mike1968

what I'd add as new is try to minimize stops on most direct route and/or as others have mentioned try to get to ord on your own vs as part of the ticket. I'd plan to arrive the day before and stay overnight at hotel by Ord. most the brand hotels have great rates around Christmas as there is little business travel. (I have made my Spg plat status a couple times by booking a x-mas eve airport Sheraton for less than $100 and didn't even stay there...checked in/late check out...went home...checked out on way to parents house Christmas Day...). I-90 can and is an ongoing nightmare of construction that makes you wish you flew between CHI-MSN (2-3 hours just to ROckford not uncommon)...so get a bus in the day before.

Then look at your options from ord with 1 airline all the way through to KUL. Could be CX, Ana, Jl, Ke etc through Asia..or the various euro carriers BA, LH, Kl through Europe. Just make sure there is no code share and ticketing airline has full responsibility to get you to KUL. These code share /alliance /jv flights all look great on paper, but screw you over if anything goes wrong.

With the gamble of winter weather, I think you have the most West or east options out of ord, but seems like DL is not as bad as UA...but I'd insist on going via AMS with them and KLM as I don't know who they'd partner with via Nrt to Kul.

Good luck. kul is not an easy destination from the Midwest.

LarryJ

Use the airline's mobile app. It'll keep you up to date on flight status and give you rebook options when your flight is delayed. It will also notify you right away if the automated systems have already rerouted you after a misconnect.

When an airline's hub is hit by a major weather event the lines will be very long at the customer service counters and the telephone support numbers.

FlyWorld

Tell us your origin, destination, and travel dates and let us tell you how we would book it.

exwannabe

One other point to keep in mind is that UA was on the hook to get you to KUL (once they could not connect at IAH) and I think they could have done that about 12 hours faster than the SIN suggested LAX route (that caused the double overnight).

When being IROP'd with connections, ask them how they plan to get you to your destination, not just the next connection even if that is another airline.

BTW, I once spent 51 hours on an IROP'd flight due to snow and never left the continental US. It happens.

transportprof

Once, when I was stuck in a blizzard at ORD - it took 36 hours to get home again. I sat next to a pilot deadheading to DEN on the first flight out after the airport resumed operation and he told me something that has helped me to handle IRROPS much better over the years.

He said that it's much better to be down on the ground wishing you were up in the air, than to be up in the air wishing you were down on the ground.

manneca

1. Book yourself on line. You can see what the options are (you can use kayak) and the costs.

2. Allow long connections.

3. It's winter and you are in a northern location. Assume you will have weather problems.

4 Avoid UA.

5. Know what alternatives there are. You were lucky that you knew about the SQ flight from LA.

Twice when I lived in Memphis, I've had to drive in the middle of the night to get to an airport to save my international flight. Once two hours to Little Rock; once four hours to Nashville. The last time that happened, there wasn't an open seat to my destination on UA from anywhere in the US on the day I wanted to fly, so I needed to get to IAH to make my international flight.

Actually an extra 18 hours seems decent to me.

azepine00

Try to make your first leg international like ord-hkg even if it means 2 hr drive... if connect before international flight allow lots and lots of time especially for regional connections.. avoid non-daily flights like iah-sin
Know how to find alternative flights and offer them to agent - make sure you have internet connection.. take it easy dont get upset and treat this as an adventure - fun story you can tell others

ORDnHKG

Doesn't even need to drive, the Van Galder bus (Coach USA) run between ORD and Madison every hour to every hour and a half, lots of students, even FA and pilots take that bus to commute to work and school on a daily basis, it is a bit longer than driving (3 hrs, as it makes stop at Rockford, Janesville, and Beloit), but it saves on the rental or parking at ORD.

FlyingNone

Your first mistake was to book (accept) flights with a "normal" or tight connection in the dead of winter from/ to places that are likely to be affected by weather (for the whole season = ORD). But I'll cut you some slack because you are very young and probably inexperienced with travel (though my intent is not to be critical), and your travel agent did the booking and should have known better regarding winter travel and connections through Chicago.

Next time ?....allow at least six hours connection time (if not overnight) to the gateway city you are leaving from. I'm actually surprised it wasn't even worse.
Sorry I don't sound sympathetic, I've seen this happen so many times to passengers. Could have all been alleviated by booking the first connection with a lot of time in between the originating flight and the overseas flight. I can't stress this enough to passengers (usually when it's too late to fix it).

prestonh

To the OP,

Everyone has pretty good pointers for going out of MSN>ORD in the winter. If I were you I would drive to MKE (more connecting flight options to other hubs UA and otherwise) or commute to ORD directly and leave plenty of connection time. For a SE asia destination I would fly west to maximize your connection opportunities, try to hit the west coast (less winter weather) or NRT as a next stop instead of IAH as your rebooking opportunities will be more numerous should the likely winter delay jam up your travel plans.

Another thought. When I was in college, I was quite successful using VDB's to gain elite status (gold at the time) on an us airline. At that time in my life I had the time to take later flights so readily volunteered for the next flights. The status was invaluable during IDB rebooking (since they have waitlist priority). I'm not sure UA does hotels for gold weather. I have had several domestic winter diversions that took 48 hours to get back on route and they only way I got back home on 3 occasions out of ORD because they IDB'd someone else (I was 1K on full fare at the time). Winter happens so you have to study the rules. Also, if you have UA *G you would get lounge access on your intl trips, priority phone access, and all the other stuff you can research.

greenskin

Some good advice here. My 2 cents - keep your phone charged! either recharge when you can or get one of those external battery devices.

ironmanjt

Not to belittle, but 19 is an adult. Look at it as a learning experience, try and stay positive, and realize that the biggest lessons we learn are often from failure.

You're reaching out and asking how to learn from last year's mistake, and getting lots of great advice here!

HkCaGu

One big tip for rebooking: Have a good phone and many many numbers.

ORD is UA's big hub and when it is hit by snow, lines/queues will be long, physically or telephonically.

Do you speak Chinese? UA has Mandarin and Cantonese US toll-free numbers, in addition to other languages. They might not be 24-hour, but still may not be affected by the long wait times.

Can you find a way to call abroad? Keep UA's foreign reservation numbers ready. They will be even less likely have long waits.

Can you solicit help from friends and family faraway? They may help you get things done more easily (and maybe more cheaply, them calling their local number).

My mom once had her HKG-SFO plane broke down in SGN, and the HKG check-in counters had long lines. I was at the office that evening so I had access to three phones, calling UA's English and Cantonese lines waiting one phone to each ear and her on speaker! Finally English agent answered first and got her on OZ HKG-ICN-LAX. If she had stood in line for two hours, that option would've disappeared. Going back to grandma's house and back for next day's flight would've cost her US$26 already!

MSPeconomist

Shipping luggage to Asia and back will be expensive.

The routing involves flying east to get from the North Central USA to Southeast Asia as the SIN flight from IAH stops in Moscow even though it's a "direct" flight.

Unfortunately some travel agents seem to have never traveled much themselves, so they think that, for example, any legal connection is fine and will be no problem.

IIRC there should be Amtrak service too, Chicago (about two blocks from the "EL" line to ORD) - Milwaukee - Madison - St Paul. For flying, instead of using UA through ORD, look at DL through either DTW or MSP. Madison is close to midway between Minneapolis and Chicago.

AFAIK there wouldn't be significantly better options from MKE than MSN. MKE is a small (but new) airport that sometimes has good fares, while MSN is generally expensive. Using MKE rather than MSN is unlikely to cut a connection from the route.

flyerCO

AFAIK Amtrak serves Madison with bus service only via connection to the train in I think Milwaukee. It's been a few years though.