Trying to talk my sister out of a one hour and three minute connection in Philadelphia

Yeah, that's a tight connection at PHL but probably doable. She can check her luggage through at ORD so just have to hustle from Terminal C to Terminal A west to catch the flight to Rome. It's not impossibly far and part of it is a moving walkway. I'm guessing they would wait a few minutes for her if she was slightly late and hustling.

She could take an earlier flight from ORD to PHL and have a much easier connection. PHL is not a bad airport.

If she doesn't want a longer connection, at least she should be assertive at ORD if her flight out to PHL is running late and ask to get on the flight to London and connect to a BA flight to Rome instead of getting stuck at PHL. Perhaps they would try to re-book her automatically if she was running too late to make her connection.

Has your sister and niece paid any attention to the news out of airports over the last few days? Delays and cancellations everywhere! Maybe next week will be better, but it’s WINTER. If everything runs smoothly and on time, an hour MIGHT be okay. But the least glitch on her first flight out of Chicago will likely make the connection impossible.

I have flown out of Philadelphia a few times and, if I remember correctly, you can walk between the terminals, but there is quite a distance to cover. Keep in mind that, if your niece is not sitting near the front of the plane, it might take some time to even get off her plane. Also, international flights start boarding a good hour before takeoff, so they may already begin boarding before your niece’s Chicago flight gets to its gate. If your niece arrives at the Rome flight’s gate after they have closed the door, they won’t let her on, even if the plane is still sitting there.

So, I’m with you - a longer layover would be better, but it might be too late (or too expensive) to make a change. At the very least, your niece should plan what she would do if she misses the connection. Yes, the airline has the responsibility to get her on the next available flight - but that flight might be the next day (if there are any seats available on it!) Would she go to an airport hotel? Have friends who can host her? …???

Former airline employee here. I would worry more about checked luggage problems than anything else. If the passenger is re-routed due to misconnecting, it could be days before checked bag(s) get to the destination. If she insists on keeping this short connect in PHL, make sure she has EVERYTHING in her carryon that she absolutely needs. Items like medications, at least one and preferably two changes of clothing, coat. She should travel assuming her checked suitcase might go missing.

I don't take international flights anymore without hiring the services of a flight concierge. For years I used Cranky Concierge, but it seems they no longer offer flight monitoring as a standalone service. I would strongly suggest doing research on whether your niece can access this type of service, an internet search should turn up companies that offer the service. It was always much cheaper to pay in advance for flight monitoring.

What does this concierge service do ? What is flight monitoring ?

To the OP - I don't know how much convincing you can do to your sister for her daughter's flight, as it's next week. As someone else said, I am guessing that any itinerary changes at this point would be expensive. Of course I guess you never know if you don't ask (maybe in light of all that is going on, the airline would be happy to save itself a future headache by rescheduling your nice on an earlier flight to Philadelphia -- but then again, there is the issue of even getting through to the airline for a non-emergency issue when there are so many current, weather-related problems they are still trying to fix) ...

There is no mention of how old your niece is. Is she an experienced traveler? Perhaps the best thing to do at this point is help her try to make this work and then have a “plan B” in mind in case it doesn’t.

If your sister just goes directly to her gate, she should be fine. At this point, it’s probably much too late for her to change her flight unless you want to give her a boatload of money.

If there’s an earlier flight that is available, that’s definitely a better option. This could also be a valuable teaching moment for her to experience on her own how to navigate through a missed flight connection and take a flight the next morning. Either way, having a change of clothes & her crucial items in a carry on backpack will be a big help.

Are we keeping score for recommendations?
1. Her carryon should include everything she might need to comfortably spend a long night in the airport and cash/cards for meals, just in case.
2. Next time, allow at least two hours. (I would not conside less than three on an international connection, but that's just me.)
3. Next time, try not to book crucial connections against a deadline. Well, not in these weather conditions and crowd situations.
4. Hope she's carrying a few N95s and hand sanitizer. The great unwashed masses are carrying a wide variety of easily trasmitted and contracted bugs.

5. Pack an extra helping of patience.

All the best to her.

Convince her to only do carry on at these difficult times for flights.

Thanks for the replies so far. It’s kind of what I expected but since I’m conservative on connections, I thought I’d get some other opinions.

They’re looking into bringing her into PHI on an earlier flight - this is a mileage flight and they have good status with American, so maybe…??? I’m not an American flyer - but I do most of my business with Delta and they’ve helped me in situations like this - for no fee at all - just to be humane:)

I’ll definitely send her with all of the flights for later that day - they’ll all be a connection somewhere else on the way to Rome. The next nonstop to Rome from PHI is 24 hours later… and there’s seats on it as of now.

Carry on only is a no go - she’s heading over for a semester of study abroad so she’s got a bit of luggage.

I’ve made the connection between a domestic flight (from Pittsburgh) to the flight to Rome in PHL a number of times and this is a tight connection. PHL is a large airport and getting to the international terminal takes time. Theoretically, it works. I’m practice, an hour is not enough. More than once, I’ve run through the airport to make the flight.

The 'good news' is the weather forecast for next week for Chicago and Philadelphia is for well above freezing.

The question is, will all the planes and crews be in the right place by then.

Great news! They were able to switch to an earlier flight out of Chicago!!

yee hah!!! zippidy-do-dah!! congratulations!!! Now less to worry about for you!!