anyone done these connections?
 

we leave on thursday jan 8th for the big island and cannot wait!! its our 3rd trip back! the only thing that has me concerned is our flight. i booked it on priceline for only $550 from mpls/st paul.
we leave mpls.. fly to chicago ohare. 40 mins to switch planes, onto LAX 40 mins to switch planes and then directly into Kona.
anyone done anything like this? is this enough time for our luggage to get transferred and us?!

This really depends on the weather. Check your bags thru to Kona from Minneapolis.

Wow, I'd pack a few things in your carryon in case you're spending a night along the way. These days I'd hate to have to rely on making two 40 minute connections in two major airports in one day!

Familiarize yourself with the gates and layout of both airports before you go, using their respective websites. Hopefully your connections will be just a jump away - that LAX bus thing can be time consuming, as well as confusing...you might be better off hoofing it if you know exactly where you're going (and that'll feel good after all the sitting anyway).

Who cares if your luggage makes it - as long as you do! As Patrick said, pack a good carryon (and know where you're going)!

it should be illegal for them to book 40 minute transfers at those two airports, two of the worst in the nation for delayed flights.

It was my understanding that airlines would not book connecting flights with less than two hours between flights. However, when you book it yourself on Priceline (or elsewhere on line) you can do things that the airlines or travel agents would not let you do. What you have booked sounds very risky to me.

rusty,
we did not try to deliberately book this.. this is what priceline gave us.
thanks for the advice everyone.. hoping we get there!

Go ahead and call the airlines and ask them their policy. Most probably, they will re-assign you. Forty minutes at LAX and O'Hare is insanity.

If they do not, take Patricks advice and wear your running shoes and make like OJ.

I would try Priceline customer service first...especially if there is more than one airline involved. Orbitz helped me with an impossible connection to HI after the airlines changed one of my flights...they let me fly to LAX the night before, I used Priceline for an airport hotel, and got to arrive in HI even earlier than originally scheduled. But the individual airlines wouldn't help much...it took orbitz to intervene. I know Priceline doesn't do much changing, but if you call and worriedly ask if it's a "legal" connection, perhaps they'll see the light.

booked an AA flight on Orbitz with a 48 minute connection in Dallas. Before I booked, I called American and they said it`s a legal connection, as long as we weren`t changing carriers. Surprised me. I do change airlines in Atlanta, and found out AA can give me a boarding pass, not only on AA but on my Delta flight too. That sure makes it easier for me. Are you changing cariers?

Chicago mostly depends on the weather - not just in Chicago but all over the eastern US. A winter connection this short at Ohare can really be a problem.

But the LAX one may be pretty close to impossible. Security at LAX can take forever. Do both flights even use the same terminal??

Which lines are you flying?

we are flying on united the entire way...

I would call United just to voice your concern and see what they feedback to you. Recently my mom had a next to impossible connection in chicago with United and the rep at check in (Toronto) actually re-routed her! They put her on a little later flight that was making a different connection. She actually ended up getting there about half a day later but at least she and her luggage made it! As others have said, check out on line how the terminals are set up and know where gate numbers are ahead of time. Good luck, it sounds like an adventure but I am sure you will get there!

thanks for all your help.. well, i called both united and priceline.. priceline was extremely rude!!

united said that the connections are all in teh same terminal and they actually sell that same flight themselves. also, there are flights every hour to lax out of chicago and then one more flight to kona that afternoon we can hop on if we miss it!

im not going to worry about it. ive done all i can-- im just going to go with the flow!!

one note-- priceline did lie to me and said that the connections were close, but we werent changing planes from the minneapolis to la portion and we stay on the same plane in chicago.. i asked united this and it is incorrect!!

the priceline price was good.. we'll see if it's worth it!!

mahalo!!!
aimee

You should be OK as long as there are no weather delays. You will not have to go thru security at O'Hare or LAX.

I would pack a change of clothes in a carry-on in case your luggage does not make the transfer.

I recently had a very short connection time (JFK-SFO-LIH)in bad weather and it all went off without a hitch.

I too think it's going to be rough and they should have spaced the connection out further. ORD is huge and is the world's busiest airport, so it will depend on gate placement. Maybe, maybe not. Find out your arrival and departure gates and check them on the terminal map.

http://www.ohare.com/ohare/terminals/terminal.shtm

I've only connected through LAX for international flights, so that's not comparable to what you're doing. Either way, I think everyone has a great point about the luggage probably not making it along with you.

We just returned home from Maui. Our flight was maui-hnl-houston-msp. We had a 50 minute connect time in Houston which turned into 25 minutes as our plane from honolulu was late getting in. We were switching to another carrier and didn't have boarding passes so I was in a state of panic. Luck was on our side as we did make the flight and our luggage arrived with us. I would say unless there is a major weather delay you should be fine. Have a nice trip!

aimeemorice, After I posted my comments it dawned on me that my husband and I are flying United to Kauai in March. I think I still have jet lag from the last trip.

Anyway, by the looks of our tickets we have 45 minutes between our den-lax and lax-lihue flights. And, on the way back we have 42 minutes to catch the plan from lax-denver. All of our other connections are a little over an hour. Guess the moral of my story is that we booked this and a car through a travel agent using United Vacations
so I'm assuming all of the connections are legal.

interesting.thanks anita for your input!!! i guess a lot of people do this crazy flight schedule!!! wish us luck!! we are excited none the less!!

Rusty, The airline web sites offer short connections all the time.

Keith