-20 min early and wait 25-30 min for the gate to open up

Mountain Explorer

11 D1 tickets. I would just call DL and explain the situation. I feel you have a very good chance that they will agree to put you on the earlier morning flight without any hassle. Especially if there are any particularly young or particularly old passengers in your group. DL doesn't want 11 D1 passengers misconnecting any more than you do.

atourgates

That was sort of my inclination as well. I'll give them a call and try. Already struck out on Messenger - but maybe worth at least one more shot via the phone.