bmvaughn

Yes, exclusively

godbreath

Looking at booking a flight on UA arriving in SEA at 12:51am and a flight on BR leaving SEA at 1:50am. I will have checked bags, but it will be on one ticket. Is a 59 minute connection doable?

EmailKid

Sure, it's doable.

You should be able to have your bags checked through and not leave secure area. You are connecting to an Int'l flight though, and a delay could be problematic with (I assume) once a day service. I believe it would be up to UA to get you rebooked if the delay is their fault. On the bright side, UA's schedule is very padded to make it look like their flights are on time more often then they really are, so even a 15 minute delay in departure would likely make it as an on time arrival.

godbreath

I am going from SFO -> SEA -> TPE. If the SFO -> SEA leg looks delayed before I depart, would United be able to put me the direct flight from SFO -> TPE? This would be on a business award ticket issued by ANA.

EmailKid

As I understand it, once you check in with UA, UA takes over the ticket from NH, so they could put you on the nonstop to TPE if the SEA flight looks to be delayd. Depends on the agent.

If you have Gold or higher status with UA, you could do a Same Day Change to an earlier flight for free, if seats are available, alas, chances are it would not be in FC.

Hopefully the UA flight will be on time. BR gets much better reviews for their Biz service than UA.

jsloan

It's tight, but it's doable. I'd try to take the previous SFO-SEA flight, if that's possible.

It's up to UA for rebooking regardless of the reason for the delay.

The schedule is padded, yes, but that doesn't make them look "on time more often than they really are." If the plane arrives by the scheduled time, they're on-time. If you want to say that it makes the planes look slower than they really are, that's fine. But, personally, I get a lot more value out of a realistic / pessimistic timetable than an optimistic one.

To be clear, I hope you're taking about the BR nonstop flights from SFO-SEA, and not the UA flight that departs the next morning. The answer is yes, but most UA agents' first thought would be to put you on the UA flight. If you see an issue, and there is space available on BR, ask specifically to be put onto one of those. The agent may indicate that award space is necessary -- it's not. Per Star Alliance rules, UA can (and should) rebook you onto the most convenient flight in your scheduled class of service. They can look first to their own flights, but since their next departure would be a huge delay, the BR flights should absolutely be an option.

Correct.

Same-day change is tricky on a partner ticket. (Technically, it's not allowed; this is a situation where it might work, though). Standby is definitely possible. Either way, don't expect to find an available I seat on an SFO-SEA flight on the day of departure, so, yes, you'd probably end up in economy.

godbreath

The previous flight will have a 4.5h layover which I'm trying to avoid.

Yes I would want the BR non stop from SFO-TPE which would get me into TPE around the same time as the SEA-TPE flight. My SFO-SEA leg is in X though. The SEA-TPE leg is in J. Would that cause problems when rebooking me?

jsloan

That could be complicated. With a MileagePlus ticket, you'd likely be able to make a good argument that it was a business class ticket, but business class wasn't available on the short-haul. With a non-MileagePlus ticket, while that's still likely true, it may be more difficult for a UA agent to see that in their system. However, they can rebook you into J; I would argue that they should rebook you into J; but it may take a couple of agents before you find someone who will book you into J.

spin88

As Jsloan wisely says "go for an earlier flight". SFO-SEA and SEA-SFO are routinely delayed. Flow control effects the flights and delays will build. It is not uncommon to see everything on this route being 1-2 hours late. If you are going J class (so have lounge access) just save yourself some pain, and book the earlier flight, hang-out in the lounge.

I would not risk a 59 minute connection on the last flight of the day, nor count of UA moving your ticket to their own flight in J, and I would particularly not do it on the last flight of the day SFO-SEA... You may find yourself with UA saying "sorry, go tomorrow or we can send you in Y- on our flight, your choice"

EmailKid

Yup, I've heard that one before

PVDtoDEL

The connection is totally doable - both BR and UA depart from the A gates at SEA, so the walk between the gates is realistically less than 5 minutes.

jsloan

It's totally doable if the UA flight is remotely on time. spin88 is correct, though; SFO-SEA is one of the routes, like SFO-LAX, that often gets caught up in cascading delays during the day.

seacarl

That time of night there are unlikely any ATC delays into SEA or departing from SFO. If the aircraft for the flight is in SFO remotely on time, and the crew is there, then the flight should operate on time. And A->A transfers at SEA are a breeze. IMHO it's a reasonable choice, knowing that you can ask to move to the BR non-stop from SFO if there is a delay on the flight to SEA.