chasdom

When I booked our flight from Stockholm, Sweden to Ft. Lauderdale, Continental offered a 49min connection time on our return flight (Ft. Lauderdale-Stockholm) and I (thinking the less time spent in airports, the better) purchased those tickets. 24 hours have passed and I can no longer cancel the purchase (I am now a OnePass member). Now, looking over the posts here, I'm thinking we won't make that connection.

I cross the Atlantic every year but have never missed a flight or an connection and wonder what our options are? As I understand it, CO only has one flight per day Newark-Stockholm, and the prospect of a night in the airport with 2 young teenagers, fills me with foreboding. Does CO have an obligation to put us up for the night in a hotel? I can find no mention of minimum connection times on their site and I assumed that if they'd sell me the ticket, the connection was do-able. I will be extremely grateful for any feedback, suggestions or experiences anyone might have.
Thanks in advance!
Charles

chasdom

I forgot to say that we'll be flying from Ft. Lauderdale to Newark on July 11th, if that matters.

travelbuff

Where are you going through Customs, if in Newark, then I don't see any way you are going to make that flight.

Also if your flight is late coming into Newark, again, that time frame is so very tight, that anything going wrong will make your second flight almost impossible.

I would not count on CO to get a hotel room for you, but they may be able to put you on a later flight.

Good luck.

Andrew

49 minutes should be doable assuming you arrive in Terminal C and depart out of there (which all CO international flights do I believe). You might get lucky and find your two gates close to each other, too. Of course, you don't know the gates now but you could see what they are, say, today. You could also check both of your flights on-time status for yesterday (or dig up the site that shows the flights' history of ontime arrivals/departures). Could be the outbound flight is usually late anyway.

What are your real options at this point, though? Take an earlier flight from FLL? Call Continental, say you are nervous about it, and ask what your options would be if, say, your FLL inbound flight was late. Even though there's no direct to Stockholm, they might put you on another flight to Europe and have you connect back to Stockholm from somewhere else. Since you are flying east, you'd probably be getting to Europe in the morning/early afternoon, so you might just get home a few hours later the same day. Continental has a lot of international flights to Europe out of Newark.

Even if you are stuck at Newark overnight, I wouldn't worry so much about CO putting you up in a hotel as getting home a day late. On the upside, it's extremely easy to get to New York City from Newark airport and the airport hotels. If you get stuck there, you could take a train right into Manhattan very easily - and extend your vacation a little! Just think of it that way.

Andrew

<<Where are you going through Customs, if in Newark, then I don't see any way you are going to make that flight.>>

Fortunately, they won't need to clear customs in Newark when arriving from FLL...

Seamus

This is your return flight and you will not need to go through any immigration or customs at EWR, just get from one gate to another. It will not allow you time for any duty free shopping but you should be fine. CO has really done a nice job on systems to get from one gate to another at EWR - monorail and even a bus between terminals where you don't need to leave the sterile area and go through security a second time. Of course there is always a possibility that there will be unanticipated delay, but chances are that will not happen, so relax and enjoy. If you are unable to stop worrying, try calling OnePass and explain your concern, see if they will switch you to an earlier flight out of FLL - can't hurt to ask.

tracys2cents

Continental has their act together in Newark. 50 minutes should be fine.
However, when you show up at FLL for your flight to Newark, if this first flight is showing delayed by 30 minutes or more, Continental is obligated to make other arrangements for you. They are not allowed to put you on a flight that they know will not make the connection. They can switch you to another airline at their expense, or put you up in FLL for another night. In other words, you'd be stuck in FLL for another night, instead of getting stuck in Newark.

If it happens that you get to FLL and your first leg shows running late, get on the phone to Continental and have the agent make new arrangements for you. At the ticket counter, they will just try to persuade you to go onward to Newark so that Newark agents can deal with your problem. But phone calls are recorded so those agents will go by the book and handle your situation as per regulations.

dfr4848

Charles - as I understand your post, you're originating in Stockholm, flying to Ft Lauderdale, then returning to Stockholm. Right? If so, you won't be going through customs at EWR on your return from Ft Lauderdale. 49 min is cutting it close, but is doable. Have you called CO to see what your options are? And yes- CO only has one flight a day between EWR - ARN.

chasdom

Wow! That was quick! Yes, we will be returning to Stockholm from Ft Lauderdale via Newark. (I could have been clearer.) Actually, as Andrew mentioned a night in Newark wouldn't be so bad as we would then have time to see something in NYC. If our flight departs Ft. Lauderdale late, is CO obliged to put us up for the night?

travelbuff: This will be our return flight, so no customs visit for us. There are no later CO flights that day to Stockholm.

Andrew: Thanks for the suggestion about checking out today's flights to get an idea about how close things are in the airport. Unfortunately flying CO to another European city probably won't help. Just as European airlines don't fly domestic flights in the States, US airlines don't fly within the EU. There are partner airlines but that strikes me as unlikely.

Thanks Seamus for info on getting around Newark.

Tracys2cents: good idea, though I'd almost prefer the night in Newark to a night in Ft Laud. I'll have been there for a month when we head home.

And to dfr4848: I wanted to check with the customer service experts (read: you guys) before I (perhaps) got the run-around from Continental.

Again,
Thanks guys!

GoTravel

No, Continental will not put you up for the night if you miss your flight.

They only do this if the delay is their fault due to mechanical problems.

Andrew

Yes, chasdom, I meant that Continental might be able to connect you through another European city via one of their airline partners, which seem to include KLM, Air France, and Alitalia. So it seems likely they would be able to get you a connection in Europe if you miss your connection in Newark and get you home the same day - even if that means several extra hours of travel for your family.

rkkwan

Looking at the schedule, you have 45 minutes, not 49. CO1500 arrives 4:50p, and your flight to ARN departs 5:35p.

Let me tell you the bad news first. July, chances of thunderstorm is high around EWR, and flights from Florida back to EWR can run late, easily.

Now, the other factors:

- Your FLL-EWR will arrive Terminal C, unless there's very unusual circumstance. Just walk to new gate. No train, no security.

- You probably still need to stop by a "US Visit" machine to have your thumbs scanned.

- If there's systematic delay at EWR, your flight to ARN will also be delayed, so you still have a chance to get on.

- CO may be able to route you through CDG or KLM on later flights to connect to ARN.

- To get to EWR earlier, you can consider the "confirmed standby" option. $25 per person, and you can move to earlier flights the same day, within 3 hours of the departure time of the new flight. CO1400 departs FLL at 11:50am, so you can go to the airport at 8:50am, pay the $25 fee, and be confirmed on that flight, arriving 3:00pm. There are even 3 earlier flights than that one.

If you don't have checked luggage, then you can also try old-fashioned free standby on the earlier flights. No guarantee, and next to impossible if you have checked bags.

- CO will not give you hotels if the delay and mis-connection is weather or air-traffic control related. Mechanical, yes. If there's bad weather all around the northeast, airport hotels at EWR may be all booked (even if you're willing to pay) by the time you get there.