Lefleur

Short version: I'm contemplating a routing that has about a 1 hour layover in SFO before flying SFO-SIN...my first flight (East Coast to SFO) is "often delayed 30+ minutes" according to Google flights...am I being too risky given this is the last flight (SFO-SIN) option of the day?

Long version: United is not giving me the option to buy an earlier leg to SFO for some reason (?). Normally I wouldn't think twice (it's a legal routing) but last year en route to ICN my first regional flight (within the US), which would put me into IAD with a ~1.5 hour layover, was delayed by over an hour. As a result I missed my IAD-NRT flight, which meant I missed my NRT-ICN flight. At the time I did not have any status with United and they refused to book me on another carrier, told me their own routings were full, and said I could make it to ICN two days after I was supposed to arrive (I was going to miss an important work event as a result) [this was a $1800 economy fare, BTW] Eventually after a 1.5 hour wait for customer service (even the phone line had waits of > 1 hr) I was able to get an agent at a booth in IAD to rebook me to ICN on Asiana through ORD. I ended up arriving in ICN only 14 hours after I was supposed to. Has made me a little shy of short layovers on United....

Despite this experience (and a really poor PVG-SFO flight experience I had last year, where I watched a flight attendant shove a passenger and another told another passenger in harsh language to be quiet - not joking) I am trying to shift much of my Asia travel to United for a variety of reasons. {maybe I am crazy and should rethink this? hmmm}

There are not really good alternatives on United to get to SIN from where I live that don't involve a codeshare I don't like (ANA...fine carrier, have flown them ORD-HND before, they just don't have diet soda on their planes...not kidding) or 2+ flights (trying to minimize number of stops).

Thoughts?

(Also, can anyone speak to the difference in flight quality, if any, on IAD-PEK versus ORD-PEK on United? For a different itinerary. Would be economy or economy plus, depending on fares)

ryman554

That's incredibly risky. Do you have any status on UA to do an SDC to get in earlier?

If not, plan other routings on other *alliance carriers and be prepared to ask forcefully to get rebooked as needed.

StuckinITH

Really? If you are asking yourself this question, you are going to get sick before you even board your first flight. Hopefully your flight is not months away because you are going to worry for months. Even going on a vacation, missing the flight is a pain as on the other side there is a hotel reservation that needs to be met. I would not do SFO connection with just one hour.

I have done ORD-PEK-ORD many times. No complaints about the 3-class 772 if I'm in the bulkhead in Economy +. But many times the P fare for Polaris Business is not too bad and then I just purchase that fare.

findark

To put it bluntly, yes. A 1h00 connection at SFO is going to misconnect roughly a third of the time. If this was to a many-times-daily service like SFO-LAX or SFO-IAD, I would happily risk it. But if you don't want a material risk of overnighting in SFO, then you should book a longer connection. The maximum connect time on an international fare is 24h00; if you share your origin and dates we can probably help you look for other options.

At least right now I see ORD-PEK on the sUA 772 and IAD-PEK on the 787. For these aircraft, the 772 is preferable in Economy, the 787 is much preferable in Business, and the 777 in First (787 has no F cabin). Depending on how far away your flight is, however, you run a material risk of a Polaris-equipped 772 swap, which would downgrade the Economy experience to the absolute bottom of the barrel.

So it depends on a lot of factors.

chipmaster

If fog/low clouds make an appearance you could be SOL, but flying from east you likely have priority

https://media.flysfo.com/media/sfo/m...s-primer_0.pdf

BTW if you are 30' late and your gate is a hike forget it, the gate for your international at SFO will be closed, I'd consider at least 1:45 at a minimum, this gives you at least an hour real buffer as international flights close their doors early.

764toHI

I'd personally risk it mainly because if UA causes you to misconnect, there are still three opportunities to get you to SIN the same day via BR and SQ. That being said, if you're traveling from the East Coast, I'd rather go through NRT even though it sounds like there is likely an extra connection from your home airport to EWR/IAD/ORD.

Lefleur

Thanks everyone. I am revisiting how I will get to SIN. Maybe I'l end up on the ORD-HND routing again with ANA codeshare.

For my PEK routing -- Polaris business class, for any of IAD-PEK/SFO-PEK/ORD-PEK and on my return flight from China (another city) back to the USA, is only $700 more than Economy right now for my dates in my multi-city routing. Unfortunately my work has a STRICT economy rule. I'm not super familiar with United, but I think I recall that if you buy an upgrade (and it has to be offered to you, too, right? Not a sure thing), you don't get the "upgraded" PQM, right? That's how it works in my experience with carriers like Qatar Airways/American. Would do it on those routes for the PQM so I could get higher status faster, especially since I have some routings after these flights it would be nice to have lounge access for -- not for the experience (though certainly it'd be better).

Ohh. Didn't realize those flights were after the late night SFO-SIN flight on United.... Okay, next q. If I have a misconnect, what are the odds I can get United to get me a ticket on those carriers? (I have flown both EVA and Singapore Air before - would do either if necessary). I had to BEG to get them to put me an Asiana seat/routing once as mentioned before. The agent on both the phone and at a customer service desk in the airport both claimed they "don't put people on other carriers" even within their Alliance, even though our delay to IAD was due to MECHANICAL. Is there a written policy on this anywhere?

StuckinITH

If your company allows it, purchase the Economy fare and then call United to upfare (if the difference is only $700 more, it must mean that there's a P fare for Polaris Business). Use the words GG-BUYUP to the P fare. Then you will get the PQMs, PQSs and PQDs for the P fare. But only do that if your company allows it. Some of the other upgrade offers, especially the TODs at check-in do not get you additional PQMs, PQSs or PQDs.

764toHI

Not saying you weren't, but I find that staying calm and feeding the customer service agent your preferred itinerary in the case of a misconnect will typically yield the outcome you desire. And if the first agent rebuffs you, politely hang up and call again - there are three 77W *A flights leaving after UA1 - unless it's a peak travel day, I'd be shocked if there wasn't an open seat on those flights.

And this is outlined in UA's Contract of Carriage under Irregular Operations:

emcampbe

narvik

UA is horrible in this regard.

I have TWO future flights booked with connections in SFO for a flight to PEK; both were the only options provided by united.bomb. One connections is 53 minutes, the other flight is 50 minutes!

StuckinITH

You must have a stronger stomach than I have. But, then, I managed to miss my flights when I had what I considered a long layover: 4 hours.

On my next flight to PVG, United wanted $3500 more than the Polaris fare of $3600 to fly out and into my small city. I ended up having to purchase an award flight to get to ORD. Separate reservation with 4 hours layover. I was so not comfortable with it that I now have an award flight for the night before and I'm staying in a hotel in ORD. Something happens to my flight the night before, I have plenty of time to drive.

narvik

lol

That's the thing. Selecting anything OTHER than this absurdly short connection just about doubled the price, IIRC.

SDC might be my only option...

Lefleur

Can you pay the upfare on a different credit card?

I would buy the ticket on my work corporate card and pay the upfare on my personal card. I have done this other carriers before, no problem. Assume I can do it with United, too?

WineCountryUA

Yes