kelbo

Hello Everyone,

I have FF tickets on hold to go to Paris over Thanksgiving. I live in Palm Springs CA. Originally I was looking at flying out of LAX with good connection times. LAX is at least a 2 hour drive minimum from my home. This flight connected in Chicago.

then I found a flight from PSP to DFW to CDG. This is ideal because PSP is a very small airport literally 15 minutes from my house and I could take a taxi to the airport versus leaving my car for 8 days at LAX.

The problem is that the connection in DFW to the Paris flight is only 40 minutes. I already called American because I thought this was a very short connection time but she said it is a legal connection. All international flights leave out of the D gates. I think my flight would be arriving in the C gates. If I miss the flight to CDg the next flight isnt until the next day at 5pm.

Would you risk the connection time for the convenience or be safe and fly out of LAX?

Gardyloo

I would take the PSP flight. If you misconnected, it would be on AA to get you to Paris; rather than make you wait a day they'd probably put you on a London flight (numerous, either on AA or BA metal) and get you to Paris from London. But 40 min. is indeed "legal" at DFW, and with the Skylink trains you can get pretty quickly from one terminal to another.

"Over Thanksgiving" is a bit open-ended. Obviously some days in that period will be pretty chaotic at major airports; I'd definitely pick an airside transfer at DFW over having to drive to LAX and deal with <i>that</i> airport during a holiday period.

kelbo

I am actually traveling on Thanksgiving Day which I have done before and tends to be a lighter travel day if I remeber correctly. I never thought about AA connecting me to London as an option if I miss the flight .Good advice, thanks,

Travelnut

The short connection is better if you are carryon only...

Rastaguytoday

Have your bags booked through to Paris from PSP.

Before you go, get a map of the DFW airport, where the gates are, and how the AAtrain system works.

Looking at AA.... http://www.aa.com/i18n/aboutUs/where...rminal_DFW.jsp

The trains travel in a counterclockwise manner. It will be tight, but certainly doable. Notify the FA on the PSP-DFW flight, try to sit at the front of that plane, and move quickly.

If you use the AAtrain, make sure you know where the escalator to the train is. It will be on the right. Keep both eyes out, looking for the signs. Trains come every couple of minutes.

Gates change all the time, so check a day before your trip to see the next day's gates. They may still change on the day of the trip, but that doesn't usually occur.

Check-in for the DFW-CDG flight the day before. Show your passport to the ticket desk at PSP, to make sure there are no hangups.

If necessary, run like hell.

kelbo

Thanks! I think Im going to go for it and book PSP. I will let you know how it turns out!

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Rastaguy, I think you might be thinking of the old TrAAin at DFW. That hasn't existed in years. The airport now has the Skylink system that connects all the terminals. Trains run in both directions, not just counterclockwise the way the TrAAin did.

doug_stallings

kelbo, there's just no way I'd book this itinerary. I hope you haven't pressed that button yet. AA is about to do a major round of layoffs and has a lot of worker issues, causing many cancelled flights and missed connections. Plus, air traffic is particularly heavy during the holidays. I think the chance that something could go wrong is far too great for this fall.

Beyond that, frequent fliers (unless they are Platinum level or above) have the lowest priority in getting rerouted, so you might actually sit for a day at DFW waiting for a flight out. On a frequent flier ticket, the airline doesn't have to put you on a competitor's flight, though AA could put you on a BA flight out of DFW connecting through London.

All in all, I think this is a disastrous idea given the particular circumstances facing American right now.

doug_stallings

But I would add that I have both made and missed 40-minute connections in DFW. The connection process is much improved over the old AATrain days, but it's still a very big airport that requires a lot of walking.

WillTravel

How prevalent are storms at DFW at this time? Mind you, if the other alternative is Chicago, it probably doesn't matter. I've had serious delays due to storms in both cities.

doug_stallings

Storms aren't a major issue in the DFW area during Thanksgiving. Thunderstorm season is over, and winter weather rarely arrives that soon. And I wouldn't worry about air traffic delays out of Palm Springs if the flight is nonstop to DFW.

But general air traffic delays both in and out of major airports during the Thanksgiving holiday period, which is typically the busiest travel time of the year, can be serious.

P_M

The trains at DFW are very speedy and they do go both directions. If there are no serious delays it is quite doable, but as Doug mentioned AA is in a bit of turmoil right now.

RoamsAround

For what it is worth, at DFW the SkyLink trains run every 2 minutes. It takes no more than 8 or 9 minutes to make a complete loop - average "ride time" is about 5 minutes.

kelbo

Oh dear. I booked the ticket. I really appreciate all of the feedback. I will let you know how it turns out.

Kelly

P_M

Please do post back, we always appreciate updates.

kelbo

Well. We just received an email from AA stating there has been a schedule change to the itinerary. Our original flight was to arrive DFW at 4:20 but changed to 4:25 so American has moved us to the 725 am flight. We now have a 4 1/2 layover at DFW. I'm not complaining ! I think this has really worked out for the best and I'm very glad to be flying out of my local PSP airport.

Thanks for all of the advice

doug_stallings

Yes, I think this is the best possible outcome. You should have no problems now. It's pain to fly out so early, but it's worth it to have a smoother connection and time to get a bite to eat and relax before getting back on a plane.