SandyBrit

The AA site gives me the following choices booking for 2 FF tickets:

Depart St. Louis 1:15 pm arrive Dallas 3:40
Depart Dallas 5:05 pm arrive London 8:05 am

or

Depart St. Louis 4:15 pm arrive Dallas 6:10
Depart Dallas 6:55 pm arrive London 10:00 am

Both flights have a very short connection time which I am not comfortable with. I'd be happier catching the 1:50 pm flight out of St. Louis and connecting to the 6:55 pm flight out of Dallas.

Any one know how to do this with FF tickets? Does any one actually book flights with such a short connection time.

Sandy

Sher

Hi Sandy.
Are you booking the tickets on line? Can you book them through an agent?

I recently booked ff tickets with US Airways and they wanted to give me a very short connection time in Philadelphia which I was not comfortable with. I requested an earlier flight. Then that flight was cancelled and they automatically put us on the very short connection flight again. So I called them and changed it.

The problem is that there may not be any availablity for your earlier flight. But if you are booking early, call them.

I do not book flights to Europe with a short connection. It is all in what you are most comfortable with.

tuscanlifeedit

Like Sherry (hi!) I book USAirways ff tickets over the phone. It is impossible to get their website to give me the earlier flight, so I just pay the $5 per ticket to get the earlier flight/better connection time .

Sher

Hi Deb! You know what a connection in Philadelphia can be like!

Are you off to Italy again soon?

WallyKringen

I'd go for the first version, you'd have to be awfully unlucky not to make it, and AA rules in DFW, no shortage of agents to assist if it gets tight. Worst comes to worst, they'll put you on the later one, but I really think you'll make it (he says, furiously polishing his crystal ball).

WK

Clifton

Sandy,

I guess I'd probably try a call first too, just to see if you could get the segments you wanted. Maybe if you pointed out that both legs were available as award tickets, just not together, someone could help you out? Sometimes you get lucky with AA call center, sometimes not (I fly AA out of STL too).

If that doesn't work out, I think I'd go for the first option for a couple of reasons:

1) Well, it's got the longer of the two connections. And I've made a number of connects through Dallas that were quite a bit shorter than this (although usually domestic). I've done as little as 35 minutes and have been ok, as there's a speedy little train type thing that goes terminal to terminal without having to cross security. Terminal guide at DFW - the yellow arcs show the train path: http://www.dfwairport.com/terminals/

2) It's the earlier flight, so maybe (ok, anything's possible), that if you were delayed, they could have availability to get you on the later DFW-LGW flight.

3) The earlier DFW-LGW flight is on a 777 while the later one is on a 763. Personally, I prefer the 777, as it's a wider body plane and each seat has personal video. The 763 doesn't.

Good luck!

rkkwan

I'd book the first one for these reasons:

1) 85 minutes is more than enough time to change planes at DFW,

2) no one likes sitting at an airport for 3+ hours,

3) if you get to STL, and realize your STL-DFW flight may be late, there are lots of stuff AA can do for you to get you to London (maybe even earlier).

Let me explain this 3rd point. They won't volunteer and call your name to switch your flights, but you can be pro-active and ask them to. Based on seat availability, they can protect you on the later DFW-LGW flight, or they can switch you to other connections via Chicago:

The 2:45p flight to ORD arrives at 3:47pm. There are ORD-LHR (Heathrow, not Gatwick) flights departing at 4:45p, 5:50p, 8:15p and 9:50p.

So, together with the later DFW-LGW, there are 5 alternative flights they can get you to London the same day with the same one-connection. There are further DFW/ORD-Europe flights they can put you on, and then connect to London.

All this means is that you've some margin of error.

SandyBrit

Sher, tuscanlifeedit -You reafffirmed my thought to call instead of booking online.

WallyKringen - good point about getting on the second flight to London providing seats available.

Clifton - thank you for the Dallas airport website. I have only connected thru Dallas one other time so very helpful. I overlooked the 777 vs 763.

rkkwan - You have made me reconsider connecting Chicago to LHR. A quick check indicates FF tickets available. It is a little easier to drive on to Suffolk where we are heading from Gatwick. I will run that by DH as he is always does the driving.

Any thoughts on the later arrival time. On our many previous trips we have always arrived early i.e. 7 to 8 am. I wonder if you might get more sleep with the later arrival time of 10:00 am.

Sandy

Intrepid1

You might very well have a better chance of getting into your hotel room if you arrive later rather than earlier.

Frankly, I think these connection times aren't all that bad; it's the 20-30 minute ones that bother me more.

rkkwan

Oh, now I see why you chose the LGW flight to start with. And of course, if you have a rental reservation at one London airport, you may have trouble if you arrive at another.

Later flight is absolutely better for getting more sleep. I got on a 9pm or after flight, ate, and then could basically go to sleep. If you depart at 5pm from DFW, you'll be "wasting" lots of time awake.