cheriann

I am purchasing the connecting flight for my trip to Ireland seperately and I am trying to figure out how much time to allow between flights. I am flying on aer lingus out of chicago o'hare to dublin. The portion that I have yet to purchase is from Minneapolis to Chicago (short flight 1 hr). How much time should I allow between the flights to chicago and dublin?

AAFrequentFlyer

Why are you purchasing a seperate ticket?

Anyway, since it is a seperate ticket, I would suggest 2.5 hours. You will have to check-in at O'Hare for international flight. If it was on the same ticket, 1 - 1.5 hour would be sufficient.You will have to transfer from the domestic terminals to the international terminal(5), and it would not be a problem if you were checked all the way through, but on seperate tickets, you will have to collect your luggage, transfer, and re-check again with Aer Lingus.

clevelandbrown

If its not inconvenient, I would allow 3 hours, or more. This assumes you are not familiar with the airport, and may lose some time finding your way around. Your initial flight may be late. You will have to wait around to collect your baggage (many regional flights don't have space for much carryon baggage). You will have to go through security again, and who knows how long that will take. And you probably have to be enplaned 15 minutes before scheduled departure, once you find your way to the gate. Since you are buying separate tickets, there will be very little in the way of special consideration from the airline if you run late. Carry with you the 800 number for aer lingus in case something happens so you can cancel your ticket before departure time, or make other arrangements.

Bring something interesting to read, and sacrifice a few hours to insure that you make your connection.

Enjoy your trip.

rkkwan

You MAY be able to check your luggage through, but that depends on what airline you're flying MSP-ORD, and whether the check-in agent at MSP knows what to do and whether he/she's willing to do it for you. Big IFs there.

RachelG

I would allow at least 3 hours, 4 would be better.

cheriann

Thanks for your feedback. I decided on a flight that allows 5 hours layover. I would have preferred a 4 hour layover but the flight schedule only left me with a choice of 3 or 5 hours so I chose the later.

I guess Aer lingus is really strict about enforcing check in times (2.5 for chicago) and if you arrive later then that they are entitled to release your seats.

I've also read that this is going to be a very busy summer travel season in fact I've heard it might possibly be the biggest ever and coupled with understaffed security systems they are predicting lines and waits at security. My boyfriend just returned form Baltimore and said the lines went out the door.

This will add to an already long day of travel but at least I won't have to worry.

Thanks for the advice. I did call the airline about the baggage and they will be able to foward it to Dublin since the two airlines have a baggage agreement.
Do think this increased the odds of lost luggage or am I just being paranoid?

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>as posted by <i>cheriann</i>

I guess Aer lingus is really strict about enforcing check in times (2.5 for chicago) and if you arrive later then that they are entitled to release your seats.</b>

WHAT?????? never heard of anything so ridiculous. You got some bogus info.

Regardless, have a great trip, but you will end up sitting at the boring term 5 at O'Hare for about 3.5 hours. Just telling it like it is.

cheriann

The &quot;bogus&quot; information I got is posted on their website. From reading another poster's thread it seems you have some kind of wierd ax to grind with people who purchase seperate tickets. I have no idea why. I saved $800.00 on two tickets booking in this manner which is well worth the extra temporary inconvenience.

I tracked this fare for months and America's codeshare flight would have cost $400.00 more per ticket.

rkkwan

Telling people to get to the airport 2.5 (or 3 hours) before a flight is just some empty threats an airline try to use to cut its own cost. Most international flights' check-in line open 3 hours prior to take-off, and most people don't show up until 1.5-2 hours. Therefore, their check-in staff have little to do early on, and extra work later. If they can get more passengers to arrive earlier, they don't need to hire as many agents to handle the load later on. That's the idea.

However, whatever &quot;rule&quot; they have is simply unenforcable, as they might as well give way 2/3 of people's seats on their flight, as few will arrive 2.5 hours prior to take-off, regardless what they say.

There are real downsidse to buying two seperate tickets. And AAFF is correct that you could have taken a later flight MSP-ORD if it's on the same ticket. If something happened for that MSP-ORD flight (or say MSP gets shut down for whatever reason), you're royally screwed. It's a risk that one has to understand when buying two seperate tickets. As long as you understand this, and think the savings is worth the trouble and risk, it's up to you which way to buy your tickets.

NoFlyZone

There are a lot of benefits from buying those flights on one ticket rather than two. Most importantly if there is a delay on one flight then the airlines are obligated to accommodate you on subsequent ones. That is not true when there are separate tickets.

Also, depending on the particular situation, some taxes do not apply (or would not be duplicated). And, of course, there would be no hassles in checking baggage through.

And all on one ticket has nothing to do with the $800 lower cost. If you had an average travel agent help, you would definitely get the $800 lower price (possibly more...) and maybe more depending on the tax situation. That's with a $35 or $50 fee IMHO.

AAFrequentFlyer

cheriann,

Isn't your reply a little harsh?

I just questioned your reason for buying 2 seperate tickets. I don't have any weird ax to grind with anybody. Later in the same post, I thought I gave some good answers.

In the second post, I just told you that the info you got was bogus wished you a great trip and warned you about the boring terminal 5, especially when you will end up sitting around for about 3 hours. It was confirmed by two other posters. Nobody ws anything but helpful, but maybe the info you received was not the one you wanted to hear. I'm glad you saved some money, but that's not what your original question was.

Still, have a nice trip!