ali_oops

My sister is flying from Denver to Boston and I'm flying OKC to Chicago to Boston, and we are to meet at Aer Lingus for our flight to Shannon. I have a really tight connection time in Chicago and Boston and my concern is I won't make it before Aer Lingus' 45 minute cut-off for check-in. That would leave my sister winging her way across the pond without me with her not knowing when I will show up in Ireland.

The car is being rented in my name, so if she arrives before I do, that leaves her stranded except for public transport. Should I prebook a hotel in the event this does happen and I can't catch up with her until the next day? (She could then make her way to the hotel and wait it out)

Can someone suggest a better plan? Is there a place in the Shannon Airport to leave messages? I was thinking that instead of prebooking a room and taking a chance on having to pay for the room if we cancel, that she could book a room when she gets there at the Tourist Information desk and leave word for me of where she's staying.

Am I making any sense? Hopefully this concern will be all for naught, but with only 85 minutes to make the connection between Terminal B and E (and again that 45 minute check-in stipulation), I feel I need a back-up plan.

Any suggestions will be much
appreciated!

Ali

JuneAnn

If I were in your place I would take the safe and easy way and make a hotel reservation in advance. I am a planner and sometimes tight plans work out great and it's fun..other times they just don't..you never know. I made plans last year to fly into London, arrive in the evening, and then take an overnight the train to Scotland. We had plenty of time for this connection but our plane out of NY was delayed for 2 hours so we knew that we missed our connection even before we took off. You're going on a vacation and why worry. Find the least expensive, good hotel and if you're late your sister will settle in and relax and you won't have to arrive stressed out.

highledge

I'm confused. Won't you prebook a hotel room either way for the first night? Don't waste your first vacation day trying to find a place! She'll know you're not on the plane- when you're not on the plane and could meet you later. You could call the hotel and let her know what your new flight is. The other option would be for you to call a family member who your sis ter could also call to learn of your flight info. Also, any reason you're not going to have the car rental in her name?

Budman

Another concern would be for your luggage to make the connection to Aer Lingus. Can't you get to Boston any earlier? We are taking the same flight in May, and we get to Boston 3 hours before the flight.

Isn't there a 2-hour minimum for an overseas flight, for security reasons. I can remember on one flight to Ireland there was a 2-hour cutoff. We just made it.

Pack some toiletries/change of clothes in your carry on in case you do make the flight but your luggage doesn't. Next flight will be roughly 24 hours.

MaryZ

I'd probably pre-book a room because the 45 minutes makes me nervous. Maybe a message could be left with your car rental desk, but I don't think I'd count on that being 100% reliable.

The Great Southern Hotel is right next to Shannon. Or, she could get a bus or a taxi into Ennis if she wants to reserve a room there. If you pre-book a room in Ennis, it's not a bad place to spend your first night, so maybe you wouldn't have to cancel even if you do make the flight.

MaryZ

But, ultimately, Bud's right. Why not just get yourself to Boston earlier?

wojazz3

Hi Ali:

Well, I get why the car is in your name. You'll be doing the driving. Is this her first trip there? If so, it makes sense that you do the driving.

OK, If you are staying in a hotel, most of them charge by the room so you don't have to worry about a cancellation fee. If you are staying in a B&B, then it's per person.

If you reserve a room, you can contact her through the B&B. If you reserve a room as a double you may end up losing your part but if she arrives booked as a single, she will end up paying what is probably an inflated rate for a single. The difference between the two may be nominal.

The getting around will be the only problem, but she can probably catch a cab to any of the Bunratty B&Bs. One within walking distance of the town would be good. I stayed at the Park House, which was nice and a short walk to the village/castle/folk park.

What time of year are you traveling? Rooms are clearly easier to find in the shoulder season, so you could get away with not reserving if you found that necessary.

By the way, was it cheaper for your sister to use Aerlingus flying from Denver? It never has been for me. I live in the Boulder area.

Bill

Bob_C

Fly into Boston a day early.

NEDSIRELAND

Aer Lingus has direct service Chicago (O'Hare) to Shannon. It departs 19:40 and arrives in the early AM. If you book that flight for yourself, it cuts out most of your connection concerns. You won't be on the same TransAtlantic flight but you will arrive within an hour of one another.

Something like that should cut you some slack. Worst case Scenario: arrange to meet up with your sister in the upper-level cafeteria in Shannon airport.

Whichever of you gets in first can leave a message for the other at the car-rental counter (since you have already pre-booked) or at Aer Lingus' ticket counter.

BTW
Budman is right: There's no way you can connect to a TransAtlantic flight in Boston's Logan airport in 45-minutes.

ali_oops

You have given me some excellent advice, but at the same time my stress level just went up a notch on being able to connect in Boston. This is our first trip to Ireland. I'll be there for 5 weeks and she'll be with me for the first 10 days. (BTW my sister has 1 hr 50 min to connect. She's not flying Aer Lingus out of Denver. Can't remember which airline, but it also comes into Terminal B in Boston.)

OK, so I best be prepared. Thanks for the heads-up on the timeline for the next flight out of Boston if I do miss the flight (re 24 hours). I booked this flight in February, but I think I will check to see if I can get an earlier flight out of OKC that day or fly out of Chicago (good tip!) even if it cost me the "change" fee. I'm flying out on May 21st which is the last day of school for me, so I can't change to a day earlier. But, it just occurred to me that I could take a Thursday evening flight to Boston, spend the night, and have plenty of time to make the flight.

