zinga

I managed to book two QFF award business class flights from Charlotte to Melbourne transiting via Dallas in April next year (AA1079 & QF22). DFW's stated minimum international connection time is 50 minutes so the booking is valid but wanted to know the real life odds of making the flight. There are no available award flights earlier during the day and I am worried we might end up missing the connection resulting in Qantas getting us home via a multi leg economy ticket due to this being an award flight. I would love to experience the Q22 direct flight to Melbourne in business as it is a 17h flight.

Does anyone have any real life experience with transiting via DFW from domestic to international? I am assuming both flights being business might help with fast track customs?
Thanks

Mwenenzi

Zinga welcome to FT (and first post after joining FT ~10 years ago)
2 separate tickets or both in 1 PNR/ticket?
The "minimum international connection time" is only valid if both flights are in the same PNR. Means nothing with separate tickets.
AA will not interline bags on separate tickets, even AA to AA.
QF22 will close X minutes before scheduled departure.
USA does not have exit emigration controls. [customs is for arrival as is arriving immigration]

If 2 separate tickets, I would be looking for a new flight Charlotte to DFW with many hours before the MEL flight. No showing the MEL flight would have costly consequences.

AA thread-->AA Guide: DFW / Dallas - Fort Worth International Airport - MCT, Connection, etc

zinga

Thanks Mwenenzi. All my flights (MEL-LAX-PVR, MEX-JFK, SDQ-MIA-CLT, CLT-DFW-MEL) are on the one PNR and flights have been confirmed/ticketed. I called Qantas to confirm whether the connection time will be an issue and they advised it is fine. I have also tried calling AA call centre and they advised the same thing. I am of the understanding that the luggage will be checked all the way through when checking in at Charlotte but not certain. Hopefully it is and all I need to worry about is getting through immigration at DFW in time to board.

guv1976

(Deleted.)

zinga

Sorry for the confusion. I meant I managed to find a business class flight for two of us (my gf and myself). I also meant the CLT - DFW leg is in business and the DFW - MEL is in business as that information might help determine if I will be able to get through quicker.

Glad to hear. Thought I might have to wait in line for immigration to stamp my passport to confirm I have left the USA. Not needing to do that will definitely save time.

Koru Flyer

Thanks, we need to know are the flights on one ticket number? Or are they separate. You and your GF can be on separate pnrs or the same. i.e. are you holding four bookings or one (or two) for the both of you?

If they are separate you have no protection, if the CLT-DFW-MEL are on the same booking for each pax then you are protected.

By protected just means the airline has a responsibility to get you to where you need to go, the question on 55 mins depends on your risk appetite, and the answers will vary between
- You are within MCT, DFW is well laid out, although separate terminals so you will be fine, or
- You will be protected, the contract is in business class so the airline has to get you there in business class and will offer other carriers, and it could be worth it as you may be rebooked in a revenue class, or
- get to CLT early and try to stand by for an earlier flight, or
- 55 mins is too short, can you get an earlier CLT-DFW even if in Y as that will make it more relaxed, or
- 55 mins is too much risk, how about you canx the CLT-DFW and buy a separate ticket the night before (see the BA thread on how that can go very very wrong)

Depends on your degree of risk

KF

tetech

This is perfectly doable if the domestic flight is close to on time. In April there can be storms at DFW so there is the potential for delays.

If this looks like being an issue, you might be able to do a "same day flight change" with AA onto an earlier flight, or potentially QF will move you to the DFW-SYD flight which leaves a couple of hours later.

zinga

Yes the flights are on the one ticket/PNR for each of us (GF has one PNR under her QFF account and I have a separate PNR). For clarity, below is how it is booked:
GF - (PNR XXXXX) MEL-DFW-NYC, SDQ-MIA-CLT, CLT-DFW-MEL
Myself - (PNR YYYYY) MEL-LAX-PVR, MEX-NYC, SDQ-MIA-CLT, CLT-DFW-MEL

Sounds like we will be protected to get home due to the one PNR for each of us so I will need to discuss with the GF on whether she wants to risk it. We arrive in CLT at 7pm the night before our flight back to Melbourne so won't be able to get to DFW the day before. We initially booked it like that to give us a day to explore a new city and get home in a 21 hour flight time in one go. Just wanted to determine if making the connection was an impossibility or doable in the right circumstances.

There are no suitable CLT-DFW economy or business award options available so I think I am leaning towards risking it and hoping we make it.

My biggest concern with missing the connection was that AA/Qantas would try to push us onto an economy flight and refund the points difference. We were excited to fly in business together for the first time so definitely do not want that to happen (especially for such a long leg).

zinga

The DFW-SYD leg leaving a few hours later is a great back up. Might be worth me keeping tabs on the weather in Dallas while in Charlotte and if it looks like a big storm, we could go to the airport early and request standby on the next flight there. Thanks for pointing out that AA have this option as I had no idea that existed.

serfty

As indicated AA permits free standby travel on all domestic segments except those in basic economy. it looks like there may be a couple of flights 2 to 4 hours earlier than AA1079 (1082, 1152).

You may be able to arrive in time for one of those to get an earlier flight. One issue is you are in "business" and those cabins tend to go out full, so same day flight change would likly work better if you can swing it. Business award travel can do this at no charge.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/plan-travel/...day-travel.jsp

Note that if you have no oneworld status, being on an intenrational Business class itinerary gives you Admirals Club access at CLT and DFW and Flagship Lounge access at DFW (although 55 minutes would make the latter moot).

Another thing is that April is a long time away and AA will likely have more than series of schedule adjustments between now and then. If this happens and the change is large enough, you may be able to choose from any flight with seats in the business cabin that suits.

zinga

Duplicate

zinga

Had a look at the same-day travel website link and it indicates that there will be a min cost of $50usd for a confirmed change. Am I understanding that incorrectly as you mentioned there is no charge

We don't have any status so it would be great to experience the Admirals Club at CLT before our flight but you are correct we have no chance of experiencing the DFW lounge. GF is running the Boston marathon for first time so trying to make sure the whole trip experience is as special as possible for her.

Great point! There is likely to be schedule changes over the next 6 months so I'll keep an eye out on whether they are big enough to warrant a same day flight change. If this does happen, do I contact American Airlines as if I'm a paid fare customer and ask them to move it to a suitable time?

Mwenenzi

If any schedule changes before the flights you need to deal with QF (as your ticketing agent)
Note be *very* careful for any changes with QF award flights as QF phone operators can make errors. Some to many are offshore, new, little experience and poorly trained.

zinga

I have just had first hand experience at how bad QF award operators are. Needed to make a change to this itinerary as they got the flights wrong and the taxes I have been charged is higher than the dummy bookings I did with same airports on different days (as there was no availability for me to dummy book the exact dates). Spent at least 5-8 hours trying to resolve the ticketing part and now need to send a online complaint to Qantas about the taxes part.

og

Best of luck getting any response out of QF. For my complaint, it’s taken 8 months, 4 emails, 2 phone calls and 1 ACA complaint and all QF has done is respond to the ACA saying I haven’t followed the correct procedure - QF hasn’t responded to me. I’m still waiting for a response. Just pathetic.