Flight Connection Times For Overseas Travel: 1 hour, 5 min. SERIOUSLY??

Hi Alexandra,
To answer your last question first, most airlines do this. They're called "married segments," but there is a work-around.
Do a "Multiiple Destination" search, and break up your outbound and inbound flights into the segments you want. Don't know where on the West Coast you are, but use the segments that United is giving you (LAX-ORD-FRA-FCO, as an example) and type them in as separate flights on the search page. You can do up to 6 segments total (inbound and outbound) on one ticket, so you can do three each way, max. This will break the married segments up, and give you the individual options between the various cities. I do this as well, because there is no way I'm taking some of the ridiculously short connections that are considered legal.

BTW, you might have already discovered this, but if flying United, they have direct flights from Newark, Washington Dulles, and O'Hare to Rome, but they are seasonal.

As an add- on to Eric's post, Air France flies out of Newark (my experience many times) to France with a change at CDG to the next destination. I would have at least a 2-1/2 hr connection at your first stop in Europe as you be going through Customs & Immigration there.

I mention Air France (& KLM) because they are flying partners of Delta.

Happy New Year & may you make all your connections, Alexandra!

Alexandra,

Have you looked at other flight search engines? did you try skyscanner.com or kayak.com?

Depending on where you are flying out of you may have more transfers than you will want. Sometimes life isnt fair, but thats life.

I wanted to go to Greece (Athens) next year, but trying to direct flights from nearby places wasnt fun and an airline had outrageous fairs for a 1 ~2 hour hop. So for my trip next year, its off my list.

When looking at flights, if there is a box to check "nearby" airports ALWAYS select that unless you MUST fly into a specific airport.

One comment. If you book your trip from home to Rome as one ticket, the airlines is responsible to get you to your final destination on their dime. Just something to think about.

On my trip to Munich this past Sept, i had an approx 1 hr connection in Amsterdam. I asked the airlines about that connection and they said as long as everything was on schedule, i had enough time. I did too.

good luck and happy trails.

If you search for flights on kayak.com, one of the parameters you can set is for connection time between flights. You can set that to show only flights that fit within your desired range of minimum and maximum connection times.

We regularly fly from SFO. There are United and Lufthansa flights direct to Frankfurt. From there, I'm pretty sure you can go straight to Rome. Also, Air France flies direct to CDG; and again, you can get straight to Rome from there. We have been given some quite short connection times, but we've always made it. As someone else told you, if the flights are on one ticket, the airline has to get you where you're headed. I'm also sure that both airports mentioned have several flights each day to Rome.

I don't know why airlines do what they do, but I do know the shortness or tightness of a connection is more of a concern on your way over to Europe, than it is on your way back home. This has to do with the possibility of not getting your checked luggage, missing your first night's hotel reservation, etc.

LAX to Heathrow. Heathrow to Rome on BA. Can use Yodel at Heathrow. Just know which Terminal your Rome flight departs from. Or LAX to NYC to Rome. As suggested check Skyscanner and Kayak. I'm certain you'll find flights that won't cause a panic.

Thanks for the responses so far. On my trip to Italy two years ago I traveled from my smaller town to LAX to catch a direct flight to Munich. The short 1 hour flight to LAX was delayed in my town and because they only allowed 40 min to connect to the Lufthansa flight, they told me I had to leave and 'try again tomorrow', as there was no way for me to make my longer flight. Great; so I missed the first full day of my escorted tour. Ugh.

When I left the next day, I arrived OK at LAX but it was at Terminal 4 and I needed to get to Bradley Int'l. I basically jogged there and just barely made it through security and onto the flight.

And that was just getting there. The return trip(s) were horrible (as detailed in my first post).

I have not found any non-stop flights to Rome out of SF or LAX.

Ugh, transferring terminals at LAX. My heart goes out to you...

Alitalia does fly non-stop LAX-FCO, but I believe this is also seasonal. You'd have to check the dates your trip is planned to see if that works for you. Also, Alitalia is a SkyTeam member, so not related to United (I don't know if you have to use United/Star Alliance flights or not.)

Alexandra,

one other comment.

You dont say where you live in Ca, but look at all of your options as to airports in your area.

This is how I'm wired and think. I try to get as close to where i want to go - period. The way i figure it, if I'm on the continent and if something goes wrong I'm on the continent. Worse case i can take a train or bus. Its hard to find a trans oceanic bus or train at this time, but once you're on dry land overthere, finding alternative transportation is easy. If you have to make a short hop to JFK or DFW or any other US airport to get a direct flight to ROME then i would do it and if you're worried about missing your connection, leave a day early and spend overnight there. you can always spend an afternoon or day in some other US city and do a short visit.

I felt as you about my trips via AMS and for the first 2 trips over in Europe, i would spend the night(s) in AMS and get my flight out the next AM. No problem and was always able to make my flight the next day. As i mentioned i had a short layover in AMS this year and made it. Next year i may have a similar layover to Lisbon but will again, try it.

good luck and happy trails.

