Therese

[I started this thread over on the Airlines forum, but no bites so far, so I'm re-posting here in Europe, as this is where I tend to see these queries posted]

Every once in a while somebody asks about the feasability of making an unprotected connection, and just about everybody here at Fodor's answers "don't do it." But every once in a while even very experienced travellers end up in this situation, and this thread seeks to elicit those stories, in all their glorious, detailed horror.

For those of you who might not know what the title of this thread actually means, I'm referring to situations in which your itinerary has not been booked all together, such that an earlier delayed flight causes you to miss a later flight, and the airline(s) aren't required to accomodate you (and may charge you an arm and a leg to re-sell you a walk up ticket).

I've got a few doozies to share, but will see if anybody else wants to start.

Therese

Okay, here's my first.

I was scheduled to fly to Madrid via Delta (and then on to Lisbon via a Portuguese carrier, all booked together via Orbitz, I think) with a friend for a week's holiday. We'd been anticipating it for months, and had booked our travel several months ahead of time, and also booked an apartment. Our flight to Madrid was to leave fairly late, after 8:00 pm if I recall correctly, on a Wednesday PM.

About 10 days before the trip I was contacted about some out of town work that would require me to be in Hartford, CT on the Tuesday prior to my departure. Hartford is, unfortunately, not an easy place to get to, so I very carefully checked the flight schedules to make sure that I'd be able to get there and back in time without too much risk, and decided that it would work. I considered flying to someplace like Newark and catching a train from there as well, but in the end the flights looked okay.

So on Monday afternoon I flew US Airways from Atlanta to Philadelphia, connecting to Hartford. I worked Monday evening and then all day Tuesday, making it to the airport in time to catch my flight back to Philadelphia. When I arrived at the gate for the flight back to Atlanta, though, there appeared to be some sort of delay, and after some time had passed the US gate agents finally shared the info that there was a mechanical problem with the equipment, and that a replacement plane was on its way.

Unfortunately this was the last flight on US to Atlanta that night, and even more unfortunately the announcement was made immediately after the last flight on any carrier (Delta, as it turned out) had departed. So I got on the phone, calling the hotel airport to see if there was availabitity (there was) and Delta to see if there was availability on the first flight out in the AM (there was, at about 6:00 AM).

So I could either wait around for the new US equipment (which past experience told me might or might not show up, and might or might not get me home before 2:00 AM) or go with plan B: get a good night's sleep and fly home Wednesday AM.

So, I went with plan B, arriving in Atlanta in time to drive home, re-pack my suitcase, go to work (hah, you thought my vacation started on Wednesday?), slave away for 6 hours or so, and then fly back to the airport. By the time I got to the gate my travel buddy was beginning to consider her own plan B: where exactly was she going to sleep for the next week (since I'd arranged our lodging), and what was she going to do (since she'd left most of the other planning up to me as well)?

No problems in the end, though, and we had a great time. The night in the hotel in Philadelphia and last minute Delta flight were paid by work, so no problem there either (and so in a way I was "protected" for some of this itinerary).

Therese

Oh, and even if you don't have any horror stories to share, feel free to ask me if I'm some special sort of idiot for ending up in these situations.

Patty

I can't call anyone an idiot as I do things like book 2 hour connections on separate tickets that I always advise others against. So far I've missed one but in that case to my surprise airline A rebooked us on a later flight with airline B even though the two flights were separate tickets. I knew about the flight delay in advance so many scenarios were going through my mind as I headed to the airport, but this was definitely not one of them!

At least your original plan wasn't to return to ATL on Wednesday.

Therese

"At least your original plan wasn't to return to ATL on Wednesday."

In fact my original plan was to get all sorts of loose ends tied up at work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. What's amazing is that I still managed to get it all done.

dmlove

This is a <i>good</i> story -- I'll try to recall the bad ones later. About 10 years ago, we were booked SFO-St.Louis-London on TWA (now you know how long ago this was). We were in the check-in line at SFO, but knew there was &quot;weather&quot; in St. Louis. The rep pulled us out of the line -- they rebooked us through Phoenix <i>on British Airways</i> because we would have missed our connection in St. Louis! We left promptly from SFO, had time for dinner in Phoenix, and flew non-stop Phoenix to London. Excellent service.

dmlove

Oops, sorry, that was a PROTECTED connection, not a non-protected one. Oh well, good service anyway

Therese

Okay, here's another one, and potentially an even closer call, as I was doing exactly what Patty just congratulated me for not doing.

