Booking Flights With Ample Connection Time!

[artnbarb]

I'm currently searching for flights - one to Mexico in Feb, and one to London in April. I want to set up alerts, but right now I'm discouraged because all the flights I'm seeing that are in my price range have ridiculously short layovers. I need to arrive in Mexico City earlier rather than later in the day, which limits my options.

I started out trying to use miles, but one flight had a 35 min layover in Charlotte, and the other had a 45 minute layover in Miami. I don't think either flight gives enough time to get to the connecting gate, unless it's right next to the arrival gate, even IF we did land on time! Now I'm searching for fares using dollars, but I'm not having any better luck. Either the layovers are ridiulously short, or the prices are outrageous (maybe those flights have better layover, but I haven't even looked!)

How can the airlines get away with advertising these flights??? At this rate I'll need to either buy a pricier fare, or arrive one day earlier, in which case the added cost for an extra night in the hotel will increase my costs. A friend who's a TA wants $75 per ticket to search, which may be the norm, but I'm not sure how she could find better connection times.

Anyone else have experience with this unrealistic connection times?

 

[BryanS]

This is always an issue for us, especially with my added disability service needs at the airports. The fares that are advertised are never realistic and we have to shop awhile to find the right combination of connection times, connecting cities and price. Seems to get more complicated every year.

 

[Andrew]

You're booking early enough that there are pretty sure to be schedule changes. It looks like this is on American, and they're reportedly pretty open to changing your booking, especially the domestic feeder flight, after a schedule change, even if it's a small change that slightly increases your connecting time, but that isn't guaranteed. After a schedule change, a direct message on X (Twitter) with a specific flight request might work. You could also ask for wheelchair assistance, both as a reason for needing a longer connection and to help you with an eventual tight connection.

ETA: I'm seeing the schedules I think you're dealing with (from Louisville?), and you're probably starting with the first flight of the day; add that to needing to get to MEX before a certain time, and I'm not sure that a schedule change will be very promising. Delta and United have schedules with longer connections in the morning, but I don't know how the fares compare for your date of travel.

 

[artnbarb]

Ok, thanks for letting me vent! I'm going to end up with 3 separate flights, but will also use up the few FF miles we have left.

I booked Louisville to DFW using miles, going a day early. We'll leave Louisville around 6 p.m., arriving at DFW around 9. We'll stay at the airport Hyatt and have plenty of DFW-MEX flights to choose from. I haven't booked that leg yet, but have plenty of options for a more relaxing morning with an afternoon arrival.

 

[Andrew]

That's a good solution. A blog post about Charlotte Airport:

Charlotte Airport Chaos: New Law Lets Passengers Drink To Cope With Misery Of American Airlines Hub - View from the Wing

You can drink while 'walking around' or, I suppose, while rocking in a rocking chair. And you're then more likely to bring that booze on board and serve yourself.

viewfromthewing.com