Hello,

I want to book a UA flight, lhr-iad-phx on Sunday November 25th. My LHR flight arrives into IAD at 3.24 PM. My outbound to PHX leaves at 5.35 PM. Is that sufficient time to connect?

Thanks!

Ian

Moving to DC Forum.

Thanks for your understanding

Jouy31
Travelbuzz moderator

You should be okay. Your arrival is at the Transatlantic rush hour, but you will do your immigration/customs/recheck at the midfield terminal (IAD-PHX flight is on UA, right?) and then just stroll to your gate.

Usually. I have a similar connection at IAD earlier in the month and I'm not concerned.

In the past, it's been close a few times with a big logjam at the midfield Immigration & Customs facility, but I've never actually missed a 5:30 PM connection off that LHR flight.

Thanks for the info guys. Yeah, I'm taking UA non stop to phx from IAD. Actually, the iad-phx leg is on a separate PNR. I have to be in DC for work Monday and Tuesday the 19th and 20th, so I have work obviously paying for my phx-iad ticket (dept 11/18, return 11/25) and I am seeing my family in the UK in between those dates. I'm hoping I can check in as well for my iad-phx flight when checking in for my lhr-iad flight on 11/25.

You should have no trouble, including checking luggage (if you need to). I did almost exactly the same thing a couple years ago, even returning on the same LHR-IAD flight, IIRC. The only difference was that I was going to/from DEN instead of PHX. When I checked in at LHR, I just gave them both flight #'s and they took care of everything, including checking my luggage "through" to DEN. (Of course, you still have to pick it up for customs and re-check at IAD, but it's much easier if it's already pre-checeked for the connecting flight.)

The only trick is that you do have to remember to tell the agent about your second flight when you check in, since it's on a separate PNR. I do everything so much on auto-pilot these days that I sometimes forget details like that.

The original post notes a date of Saturday, November 25th. This is the peak travel weekend of the year, yes? IAD is a zoo during the Thanksgiving travel days. This will work both for and against the OP's goals.

Good:

- the chances of a UA IAD->PHX flight being on-time are basically 0.

Bad:

- if you take the number of people who transit the airport on a given Saturday, then double it, then throw in a whole bunch of abnormal, holiday-related flight delays, you can begin picturing just how hectic IAD will be

- if you miss your flight, you have almost no chance of getting home before Monday, since every Sunday flight will be oversold


If you're asking my opinion, I recommend the 7:02pm flight through LAX. It's not direct, and it's a few more hours of travelling, but ensures you get home Saturday night. Either way, best of luck, traveller!

Thanksgiving Saturday usually isn't too bad. Also, most international traffic around Thanksgiving isn't nearly as bad as domestic. I think the OP is ok. In fact, I&C might even be a little faster than usual if int'l arrivals are a little lighter than usual.

This is a valid point -- the OP might even be stuck until Tuesday, as Monday can be pretty crazy, too. However, I really wouldn't worry too much about it, as I think the OP is in good shape with the connection.

No way would I do this. You'd be adding a connection (to the last flight out LAX-PHX, I might add), plus you'd be getting home at almost 1:00 AM if everything is actually on time. I don't think it ensures that you get home Saturday at all; in fact, it might even decrease the chances, with the late connection at LAX.

To the OP: Stick with the nonstop that you're on, IMO.

I fly home on the 25th, which is a Sunday. I agree if I miss that iad-phx flight I'm screwed. I can take an earlier flight Sunday morning out of LHR, but that would suck considering what time I'd have to get up. Should I stick with my plan or book the earlier lhr-iad flight? My iad-phx flight is already booked, the iad-lhr flight hasn't been booked yet.

Oops, I misread "Sunday" as "Saturday". Sorry about that! It changes everything!

Given the new information, I strongly recommend taking the earlier LHR->IAD flight. You're talking about transiting through IAD on the busiest day of the entire year. If you want to be home Sunday night, you have to give yourself more time to get to, through, and out of customs.

Just my opinion. Happy travels!

Sorry, I missed that 11/25 is a Sunday, too.

It's a tough call. Depends on how much risk you're willing to tolerate. Personally, I think you're still likely to do ok on the int'l leg, as I don't think the inbound int'l traffic is likely to be particularly heavy.

Taking the earlier flight from LHR would give you a 6-hour layover at IAD on one of the busiest travel days of the year. It would pretty much guarantee that you make your connection (barring mechanical or other problems on the LHR flight), but it would also pretty much guarantee that you spend most of the day at IAD. On another day, you might be able to standby on an earlier flight to PHX, but on that Sunday, I would doubt it.

If it were me, I'd take the later LHR-IAD flight save myself the agony of spending Thanksgiving Sunday at IAD. But I'm a bit of a gambler in these cases, and it's not usually a big deal if I end up getting delayed a bit. If getting delayed overnight at IAD would be a big deal to you, you might want to book the earlier flight.

Yeah, it really comes down to what's important to you:

Would you rather get up early, spend a half day at IAD, but ensure you are home Sunday?

Or would you rather get up at a better time, have a really tight connection at IAD, and potentially miss your flight forcing you to stay in Northern Virginia through Monday (or possibly even Tuesday)?

If you prefer the first, then you take the earlier LHR->IAD flight. If you don't mind the second, then stick with your original plan

I think the 2 hours will be fine, even on Thanksgiving Sunday. My reasoning is that the biggest thing to worry about is the Customs & Immigration experience, and Thanksgiving is very much a domestic travel-focused holiday. Once you clear the terminal will be busy/crowded/chaotic, but the line/wait for clearing should be at or below normal levels, and the 2 hours should be enough time.

Is there a backup option for getting IAD-PHX later that night??

dup post

I think you hit the nail on the head. If I were to take the earlier flight out of LHR (lvs 7.55 AM) I'd have to get up at probably 3.30 or 4 AM max. My mother lives in Ashford, Kent, about 1.5 hours from LHR and unlike US airports in theory, one must get there two hours in advance based on the crazy security line alone. I'm not much of a risk taker, but my day would be shot completely if I took the earlier one, and I would end up spending 6 hours in an airport (oh I forgot I'm star gold as a CP so I could use the RCC I guess).

Nonetheless, I'm booking the later flight. You can rest assured I'll ressurect this thread to let you know how it went!

Thanks guys.