I had already scheduled a meeting in Spain, in Salamanca, when I was notified a month or so in advance that a lecture I'd tentatively (or so I thought) agreed to give many months previously had, in fact, been scheduled. Meeting brochure printed, etc. I could still have backed out, I suppose, as the organizers hadn't gotten a final okay from me, but I decided I could manage it.

The lecture was in New Orleans, scheduled for Saturday, the day before my flight to Madrid from Atlanta on Sunday. A good location for me because there are easy and frequent flights between it and Atlanta. And this lecture was just a two hour workshop sort of thing, so I figured I'd fly in that AM and fly out that PM. If need be I could get the other lecturers in the workshop to let me go first so that I could make a flight, as I knew them well.

So imagine my irritation when I realized that the lecture was an evening lecture, ending at 10:00 PM or so (never mind wondering why the audience didn't have better things to do in New Orleans on a Saturday night). So I wouldn't make the last flight out.

So I booked the first flight out in the AM. I packed my bag with the worst case scenario in mind: no time to return home between flights and re-pack my bag, and very possibly no time to even retrieve my checked bag and re-check it (as of course that would mean coming back through security, etc.), so carry-on only.

In the end it all went very smoothly, and I had loads of time. My very sweet husband even drove out to the airport on Sunday AM to pick me up, and dropped me back after a lovely Sunday afternoon with my kids. Amd the carry-on only came in very handy when it came to catching the bus in Madrid to Salamanca.

Therese

Your story is a perfect example of the advantages of a protected connection, dmlove.

Therese

Patty, what were airlines A and B? Did you have status with either one at the time?

dmlove

<i>Your story is a perfect example of the advantages of a protected connection, dmlove. </i>


I know, but to this day, I'm surprised they put us on a different airline!

Therese

I've found airlines to be pretty accomodating overall, dmlove. In May of this year I was scheduled to connect in Prague for a flight to Budapest. The Czech Air flight was cancelled, and they went ahead and put me on a Malev flight (with which they may have some agreement, but Malev is not part of SkyTeam) that was leaving very shortly. Most of my co-passengers were not offered this option, as they'd checked luggage and there wasn't time to move it before the Malev flight left.

Patty

A was Virgin and B was BA. I didn't have status with either. I was flying premium economy. Don't know if that made any difference at all or if they provided the same assistance to all passengers that day.

When my Kenya Airways flight out of Nairobi was canceled earlier this year, they offered me a choice of carriers and routings to get back to LAX (this was all on one ticket, of course).

Gardyloo

I had a near miss in April.

I had to fly on Alaska's commuter subsidiary Horizon from Seattle to Vancouver, where I was taking British Airways to London. The BA ticket was the second half of a Oneworld redemption trip, NRT-YVR-LHR, booked in business class. The Alaska/Horizon ticket was paid. AS had no trouble interlining my bag to London, but couldn't issue my BA boarding pass; I had to get that in Vancouver. I planned an earlier Horizon flight to allow a 3 1/2 hour layover at YVR, during which time I hoped to avail myself of the BA and Cathay Pacific lounges and get good and rested up for the overnight flight.

When I checked in for my Horizon flight everything was cool. When I got to the gate my plane was sitting at the gate, quite a lot earlier than I expected to see it there. Turns out another plane scheduled to come in from Victoria BC had gone mechanical, so Horizon decided they'd take &quot;my&quot; plane and fly it there, collect the stranded pax, and fly them to Seattle. Victoria (as with Vancouver) is only around 30 min. in the air, so I figured my time in Vancouver might have shrunk to 2 1/2 hours, no big deal.

Off it goes to Victoria, and the info blackout descends on the Horizon kiosk at the gate. An hour later, it's supposed to be approaching Seattle on the return trip, but guess what, it's still on the ground at Victoria, due to &quot;baggage loading difficulties.&quot;

Finally it's airborne and has an ETA of 30 min., and true enough it arrives. My connection in YVR is now down to a 2-hr best case.

But wait. The pax on the Victoria plane have to go through US immigration and customs, as do the flight crew. Unlike Vancouver, which has a US pre-clearance facility, Victoria doesn't, so the outgoing crew and pax (us) have to wait until the incoming pax and crew (and bags)have completely left the ramp. So, of course, what a fine time for the incoming pilots to have a nice long chat with the bag handlers, presumably going over whatever trouble there was at Victoria.

