fluffybunnt22

Today we are flying home from Dubrovnik through Newark to Charlotte via Polaris. Originally we had a 5 hour layover in Newark but that flight got cancelled and now we have a little less than 2 hours to get through customs and to the Charlotte flight. Will we make it? What happens if we miss our connection? Does United help get me home or would I have to rely on my travel insurance?

wcj1

Your flight was cancelled because of air traffic control, so I don't think United will put you on another airline, but they could route you EWR-IAD-CLT, if you misconnect, or EWR-CLT nonstop the next day. Your travel insurance will hopefully cover your hotel, if you have to overnight.

However, you don't mention if you have Global Entry or PreCheck. You do have 1:54 between flights and you say you are Polaris which will mean you are one of the first off the flight. If you don't have Global Entry, I do hope you have downloaded the Mobile Passport app to help expedite your entry into the USA. Then a quick train ride over to C and hopefully you have PreCheck. It should be doable if everything is on schedule. Since you new EWR-CLT flight is an E70, boarding won't even start until 25 minutes before departure if I remember correctly.

Kmxu

Mobile Passport: CBP MPC. It can be used for an entire family. There is a special lane for MPC holder. Must be US citizen or Canadian visitors.
Good luck.

VRFast

Assuming you use this particular app, you can save your passport info in the app preflight so you don't have to stress with it on the airplane/running to passport control at EWR.
Just realized OP is probably in flight...anyway, looks like it's slated to arrive at Terminal C, which may change.

halls120

You should be OK, but that depends entirely on UA's EWR ground crew and baggage handlers. Last August I flew UA 961 FRA-EWR connecting to RDU with a 1h50min connection which failed miserably, thanks to those two groups. Our FRA flight landed 10mins late, then we waited 15 mins to be marshalled into the gate. Then we waited 60+ mins for the baggage to arrive. I have GE, but since I had to change terminals to reach the connecting flight, I missed it, which meant I got to spend a lovely 6 hours at EWR waiting for the later connection UA booked me on.

Good luck

dblumenhoff

UA is responsible for getting you to your destination. It may not happen today, and they're not responsible for your hotel while you wait.

jsloan

1. UA is responsible to get you home if you misconnect.
2. There's a good chance you make your connection, in part because there's a decent chance your CLT flight will be delayed anyway.
3. If you mis-connect:
   1. Croatia is in the EU, and according to court interpretations of EC.261, your connecting flight would be covered, which would give UA a duty of care until you arrive home. Therefore, they would be responsible for food and hotel (save your receipts).
   2. Even if Croatia weren't in the EU, or if UA were to argue the point, *A rules call for business class passengers to receive a duty of care even for uncontrollable delays. Again, UA should be responsible for food and hotel.
   3. Whereas ATC is generally considered an uncontrollable event, when they're saying they couldn't get clearance 10+ hours prior to departure, a European court may disagree. So, if do misconnect, and you want to try to get €600 per passenger in compensation, you could try filing a lawsuit. Whether or not it's worth it probably depends upon how many travelers are in your party. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that UA is lying; rather, UA files so many departures in and out of EWR, especially in the summer, that any adverse weather has totally predictable consequences: flights get canceled because they can't operate their whole schedule at a reduced rate of departures.

dblumenhoff

Unlikely. The flight was canceled 3 days ago.

mduell

OP is predicted to arrive about 15 min early into EWR, so they should have a good chance to make it.

Lux Flyer

If this were an economy ticket, this would be correct. But it's Polaris. Premium cabin passengers can be rerouted on other airlines for an uncontrollable delay if the rebooking UA offers is going to be > 4 hours to final destination. Given this would be occurring at EWR (after already flying the over-water segment) there should be little pushback. Granted there needs to be availability released to UA by the other airline, and it needs to be a substantial time savings (i.e. if the other airline is only going to get you in 3 hrs 50 mins late instead of 4 hrs 10 mins late, probably won't get rebooked on the other airline).

Granted, this point is moot for this specific itinierary since the most likely option to do this reroute on would be AA's EWR-CLT flights, which have been delayed all morning, and next flights are 5:20pm and 7:30pm, so no better option than the remaining UA flights.

Wrong for multiple reasons. Departure point is an EU member, so EU261 duty-to-care regulations would apply, which include providing lodging in the case of an overnight delay regardless of cause (though cash compensation wouldn't be required if it was uncontrollable). Additionally this passenger is flying in Polaris, so they are eligible for a hotel voucher regardless of the reason for the overnight delay, even if EU261 did not apply.

fluffybunnt22

We arrived early but there was a plane at our gate so we ended up deplaning late because there was a delay getting us to our gate. We managed to get through customs in a decent time but United gave us the wrong information about which belt our bags were on so that wasted time. We hit a snag at TSA precheck because my 19 year old was selected for extra screening in Dubrovnik which meant his precheck didn't show up his boarding pass from EWR to CLT. TSA's suggestion was to leave him to do the screening on his own thereby abandoning him in EWR because there was no way he would make the flight. We had to rush to get his boarding pass reissued and run to the gate to find out our plane hadn't even landed yet because it got diverted to Wilkes Barre. Super not pleasant experience at EWR and my luggage still has not arrived. I couldn't sleep last night because I realized between the 3 of us there's like a grand worth of special expensive vacation underwear in the luggage that would need to be replaced.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

That’s a new one….

StuMcIlwain

Your luggage will show up in a few days. I've had my luggage delayed countless times over the years ... it has always made it eventually.

fluffybunnt22

Wicking underwear that also prevent chafe are not cheap. We each have multiple pairs. Because of how expensive they are we only use them on vacation to help them last longer. I get really cranky when my undergarments are wet. Between the underwear which would need to be replaced and the brand new bag that they are packed in I'm assuming we would quickly max out on what United and our insurance covers for lost luggage without even factoring in the rest of what was packed in the luggage that would need to be replaced.

WineCountryUA

UA will provide $1,500, no questions asked after 5 days. Even if the bag is eventually returned.
More if you have documentation / itemized receipts.

see Consolidated UA Lost/Delayed Baggage Issues

particularly the wiki