Skip last leg, book one-way?!
 

We are traveling to S.Africa in Dec and returning early Jan. Booked tickets online, in late Feb., through CheapFlightSales. Noticed a week ago that on return trip, we fly from JNB to JFK, arrive 6:55am, leave LaGuardia 10:45am to fly to Indy.
Have been told by several people we won't have time to get through customs, collect bags and switch airports. This will be rush hour in Manhattan. Called Cheap Flight Sales and they said it won't be a problem, plenty of time. Asked if I could change it anyway and they said I would have to rebook the whole trip making the total cost about $5,200.00 instead of $2,400.00. So that's not an option!
Called United, first leg of trip, they said they didn't sell it, they can't change it. Called Northwest, last leg of trip and they said same thing. Northwest SUGGESTED I book a one-way ticket from JFK to Indy and not use last leg of original ticket. We pick up luggage after going through customs so that won't be an issue.
Any advice on the best way to handle this? Just found and joined this website today and I've already learned a LOT!! I'm hooked!!Many, many thanks!!

Your agent (CheapFlight Sales) should handle this for you. If you don't have time to catch the 10:45 LGA flight, then you should be rebooked on a subsequent flight to Indy. This is presuming you bought this all on one itinerary.

I know your agent says you have plenty of time, but call back and ask what happens if you are delayed getting into JFK. They should be able to answer without hedging.

Also, maybe someone can post what Northwest's standby policy is. For some other airlines, you call on the day of travel and just pay $25 or $50 and you get rebooked for a later flight that day, assuming there is space.

A few points:

1. 6:55a to 10:45a is a fairly long period of time. You are not going anywhere near Manhattan, which you mentioned in your post. Check-in for your luggage closes 30 minute before your flight out of LGA, so that still leaves you more than 3 hours.

2. If you get to LGA late, NW most likely still let you standby for subsequent flights to IND, which I believe they have two. Plus other connections via DTW.

3. Was the connection time changed between when you booked and a week ago? Or you just noticed it? If there was a change, you can demand your agent to change the itinerary for you.

I keep telling myself not to chime in to any of the threads asking if there is enough time to connect.......

I think 3hrs 50min IS enough time.

It's about 10 miles from JFK to LGA. I would definitely checkin online ahead of time for your NWA flight so all you have to do is drop off your bags at LGA.

Do the math/back out the time.

absolute latest you want to be at JFK: 10am.

latest you want to leave JFK: 9:30. I have never had it take much longer than 30min absoulute worst case to get from JFK to LGA area - about 1-2x/mo I do that at all hours of the day. Can it take longer, yes I'm sure it can, but not in my experience.

That gives you 2.5 hrs to get through immigration, pick up bags, walk out through customs. At 7am that's plenty of time. 7am isn't a heavy time for incoming international flights.

Relax and enjoy your trip.

Plenty of time. I have done this connection numerous times and the longest it ever took was about 45 minutes.

Nothing to worry about. You will have time to have breakfast or early lunch at LGA before your 10:45am flight..

I'd say there is plenty of time if everything goes well, and it's quite likely the 6:55 AM flight may be early.

But in the past year, I made one connection which seemed impossible, and I missed another connection which seemed unmissable, and I don't fly nearly as much as some people. So I'd want to be prepared with options if I had the original poster's itinerary.

FWIW, in 2006 we had to fly Bangor-LGA, then JFK to Dallas. This is on American frequent flyer tickets.

When we arrived in LGA, I asked an AA agent if we could stand-by for a flight LGA-Dallas instead of going to JFK. She was able to get us seats on the next flight - thereby saving us the $ for LGA/JFK transfer, and we were home in Dallas a couple of hours earlier than our original itin.

If there's a morning flight from JFK to Indiannapolis, it won't hurt to see if the ticket agent can get you on their flight.

NW has a 9:00a JFK-DTW, but that means they still need another connection to IND. No JFK-IND non-stop except for a late DL flight.

Thanks to everyone for all the fabulous suggestions! Feel much better about the whole thing. Will call CheapTicketSales and see what happens IF we miss flight, just in case. The flight wasn't changed after we booked, we just hadn't noticed it. The trip was booked all on one ticket.
Didn't even know you could request to be on stand-by for the next flight!! This will be the first time we've flown outside the US, gone through customs,and been to NY so this made us VERY uncomfortable.
I know we won't be near Manhattan, but was told that we would have to contend with traffic going into Manhattan.
Many, many thanks for all the great people who took the time to help a newbie!!
This is my new favorite website.