Often1

This is not the case. OP has an international connection at IAD. That gives him 24 hours without disturbing his current ticket. He simply changes to ATL-IAD tonight.

Raymoland

Pilot here
Thunderstorms are in the aviation forecast for tomorrow also. So chance of weather disruption is greater than zero. 5.25am flight is oversold so chance of the entire party getting on it are low. All other itineraries to PEK require a departure from ATL earlier than your IAD flight.

At this point I think you are just crossing your fingers and hoping that you make the connection. If not, UA will rebook you the following day and you will get a day in IAD to explore. Plan on having sufficient items in carryon to survive a night in IAD and look at it as a bonus. That's really all you can do. Going to the airport in hopes of getting on an earlier flight is just likely to make a long travel day even longer and more frustrating.

milepig

Often1

Yes, in the fare rules Pretty much all international connections worldwide have permitted 24 hours for 50+ years, so it's not really an issue, although always worth looking.

milepig

xliioper

Generally speaking, international flights (except Canada) allow for layovers of up to 24 hours on a fare. Domestic and Canada flights typically only allow for layovers of up to 4 hours on a fare. If it's longer than that, it creates a fare break and you need to purchase a separate fare for each segment.

raehl311

Well, any international connection <24 hours is legal.

But OP would still be on the hook for $75*4 in SDC fees to change his ATL-IAD segment to tonight, unless he managed to talk someone into a change due to weather.

The best advice here is don't book 90 minute connections to once-a-day flights, but it's a bit late for OP on that one.


There is a 4:05 PM IAD-PEK flight, although it's already pretty full so if you misconnect you might not find space on it.

OP may want to consider on what circumstances he'd split the family up to get there.

username

Definitely want to be proactive at ATL if the ATL-IAD flight is late. Don't let them give you the "they will take care of you at IAD" thing as that probably would mean a 1 day delay at least.

Since it would be weather and you are not top tier elite with United, UA won't be responsible for meals or hotels. Hopefully your credit card covers these expenses.

If this happens, do your own research first on UA / ANA / AC flights that can get you there as some agents need prompting on finding the routing.

Kacee

If it's longer than that, it's a stopover. It may or not create a fare break, depending on the fare rules.

milepig

milepig

exwannabe

If OP cares, the weather today has been a mixture of cloudy/lightrain, heavy rain and thunderstorms. The map for tomorrow looks similar. Even if it does not effect ATL proper, It can effect the airspace or IAD.

If I was OP I would be very proactive on this one.

EDIT: LMAOAM (Laughing My ... Off At Myself). AS the OP is presently in the ATL area, he obviously knows the local weather. Sorry for the waste of time :-)

pmarrsouth

If they just turn up at IAD without taking the original ATL flight (or some other pre-arranged agreement with UA) then the ticket would be cancelled

PsiFighter37

Checking the weather forecast - I'd hop on a plane and get to IAD or DCA tonight. Ideally - transfer to the first ATL-EWR flight tomorrow, and fly EWR-PEK. {T}he EWR weather tomorrow is supposed to be better.

jsloan

Correct. However, if would not have been out of the realm of possibility for UA to agree to move the ATL-IAD segment to tonight. I think that's what the original suggestion was, but the language wasn't entirely clear.