Help! Airline rebooked us - Are these connection times realistic?

As you are traveling on the one ticket, it is ultimately their problem to sort things out, give you accommodation, and put you on another flight if you miss the connection.

Having said that, it is frustrating to go through the hassle of a missed connection and the knock on effect it can have on your holiday.

I dislike connections to international flights of under 2 hours (or 90 minutes at a minimum), as there is too high a likelihood that you will be left scrambling and stressed.

We were given a new flight connection because of a cancelled flight on an international flight this summer that we weren't comfortable with. We called and they said there was a flight that left within 20 minutes of our original, comfortable connection but when one of our original flights was cancelled, they chose to put us on one that left sooner but to our thinking it was too soon and too tight of a connection. We asked to have our flight changed to the one that gave us the longer connection time and they did. Have you looked at their website to see if their is a different flight they could book you on?

If not, like other posters have said, it is the airline's responsibility to get you on to your destination as expediently as they can. Do they have a code share partner going from Philadelphia to Lisbon?

When traveling from a remote gate to remote gate in USairways terminal 4, I'm ok with a 1hr minimum connection time through Phoenix. I checked the status of yesterday's flights you are booked on and they came in and departed from reasonably close gates in concourse A. One hour would be enough time if your flight from Spokan isn't delayed. I'm not as familiar with Philadelphia's terminal having only flown through there once on an international flight.

Would the airline let you change your ticket to depart on the 28th giving you a big buffer in Philadelphia?

If you have to go with your current schedule ask for seats more towards the front of the plane when you call tomorrow. I think your flight is fairly full though.

If your Phoenix flight comes in to Terminal A as the one cited above, it will be A East, I can't find where the Lisbon flight departs from until later today. It may be A East, which keeps you close, or it may be A West, which is not too far to go, you just cannot dog it if the connection tightens. Becomes longer walk if the Phoenix flight comes in to B or C terminals, as some do.

The bigger problem is that if the Phoenix flight is late and the Lisbon flight is not delayed (yesterday's Lisbon flight had a 3 hour delay here), you will be stuck. Your flight is the only flight out of Philly to Lisbon, you'll be waiting for the next evening, unless they rig some crazy multiple flight correction, the only later flights going to Europe are a 10PM BA to London, a 9:30PM Delta to Paris, and 9:05 and 9:10 US Airs to Dublin and Shannon. (I am in Philly, and I have the PHL flight guide)

Can you get them to rearrange to earlier flights out of Spokane and then Phoenix, possibly the day before?

This happened to me, also. I think what happens is that when a flight is cancelled, the computer just picks the connections for you, and doesn't take into account the close times.

I just went online and looked at other flights that worked better with the airline. Called them and talked to customer service and they changed it immediately.

I hate it when they do that. Yes, i think changing planes in less than an hour would be nerve wracking and would want it changed immediately.

Hi Terri

It looks like there is a American Airlines flight (operating as US Air) leaving at 6:00 am and getting into Philadelphia at 4:30. It has one stop in Seattle. You might call them and see if they can change you to this flight even though you would have to leave earlier. At least it would give you more time to catch your flight to Lisbon.

American Airlines – Flight 7083 (economy)
Operated by Alaska Airlines
6:00a
6:59a
Boeing 737 (Narrow-body Jet) | 0h 59m
Change planes
American Airlines – Flight 1883 (economy)
Operated by US Airways
8:20a
4:30p
Airbus A321-100/200 (Narrow-body Jet) | 5h 10m

I did not have time earlier to research other flight options. Leslie's plan looks great (other than this becomes a ridiculously long day).

Keep in mind that AA and USAir are now one and the same, and with your initial routing cancelled a human being at either of their call centers should have no problem switching you on to that earlier routing. 4+ hours to switch flights in Philly will not be a problem, other than boredom.

There is an alternative to that long day, asking them to switch you to a later flight, Spokane to Phoenix 3:10-5:47PM, and then put you on their codeshare with BA to London at 7:40 PM., arrive Heathrow 1:25PM and catch BA's 3:25PM to Lisbon, arrive 6:05. Connection times are okay, we've done 90 minutes scheduled at Heathrow on a weekday morning with no problem, and as the latter two flights are both BA you should be staying in T5. In both this scenario and Leslie's your luggage should be checked all the way through.

I think the US airways and AA schedules are getting shifted around due to the merger. We have an October domestic flight from Ohio back to Seattle on American Airlines that just got changed, leaving us with 40 minutes to change planes at DFW. This is an award booking with Alaska miles so I had to work with available award seats, so I found a routing I like online before calling, and it was easy to change. Now we are returning through Phoenix which I like better.

I suggest you check out the other options, including the ones suggested here, and prioritize them before calling. Start by asking for your first choice, but have others in mind in case that doesn't work.

United-Continental merger a few years ago caused scheduling headaches. My flight was changed and the first flight was delayed because of weather. I missed my connection at IAD and collapsed while waiting at Customer Service 2 hours. Finally arrived at Washington hotel very late and got almost no sleep. The second flight the following day was delayed for mechanical reasons and we finally arrived in London at midnight. Without a hotel, I paid a fortune for a bed but should have had the airline find me a room. The whole thing was a nightmare.

If I had it to do over, after learning of the schedule change I would call and try to get a better flight or change airlines.

Ugh. Two connections of less than an hour both in the U.S. That is terrible flight routing.

I would get on the AA website and search for alternatives from Spokane to Lisbon. When you call the airline, tell them of your concern about missing your connections (two connections under an hour) and missing the transatlantic flight. Ask if there is an alternative. If they don't suggest one to your liking, you can ask about the routes you found in your research.

