United Airlines One Hour Layover SFO-Washington DC And On To Geneva
 

I’m looking at reward travel in early September. There is a saver fare on United Airlines from SFO-GVA with a one hour layover in Washington DC. Both flights are on United. Would you do this? Or should I just add more miles and take a flight with a longer layover? Thank you!

I would look at the past history for that flight, but it is always a risk. Since you probably couldn't get out until the next day if there was a problem, I would give myself more time.

On our last international flight, we had a choice of a 1:15 hour or 4:00 hour ground time and we went with the 4:00. The flight had to go back to the gate and we were 1:30 hour late, annoying but we still had plenty of time. Of course, the 1:15 flight was early!

For me, connecting through IAD is often a nail biter.... Small commuter planes that ply the eastern US fly 5, 6, 7.. flights a day in and out of DC and Newark... Early morning flights are nearly always land very early since they are parked overnight at my smaller regional airport. But being too early has led to some painful waits just short of the gate waiting for ground crew to free up.

Any cause for delay at EWR or IAD can ripple through the schedule - weather, air traffic, waiting for crews, etc. These short puddle jumping flights are often held at the departure airport until there is a air traffic control clearance all the way to landing. There is enough extra time built into the schedules, but it's painful to push back 10min early only to sit on the tarmac waiting to take off..

Scheduled 1 hr connections can turn into a comfortable 90 minutes, or a painful 30min sprint. Commuter planes use A gates, which takes time to get to C or D gates which larger planes typically use...... That said, so far I've yet to miss a connection at IAD, and fly through there routinely to points east (Europe), west (CA), or south (somewhere warm....)

Long haul domestic flights are more immune from schedule issues due to air traffic holds at origin, but not immune from system wide weather delays. September is generally a good flying weather month, and IADs runways are spread out enough that they can keep up takeoff and landing times pretty well.

Thanks for the feedback! Was sort of thinking the same way. Why stress on it.

I personally wouldn't mind this at all. September is the best weather of the year at SFO so unless there is mechanical problem you will almost certainlt take off on time. East bound flights often pick up time en route due to tail winds so if SFO > DC is anywhere near normal operations you likely land a bit early. You will have both boarding passes and won't have to go through security. If you do miss the flight they will put you on the next available flight. So if something does go wrong you'l just end up on the later flight anyway.

I'd keep the short connection myself and save the miles . . . .

Agree with janis

I think it depends on a lot of factors. First how many more miles to get a safer connection? I see its of choices SFO-GVA with 2-3 hour connections. You are looking at the 0825 flight yes? Secondly is there a connection in GVA you need to make such as a tour or train? If not being late may not be an issue if you miss your IAD connection. A quick check on FlightAware shows an average 10-20 minute delay on your SFO flight but I do not have a subscription to look at last September flight history to get better data. Most of the time the SFO flight seems to be close to on time but not always. It is also not just weather in SFO but also aircraft and crew issues plus weather in the east coast and air traffic issues that can delay your flight. You also as of now have a 777 and it will depend on where you sit as to how fast you can exit the flight. A fully loaded 777 can take 10 to 15 minutes to empty.
The connection in IAD seems to currently be between C and D terminals which is not bad as its just a straight walk but if you have to change building you will need more time to get to your connection. lastly your GVA flight will start loading 45-60 minutes before departure and if you are carrying on you may have problems finding over head bins if your GVA flight is full unless of course you are in business or premium economy. Having said all that there are multiple later flights with United from IAD to GVA later on in the evening including a flight around 1830 via LHR that will get you to GVA 4 hours later or even a flight at 2225 via LHR to GVA. So I think it is highly likely you will make it to GVA by keeping your current ticket although its possible you may be delayed 4-6 hours if that works for you.

Thanks for all your help! I went ahead and booked (using miles) a flight that goes directly from SFO to FRA with a two hour and thirty minute layover and then on to GVA. I’m familiar with the FRA airport and I’ll be in Europe on the first leg of the journey. I’ll get to Geneva mid day. It was 13,000 more miles. But I think the peace of mind factor is probably worth it. If I was younger (I’m a senior) I’d probably take the chance. Plus it’ll give me an opportunity to walk around after an 11 hour flight…and buy a pretzel. Thanks again for the great feedback. Much appreciated.

>> be in Europe on the first leg of the journey.
That is huge. I would check back, occaisonally, to see if a saver award was available.

I did get saver awards on both legs. The one I chose was just 13K more than the one with the one hour layover. But good idea, I will check it now and then to see if the same route went down in miles.