arthurhs

I do plan on having a discussion with the employee now that I'm back in the office, there are too many details that are missing. This should have been a good opportunity for her, but I doubt that I will offer any future travel.

raehl311

The key is here:

Which is exactly what we expect - she missed her flight, so her non-refundable ticket is no longer valid. She could then buy a new ticket on any other flight with available seats that day - which would probably have been expensive, so she should have asked if the company wanted her to do that on the company dime.

Alternatively, United offered to let her fly stand-by for later flights. In that case, she would go to the gate for the next flight, and if there were any empty seats after all ticketed passengers had boarded, United would have let her fly that flight for free.

If there were tickets for sale for later flights, the odds are very good she would have made a later flight that day, for free, by showing up to each successive flight until one with an empty seat came along.

belfordrocks

So I'm planning to fly HKG-SFO on SQ connecting to SFO-LAS on UA. The SQ flight is scheduled to arrive at 2115, but FlightAware says that the actual arrival time is often between 2000 and 2030. There is a 2100 flight on UA and a 2230 as well. Would it be a good idea to book the 2100 flight in the hopes of making the connection (I'm in F on SQ, familiar with SFO and a pretty fast runner), then relying on the flat tire rule to be booked on the 2230 if I don't make it? I'm SQ *G if that makes a difference which I don't believe it does.

The only risk I see is if the 2230 flight is full then I'd be overnight in SFO at my expense. Currently it's around 2 weeks before travel, and the flight is 9's across the board and around 30 open seats in Y. Thoughts guys?

Thanks

hangpilot

If I can get a good rate at a hotel that is walkable to NY Penn Station, I would stay there over an EWR hotel. Given the infrequencies of some hotel shuttles, and the early hour of your departure (some hotels may be hourly shuttles only that early), the train from Penn was more time efficient on my last trip. Hotels.com got me a great rate at the New Yorker, which was fine for 1 short night and a crazy early start... 5 minutes to the NJT ticket machine, and straight on a train. EWR security lines were longer than I'm used to though, at least a month ago. I got to the airport 70 minutes before my flight (no checked luggage) and was walking straight onto the plane mid boarding. And as somebody said earlier, you'll be waking up early no problem with jet lag!

Flying Machine

Do you have Global Entry? Or Amex Centurion or Platinum? If it was me, I would just book the 2230 flight as US Customs can be either real efficient or lengthy at SFO, if you have Global Entry that's not a big issue then. If you have Amex Centurion or Platinum the Amex lounge is right where you exit US Customs and is a nice spot to relax a bit. I wouldn't push the earlier flight, and as you stated what happens if the later subsequently is full. Just my thoughts on the matter. Let us know what you end up doing and Safe Travels

jsloan

The minimum connection time at SFO for international to domestic is 1:45. Considering that you have to go through passport control and customs, and will likely have to change terminals (UA runs a very small number of domestic departures out of the international terminal), I wouldn't even attempt this. Keep in mind that UA will close the boarding door 15 minutes before departure, so your best case scenario gives you 45 minutes from the time the plane arrives until you need to get to the connecting gate. Heck, even the 22:30 departure is an illegal connection.

I'd suggest booking the later flight and asking to stand by for the earlier one if you happen to arrive early enough to do that.

PV_Premier

You should book the 2230 and then try to go SBY or SDC for the 2100 if your flight arrives very early. Since you are on separate tickets it minimizes what UA is required to do for you if you miss the 2100. Noone here would ever tell you to speculatively expect to make what amounts to a -15 minute connection on paper.

belfordrocks

No I don't have Global Entry (not a US citizen/resident, actually). I'm counting on the US customs and immigration being empty, as I looked on FlightStats and there weren't any international arrivals within ~2 hours before the SQ one. You are right though it will definitely be a mad dash. Thanks for your thoughts though, I'll sit on the choice a bit more.

All true - though I'm basing my numbers on previous I-D connections in the US, in LAX for instance where I've arrived at TBIT and been airside at T4/5/6/7 30 minutes later. So in my mind it will be doable, especially if I'm OLCI'ed and mobile boarding pass in hand. No doubt it leaves absolutely no room for anything to go wrong, which is why I'm relying on the flat tire rule to bail me out in that case... without it, I wouldn't even think about it.

I believe free standby is only for UA Golds, not Star Golds, correct? Unless I can talk my way into getting a fee waiver somehow, a $75 standby fee on a $44 SFO-LAS ticket doesn't seem like the smartest choice.

If I was UA Gold that would definitely be my choice of action. And yes I realise how silly a -15 minute connection sounds

Although I do believe connecting on separate tickets I'd still be entitled to the "missed flight/flat tire" policy like any other O&D passenger.