I've read somewhere on the United Airlines website or elsewhere in their literature that they do not book/offer unrealistic connections. This was obviously not the case last year on a flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco that had a connection in Washington DC. The total connection time was 50 minutes. This would have been pushing it for a simple domestic flight but on an international to domestic flight, where you have to take transportation between terminals and also go through customs, 50 minutes is laughable.

For one, sitting in the back of the plane it took at least 20 minutes to even get off the plane, then you have to take some kind of bus/transport from one terminal to another (anyone who's flown thru DC on an international connection would be familiar with this) which involves waiting for said transport to arrive, then waiting for it to fill up w/ people before it can depart, and then wait for your luggage at the other end, pick it up, go through customs, then enter the domestic terminals to your connecting flight. A lot of people on our flight ended up missing that connection.

So, like the others have pointed out, it depends on where the arrival and departure gates are, relative to each other, on these connections.

Terri,

Yes, US Airways and American are combining their schedules and all US Air flights are being given American flight numbers. They are also consolidating the schedules so there are also a lot of flight cancellations and computer generated re-bookings. My upcoming trip to Italy has had four schedule changes so far...

Just call the airline (probably American). They have an obligation to work this out for you. In each case, my re-scheduled itinerary needed to be modified, in one case a connecting flight departed 5 hours before I landed, and American had no issue correcting things over the phone. No fuss, no muss, and most importantly, no additional charge.

Good luck,
Todd

PHX and PHL are perhaps (no definitely) the worst airports in the US in which to change planes.

Fortunately, in Phoenix your gates are probably fairly close together. Today they were A1 and A24. A24 is at the root of one concourse, A24 is half way out the advacent concourse. (When I used PHX, my flights used the two concourse farthest apart in Terminal 4 and both flights used the farthest out gates of that terminal. The barely moving sidewalks were slower than walking, so you have to chose between a very long walk or a very time consuming "ride".

In Philly, you would also be going from the end of a concourse (C) to the end of another concourse (A East) which are only two concourses apart. (I once had to go from the outer end of F to A West. I had four hours, so time was not a problem, but it was the longest I've ever walked and still been in the airport.)

I think, however, that if you have checked luggage and you don't show up on time at the gate, they will have to wait until you show up. They can't take off with the luggage of someone who didn't board the plane, ala Lockerbie.)

Well... they can take off from Phoenix to Philadelphia with your luggage and without you. That matching function is not performed on every domestic flight.

Thank you all for your helpful information and suggestions. I also enjoyed reading everyone's experiences (aka horror stories) with flight changes. Anyway, so I did call US Airways this morning and held on while I was informed that the expected wait for a representative would be 51-60 minutes. In about 30 minutes (guess I was lucky), I had a representative pick up and cheerfully offer to rebook me, except that she offered me no options. Leslie, I really liked the flight that you had researched and outlined that left Spokane at 6:00 am, and I requested to be rebooked on that flight itinerary. At first, the rep couldn't even locate the flight, and she informed me that she had to go on the AA site. After she checked the AA site, she got back to me and informed me that they could not rebook me on that flight because the flight from Spokane to Seattle was on Alaska Air, and "that is not our airline." I pointed out that the itinerary was on the AA booking site, and I said that I thought since US Air and AA had merged, it should not be an issue. The rep, however, said that since it was a schedule change, it could not be done. It was only possible if it was originally booked through AA. So, now I am taking a flight on Friday, 8/28 that will take me from Spokane to Phoenix where I will spend the night so that I can take the flights I had originally booked from PHX to PHL and PHL to LIS on 8/29. It means using up one more vacation day and paying extra for a hotel room near the PHX airport, but I guess it is worth it in order to not have the stress of possibly missing a flight and spending 24 hours in the Philly airport. I thought it would be good information to share that on a flight schedule change they will not rebook you on a non-alliance partner, although they offer such flights.

BTW, we plan to check luggage, and I was informed that the airline will not hold our luggage and put it on the flight to PHIL from PHX, but rather that we will need to claim our bags in PHX and then recheck them in the morning when we board our flight to PHIL. Does anyone know if this is indeed the case? I am just not confident in anything the airline reps tell me these days.
Thank you all again so much!
Terri

i believe what they said about your bags would be correct, since you are not on a through flight from Spokane. You are on a flight to Phoenix. The next day you are on a flight from Phoenix to Lisbon. At least, I believe that is how they are viewing this.

Hi Terri,

I'm glad they were willing and able to accommodate your flight change.

I've had short connections like that and 9/10 they work out fine, but I've also missed my fair share as well. Most often I've made my connection and my checked bag takes an extra day to get to me.

I was sure they'd want to charge you a change fee, so I'm glad it worked out.

In case you're a Alaska Mileage Plan member, just a heads up that you won't be able to earn Alaska Air miles yet on these flights. If you have an AAdvantage account you'll want that on your booking.

After October 17th American and the old US systems will be merged and at that point Alaska Mileage Plan miles will be awarded from the former-US Air routes.

Agree, on the part about baggage and through-flights. Your first flight that has now been rebooked to a separate date and requiring you to spend the night, is a completely separate ticket, which is why you need to collect your baggage and rechecked the next day. In essence, you are now taking two separate trips. A real drag I know, but with much more peace of mind.

Hi Terri, Glad this worked out. With regard to the luggage, even if you could check your bag all the way through to LIsbon, I'd pick it up in Phoenix. I know more people who have had their luggage lost on long connections than on short ones.

As for the hotel by the airport, I've had great success getting very nice airport hotels at bargain prices using Priceline's name your own price option. Hotwire is another option to consider.

Thanks all. Glad to hear that I can claim my luggage and then check it in again when I fly out to PHIL. Laura, will check out Priceline and Hotwire for airport hotels as you suggested. Gotta love flying these days!