floridagal23

Just started looking into flights from either Kona to EWR or OGG to EWR. Many connections are 35 minutes, 45 minutes - at airports such as LAX, SFO. Realistically do we even have a shot at making a connection?

TonyBurr

It will be very tight, especially if you are delayed in any way even for the opening of the door. I would do a longer layover.

jetsetter777

This thread caught my eye because i have a similar problem.

BOS->EWR->HNL with a layover in EWR of 35 minutes. Granted, it will be very early, around 7am, but still. It made me very nervous. I snagged E+ seats at the front of the cabin on BOS-EWR hoping that will get us off the plane sooner.

Since I originally booked my trip UA has changed the schedules a tiny bit so now I have a more generous 46 minute connection time at EWR. Still less than I'd like, but... I am given no other valid routing.

But to your question - connecting at LAX makes me worry a bit - will you have to change terminals?

Kacee

The eastbound red-eyes from Hawaii to the west coast typically arrive early.

That said, a 35-45 minute connection at any US airport is risky. Whether the risk may be acceptable really depends on a whole bunch of factors, including the availability of later flights and the importance of arriving on schedule.

zombietooth

I take short connections all the time, and they work very well for me through airports like LAX and IAH, which have lots of options and fewer delays. EWR is a toss-up for delay risk; most of the time it is OK.
I wouldn't do it through SFO (I have missed a bunch of connections here in my life and will no longer fly through there unless it is truly unavoidable), followed by ORD and then, DEN, in order of decreasing risk.

findark

This. More than half the time you'll be just fine. The other half you should have a lot of backup options on SFO/LAX-EWR. But are you okay with a double-digit percent chance of a misconnect? That depends on your situation.

floridagal23

I'm not really willing to chance a big misconnect. It just seems strange that nearly all eastbound flights have very short connections on United.

jsloan

That's an artifact of United running SFO-EWR and LAX-EWR nearly hourly. You're not required to take the first available flight, however. Assuming inventory is available, you'll see the same price for any connection less than for hours.

For example, looking at Thursday, 8/24, you can take the 12:30 departure from KOA through LAX, arriving at 9 PM, and then connect to the 10:35, 11:20, or 12:30 AM flight for the same price.

You should see the same basic pattern for all of the flights ex-OGG or ex-KOA. UA will show you the shortest connections first, in most cases, but if you're not willing to chance the misconnect, just look for a longer one.

WineCountryUA

Connection time is airport dependent -- things to consider
-- Gate /terminal layout
-- frequency of weather / airport delays
-- your mobility ability
-- where you might be sitting on the arrival plane
-- your desire make use of time on the ground (food, refill water bottles, restrooms, ...)
and your sensitivity to missing a connection -- what options exists, if you miss your scheduled connection

30-40 minutes is very doable much of the time -- but it will require risk tolerance. Generally 60-90 minutes is better for most folks.

On the UA forum we have some airport specific treads for all the UA hubs and some other airports
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ional-ewr.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ional-iad.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ional-ord.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ional-iah.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ional-den.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ional-sfo.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ional-lax.html

Two Bee

I had 8 schedule changes appear last Friday, all through SFO for flights via BOS, MIA, & BWI, during Nov & Dec. W/o thinking I agreed to all of them, and then became very concerned about it for several days, as my connecting flights were the last of the evening out of SFO. I called the 1K desk last night to inquire what the MCT was for domestic-domestic @ SFO since all of my connections were now 33 to 44 mins, where originally they were 55 to and hour & a half. The res agent was very cool and stated that she would check with her super to find out, and came back on the line to state that they could not come up with an exact time, but there probably was one written somewhere. She looked at a few of my itineraries and stated that I should do some research to find better connections and call back when I knew what I wanted, and she would NOT accept these changes if she were me.

Did so this a.m. and at first got some flack, but held my ground, bringing up that originally I purchased connections thru LAX (1 hr & 10 min connection), one of my aircraft was changed to a 319, and the connection time for me was not doable due to a case of Plantar fasciitis that popped up over the weekend and is killing me. Was informed that it would be $87.00 plus a $200.00 change fee, on 3 of them and higher on the rest, because I was voluntarily changing my booking. Dug in my heals and reminded her that UAL changed my flights and NOT ME! Tap-Tap and 5 out of 8 were rerouted (No Charge), and during the call I decided to capitulate and chance it on the BOS connections, which are 44 minutes (probably messed up on these, and will still decide what to do, if the first one goes south). Flights with a 44 min connection may work, but if not, and it's weather, I'm on the floor til the next morning, or out of pocket for a hotel, because I am not standing in a c/s line at 1 a.m. with closed U/C's!

Anyway, just wanted to mention that a 30/40 minute MCT in SFO will NOT work for me and we'll see about the 44 min one's, beginning in about a month!

jsloan

Published MCT for a UA-UA DD transfer at SFO is 30 minutes, or 40 minutes if the inbound flight is on a widebody (relevant lines bolded):

A 30 minute connection at SFO is possible if everything goes right. I wouldn't book that if I had an alternative.

ACVBear

Normally can work. occasionally you have something like I had thursday with a delayed AUS->IAH flight, landed at C-2, connection was at E-22 and when flight delayed and i tried to change gate agent refused to acknowledge UA closes boarding door 15 minutes before flight leaves, kept being like you have till 12:50 that's over 20 minutes! and I kept trying to debate that actually no, 12:35 and it leaves me 7.

Needless to say I got to E-22 to see the door close and the GA walk down the jetway to close the flight.

docbert

"Flights" don't have connections - your booking of multiple of them together does!

eg, on a random day I picked next month there is a flight from OGG that arrives in LAX at 6:31am. From there you can connect to LAX-EWR flights that leave at either 7:20am (51 minute connection), 8:40am (2h09), 9:25am (2h54), 10:15am (3h44), or 11:25am (4h54), or even later.

All of those are valid connections. All of those price the same (although that can vary depending on a number of factors). The booking engine will likely show you the 51 minute connection first, simple because it's sorting by either arrival time or total flight length.

The days of airlines publishing "connections" is (mostly) long gone - it's now about MCT, which for routes like SFO/LAX-EWR gives you extreme flexibility in how long you want your connection to be.

Two Bee

I figured that it was written somewhere (couldn't find it & thanks), but I did agree with the 1K agent that hoping to catch the last flight of the day out of SFO, especially with constant weather delays at that airport wasn't something that I was going to fret over for 8 flights btw now and the end of Dec. Schedule changes to a 35 minute connection in SFO, when I had a 90 min connection in LAX originally, I guess allowed them to "WAIVE" the technicalities?

I watch my itin's like a hawk! Probably too much!!

Often1

MCT does not necessarily equate to SCT (Sensible Connect Time). MCT is simply a carrier's willingness to accept the risk of a reroute, e.g., rebooking you on the next available service and, depending on the circumstances, paying for a hotel & meals.

MCT's are written somewhere. It is simply that agents don't need to know that anymore. They are trained to rely on the GDS. If a connection is bookable, it is within MCT. In OP's case, the connection is bookable and even with the change, it is still bookable.

Whether flights at or just above the MCT are for you is a matter of your schedule and your risk tolerance. Short MCT's are great for people with a very tight schedule on either end of a ticket. Not so good for people with some more time to burn, who may have mobility issues (including little kids).

Most carriers, including UA, will automatically book you onto the first service at or above MCT. But, domestic connections can be as long as 4 hours. The problem with leaving it to a late arrival is that there may not be seats on the next couple of flights and, more likely, the seats will be the worst on the aircraft.

It really pays to watch this and, when there are schedule changes, to make certain that you are comfortable with what is proposed.