All these time restraints I've put on myself have to do with the cottage we're renting in County Kilkenny. Rental on cottages/houses go from Saturday to Saturday, so our plans are to arrive Shannon at 7:15 am, get the car, and take our time driving to Inistioge. Check in is around 4:00 pm. (That's why the Friday flight which happen to be my last day teaching.)

I knew you guys would come through on the logistics of communicating with my sister if one of us is delayed.

Well let's hope for a strong tale wind to Boston if I can't make the changes. I'll keep you posted. And I'll e-mail this post to my sister so she knows what we're up against. (She may want to consider changing her flight to an earlier one also.)

Many, many thanks for helping me out.

Ali

Budman

We're flying out of Boston to Shannon on Aer Lingus on the 21st also. See you there!!

ali_oops

Hey, Budman, now how cool is that. Unfortunately, I lost my Fodor's pin in France a couple of years ago, so forget using that to identify a Fodorite.

I just got an e-mail from my sister re this posting and she too is now bit nervous. I e-mailed my concerns to Aer Lingus and will be curious to see if they can give me any reassurances (I'm also going to phone them in a bit.)

I just checked with Expedia and there are earlier flights which give me a longer lay-over. I'm just real tempted to go ahead and change. The deciding factor will be how much I have to pay for any difference in air fares. Since this is a domestic flight, I wouldn't think they have gone up that much.

rebeccaastone

Ali, I arrived for my Aer Lingus flight 90min early (due to unexpected traffic problems) and was bumped. Every flight on Aer Lingus from BWI,Boston, and NY was overbooked that day and the next day, we weren't able to leave until 2 days later. I think you have an excellent chance of not making your flight. Rebecca

ali_oops

Oh, hell, there goes my stress level again. I called AAA yesterday and the travel agent made some calls for me and assured me that I would be able to make all my flights.

Rebecca, 2 days delay getting another flight?? That's awful!! I think, though, that if I'm delayed because of a connecting flight (esp. with the same airline's partner re American Airlines), I won't be bumped.

Now, after what you said, though, I think I will call American and get it "from the horses mouth".

Again, my thanks for your help.

cheriann

What? You were bumped because you arrived 30 minutes short of 120 minutes? What total BS. Did you recieve any sort of compensation?
I didn't realize that these 2 hour prior recommendations were enforced. If I would have gotten there 90 minutes prior I would have considered myself early. Is this just an aer lingus thing? I'm going to check their website because if this is the way they do things they should have warnings clearly posted.

Ann41

I once saw a couple bumped from a LHR-IAD flight because the connecting flight from Belfast was late, and BA assumed they wouldn't get there on time to make the fight (they did), and so gave up their seats. The guy behind the counter told them he had no obligation to do anything for them, but out of the kindness of his heart, he would give them a hotel voucher for the night.

I've also discovered that the "partner" airline relationship means nothing. Unless you are on an Aer Lingus connection, then Aer Lingus will not go to any extra efforts to get you out as soon as possible.

ali_oops

Ann41, thanks for the heads-up. Well, now that you mention it, when I talked with someone at Aer Lingus about the time-line I have to make my connection in Boston, they were very adament about telling me if I didn't make the connection it would be American's "fault". Guess I'll do some more calling, and I tell you, if they assure that I can make this connection with the time-line that stands now and they bump me, I will be on Fodors, screaming at the top of my keyboard keys about Aer Lingus!!

Cheriann, I checked Aer Lingus' website a few weeks ago, and if I remember correctly, they actually have a 3 hour check-in time for international flights out of Boston.

rebeccaastone

Cheriann, to be fair, while we were 90min early, a whole bunch of other people were earlier than that, and they just got the seats ahead of us. There was quite a crowd of people at the check in desk crying! This was Thursday April 1. We were paid $400 for each of our tickets, and Aer Lingus changed our return flight to 2 days later, so I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
I would have been much more upset if we were meeting someone like Ali.
Rebecca

cheriann

I still think it's BS. In all fairness they should not be overbooking fights to begin with.
Luckily you were able to return home and things worked out for you. But what if you had taken a connecting flight and were stranded in a foriegn city unable to return home?

I booked a flight for my parents on Aer Lingus for travel in June. They transfer in Chicago. Luckily they will have a 3 hour 40 minute connection time, but I did consider buying (from American Airlines) the other flight with a connection of 1 hour and 45 minutes, thank god that in the end I decided to allow them extra time knowing what a big airport O'Hare is and how busy it often is.

It makes me mad that Aer Lingus does not make these check-in deadlines more clear before you book your tickets. I just emailed them to find out what time the check in deadline is for my flight and if it's true that I may be bumbed if I arrive even 10 later. On their email ticket confirmation that they had sent to me it only stated that,

Aer Lingus recommends the following check-in times:
Transatlantic flights 2h 30mins

I just read elsewere on there website that if you do not check in by the check in deadline they reserve the right to bump you ect. However, It said that YOU need to find out what the deadline is for your specific flight.

I feel that if this is Aer Lingus's practice then they need to be more upfront about it. Ryan Air for example has strict deadlines about check-in, but they are very upfront about it, and therefore I think it is a fair policy since they give you ample warning.

I can understand a check-in deadline of an hour or 45 minutes for transatlantic flights. But I think the fact that they had a two hour prior deadline and that they bumped people who arrived 90 minutes prior is terrible. It's not even the fact that they have this deadlines that troubles me, but that they do not make greater strains to make sure that their costomers understand their policies.

cheriann

Also Aly...there is no way that AA can assure that you will make your connections because there is no way they can guarantee you that there will not be any delays. I would try to reschedule to arrive the night before just to avoid all the stress and worry.