Best case, now 90 min.

Finally we board, two hours later than scheduled, and we fly quickly to Vancouver.

Where we land to discover that the transit desk in the YVR arrivals/passport hall has just closed. I'm watching the Canadian immigration officers laughing and joking as they turn off the &quot;transit&quot; sign over the desk and walk away. I holler but they don't (or won't) hear me and they're gone.

Meanwhile two incoming planes, including my BA 747 have landed and roughly 600 people are in the passport line. Ordinarily I would bypass this queue, go to the transit kiosk, have my ticket/passport glanced at, then hustled upstairs to lounge land. But noooo...

One of the (volunteer?) helpers in the passport area (who I think are there to help non-English speaking arriving pax - and there are plenty at YVR) sees I'm rather agitated. I explain my dilemma, and in a grandmotherly way she responds, &quot;Oh, dear. Well, maybe you can still make the flight. I think it arrived a little late, so maybe it will be late leaving.&quot;

Yeah, maybe. I am the LAST person through the passport line. I race through bag claim and customs green line, then upstairs to the BA check-in desk, where only by dint of hollering into the office behind the counter do I raise some attention.

The BA person hears my story (and is disturbed that here's a Oneworld Emerald - highest tier of frequent flyer - flying in business class - who's about to lose his <i>award</i> seat - the next available one of which is maybe in October.

She vanishes for a minute then returns and tells me the good news - the plane is still here and my bag has made the transfer but she can't raise the gate phone, so I should make every haste to get to the gate before it closes.

I race to the (distant) security point. Nobody there. Gone home.

More noise and ruckus later, somebody comes and says &quot;Oh you're going to miss that flight.&quot; Great, thanks.

I run as fast as my chubby stumps can go, consistent with hauling my carryon beside me, and get to the gate just as the last standbys for steerage walking through the door. I show my boarding pass and am <i>scolded</i> by the GA, but allowed to board. Down the jetway, through the door, I'm two steps up the stairs to the upper deck on the 747 when the doors close and the cross-checking announcements are made.

I collapse into my seat sweating like I've just run a 200 meter dash (I have.)

Flight attendant: &quot;Hello Mr. Gardyloo. We thought you weren't going to make it. Champagne?&quot;

Jean

I thought this thread was going to be about hook-ups (&quot;non-protected connection?&quot. But you guys started talking about airports, and I lost interest for a while. Then Patty wrote &quot;A was Virgin,&quot; and I thought, OK here comes the good stuff. Nope, more airports and now running. Ugh.

Therese

Um, eewww.

Therese

Great story, Gardyloo. You did take the champagne, right?

Later on I'm going to recount the most horrifying episode ever, but not until some more of you have shared.

Therese

Come on, somebody out there must have a story or two. Yes, I know, it's embarassing, as this sort of thing is usually the result of less-than-perfect planning.

But not too worry---your story is unlikely to be as embarassing as mine will be.

Therese

While you're getting over you shyness I'll start my story. It's sort of long, so I'll post it in segments.

I was scheduled to fly with my husband and two teenage children to Amsterdam, flying out on Friday evening on a direct flight from ATL to AMS. I typically book family travel to Europe on award tickets, but this time I didn't, because (a) we didn't have much flexibility with our dates (spring break for my kids) and (b) my husband is remarkably intolerant of anything other than direct routing. Long trips and jet lag are pretty much his least favorite thing in the world.We'll just ignore that fact that he doesn't mind 5 day cross country car trips even a little bit.

So even though we might have been able to swing award tickets to AMS if we'd been willing to connect, we didn't bother. The tickets were relatively pricey (about $1200 each), clearly due to the timing of spring break (the price dropped after this week).

Therese

I'd already booked our lodging as well, and paid for it in full as well. Why did I pay for it in full? Well, because I was pretty sure that the dollar's free fall against the euro would continue (and I was correct), and doing so meant that I could pay for the entire thing with a credit card, thereby avoiding the need to withdraw bajillions of euros from an ATM upon arrival in order to pay the remainder (after the deposit). And of course I got miles for the purchase as well.

Our lodgings were a houseboat, moored on the Amstel in front of the Stopera. A real boat, but nicely re-done, two bedrooms, with all the modern conveniences and very cozy. Not cheap---I don't recall exactly, but it was something over $2000 for the week.