In Claudia's post above, for 'Yodel' read 'Yotel'. I've spent one night there between a late-arriving flight and an early departure the next day. Just have all you need for the night easily accessible, as there's not much room to open up baggage.

Alexandra,

I'm not thoroughly familiar with the flight options from LAX, but it appears that one of the few airlines that has direct flights from there is Alitalia, with a travel time of about 12 hours. There are many other flights but they all seem to have a layover in one of the major hubs (AMS, FRA, etc.), but of course longer travel times. While the Alitalia flight will be the easiest, I'd suggest checking passenger reviews, as they seem to be somewhat "mediocre", especially for those travelling in Economy. You could also have a look at KLM (stop at AMS) or Lufthansa (stop at FRA).

FWIW, I just about always have to deal with three flights when travelling to and from Europe. I had a flight to Rome a couple of years ago that had a ONE HOUR connection at FRA. I asked both the travel agent and the flight attendant whether this was reasonable and was told that it was a "legal connection", and that since the connection was in FRA it would probably be fine. As it turned out, I was able to make the next flight but I didn't waste any time getting through security and to the next gate. I wasn't overly concerned about the connection as it was a code share flight and if I missed the connecting flight, the airline would take care of getting me on the next one (and they would have to deal with getting my checked luggage onto a different aircraft). Since there are likely several flights every day from FRA to FCO, the delay probably would have only been a few hours.

If you do decide to book a flight with a connection, I'd suggest not connecting at LHR or CDG. I almost always have to connect at FRA, and while it's a large airport the process seems to be relatively straight forward. AMS is also relatively easy, although it's a single terminal airport so some walking is required.

Good luck!

Fat fingers typing on a mini iPad. Yodel. Yotel. Oops. No harm, no foul. Using Kayak and today's date did a one way ticket from LAX to Rome. Ignored the ridiculous airfare costs and found flights to Heathrow that provided a 2.5 layover. Then a flight to Rome. All told 15 hours of air travel, plus its an overnight from LAX so you would get some sleep. Sign up for Kayak alerts. I have done so for years. Taken one or two flights noted because price and timing were right. Yes, flying into large airports can be daunting. I'd rather have teeh pulled without novicane than use LAX but its where I live so I grit my teeth and deal with it. 3 years ago returning from an RS tour of Turkey arrived at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Three plane loads of passengers landed at the same time, out of the 12 desks, 4 were open, no "special" lines for returning US citizens, complete muck up but it gets worse. When the agent looks at my card he gets this odd look on his face and asks in broken English, "you bring home Turkey?" I laugh and say, "No I went to Turkey." " You bring home Turkey?!" Now I'm not laughing. He's serious. I'm tired, peeved at the lack of organization ( its been a 45 minute wait). Not to mention the fact that my tax dollars are paying for this clueless idiot to ask this inane question. Quietly with a forced smile I say again, "I am not bringing in a Turkey, its a country, I WENT TO Turkey." " Turkey? You have Turkey?" Before I headline the 5 o'clock news the agent next to this guy had apparently over heard the exchange, leans over and whispers something to my uneducated agent. My passport is returned, a wave of a hand and I'm through the madness. No apology. Zilch.

Information is power so once you decide on your flight find out everything you can about the airport you are flying into and out of to Rome. Print a map of the Terminals. Find out modes of transport between them. Walkways? Shuttles? Buses? Trams? Pack lightly so you don't have to wait for luggage.

Or maybe, just maybe, for the sake of your sanity you fly to an East coast airport, stay at a nearby hotel and take your direct flight to Rome from there. Might be worth the extra money.

Typos are not always due to "fat fingers." Ipads guess at what you really mean and will replace what you type with something that makes sense to Ipad. I've made some hilarious typos this way. Constance vigilance is required!

Very helpful travel information, thanks. I am checking flights from Chicago ORD to Barcelona and return from Rome FCO to Chicago ORD and have also found a variety of connecting times from 1 hr 15 min to 7 hrs. Some connect via Newark, NJ or Washington, DC then non-stop to Barcelona or non-stop on Lufthansa from ORD to Frankfort and then to Barcelona. I have read and heard that you are better off to take a non-stop from US to Europe and then connect rather than connecting in US and then non-stop to Europe? This is also via United website.

I have recently learned to my horror that Alitalia does not permit online checkin if they are a leg of a trip from or to the U.S. It made my one hour to change to Alitalia agony. This was in Rome.I had no time to deal well with the change of gate. No text or email. Same thing tomorrow, as I have to give Alitalia the two hour treatment early tomorrow am. I never could have researched that linchpin of a detail.

Yes, Ruth, it's generally thought that a direct flight to Europe with a connecting flight from there is better than a segment within the U.S. The rationale is that once you get to e.g., FRA, there are likely to be many alternatives, should any delays cause you to miss your connection. Should that happen with a connection from a U.S. airport, the options will be much more limited. Also, the EU passenger protection rules are much stronger than ours, so you would get better treatment, if you can't make a connection there.

Thanks Rosalyn. Will check into this further.