Thanks for the replies guys - I'll say though that it's not imperative that I get to my destination ASAP though, so it's more a bit of fun to see how tight I can make things (without hugely significant financial blowback).

jsloan

I double-checked the published rules and you're right; UA claims that they'll charge the $75 SDC fee for a standby if/when you clear. No idea if they'd waive it for *G like they do for UA Gold+; maybe someone with experience can chime in.

You're right that you'd be treated like any other O&D passenger in this scenario; the flat tire policy would apply. However, as I'm sure you're aware, that's at the discretion of the agent. I doubt you'd have an issue as long as there are empty seats available, but technically your ticket would have no value and they're not required to accommodate you.

Having said all of this: SFO-LAS is one of the rare non-hub-hub US routes that has significant competition; in fact, five airlines have nonstops scheduled today (United, Frontier, JetBlue, Virgin America, and Southwest). Walk-up fares range from $54 to $77 across the 14 lowest-price options. So, unless you're heading to LAS for a big convention, "buying a seat on the next flight" might well be a reasonable backup plan.

Nimitz

I read the title wrong the title but here is my experience with missed connections.

I have never missed a flight but I have missed connections before. Status is king here.

Here is what I remember over the years.


2 missed connections before I had status.

1 coach - Nothing given booked on the 2nd available flight
1 1st class - re-given a first class seat only just before boarding.

1 when gold re-booked in Y-class ticket so that shot me to the top of the CPU list was upgraded to first. But when I arrived in Montreal I did not know that I had to go to baggage claim before customs to get my hotel. Do I got it at 4am when the ticket counter opened. 7$ food voucher I think.


as 1k
Recently My wife was immigration to Canada so I went to Chicago to meet her so I could fly with her to Canada. My flight into Chicago arrived on time but her flight from Korea arrived 30 minutes late and customs took almost 2,5 hours. So we missed our connection flight to Canada. I was on a paid ticket she was on an award ticket with my miles. Got to the lounge they gave me a hotel, booked me on the next flight in E+ and gave me 4 20$ food vouchers.

I will sure miss 1k in February 2017 I normally only fly enough to have silver be one MR away.

1KChinito

According to http://awt.cbp.gov/. Your average wait time for 2000 to 2100 hours is 12 minutes. Max wait time is 40 minutes.

Airport Wait Time Results for 4/8/2016 to 4/8/2016 - Airport: San Francisco International Airport

Wait Times Number of Passengers Time Interval
Airport Terminal Date Hour Average Max 0-15 16-30 31-45 46-60 61-90 91-120 121Plus Excluded Total Flights Booths
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 0600 - 0700 22 42 165 118 168 0 0 0 0 9 460 2 13
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 0700 - 0800 18 46 279 314 72 1 0 0 0 23 689 3 26
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 0800 - 0900 14 38 586 425 42 0 0 0 0 33 1086 3 35
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 0900 - 1000 8 13 98 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 101 1 32
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1000 - 1100 21 79 751 41 143 101 94 0 0 43 1173 5 33
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1200 - 1300 21 62 504 319 177 76 12 0 0 43 1131 4 19
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1300 - 1400 19 43 247 134 127 0 0 0 0 13 521 2 19
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1400 - 1500 13 23 123 67 0 0 0 0 0 4 194 1 19
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1500 - 1600 14 49 460 190 53 9 0 0 0 29 741 4 20
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1600 - 1700 29 69 269 290 237 118 60 0 0 32 1006 5 24
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1700 - 1800 9 23 341 76 0 0 0 0 0 11 428 2 12
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1800 - 1900 12 34 180 42 11 0 0 0 0 12 245 1 9
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 1900 - 2000 16 42 159 90 48 0 0 0 0 17 314 1 11
SFO Terminal G 4/8/2016 2000 - 2100 12 40 305 69 36 0 0 0 0 22 432 2 11

emcampbe

No question here - book the later flight....standby on the earlier one, as suggested by a few. This will provide a lot more flexibility. Yes, you may have to sit in an airport for an extra hour and a half, but better then for days if UA flights are booked solid.

I also notice that you are counting on the SQ flight arriving early in order to even have a chance at making the earlier UA flight. So no, the only risk isn't the later flight being rebooked. Forget about the earlier UA flight, which departs before your flight is even scheduled to land. Maybe SQ arrives an hour early 90% of the time, but if you're on the one flight every week and a half or so that arrives on-time (or even a bit late), you won't even have a chance. And then depending on the UA agent you'll get to move you. Seats available. And I'm assuming you won't have checked bags - if so, not even an option at all.

Save yourself the stress...book the later flight, and try to relax a little bit. Even an SQ on-time arrival and you may be a bit tight for the late UA flight. That's not even a question in my mind.

sbm12

If it is only $44 I'd buy both and board whichever one you make. Or book and fly the 2230 flight. Betting on an early arrival can pay off but not often.

Awtas

Hi. Missed my flight. Oversleapt at the terminal. Was acheduled at 10 pm. Departed 1:38 am. That was a transatlantic. What should I ask?

yytleisure

Mercy.