Does purchasing this flight seem risky?
 

I have been tracking airfare everyday from Cleveland to Kauai in October and it has been $731 with little fluctuating. Today, I found $566 BUT the flight is from Cleveland to O'Hare to LAX with a layover of 43 minutes to San Fran with a 32 minute layover to Kauai. Is this worth the $330 savings? I am on a budget so it is tempting but I am worrying about missing flights if they are delayed and losing baggage. I have only flown twice before so I don't really know how this works. Any thoughts/comments???

If it is causing you this much stress, I wouldn't do it.

You still have a little time - my experience is that once you start seeing a price drop like that, others will follow.

Just keep tracking it and I am sure you will find something a little better for you ... BUT, if your main concern is lost luggage, I wouldn't worry about that. (Lost luggage doesn't happen as often as people think - still, you should always be prepared. Take a small carry-on with a change of clothes/underwear and all medications)

normally airlines will not book you if there is not enough time to change planes. i assume from these quick times that you may not change planes at all.
i have learned the hard way that your luggage can never be counted on. i always pack my carry-on accordingly and find that delayed luggage ususally arrives the next day.
i'd say book it now! and get travelers insurance, so if any delays end up costing you money you can recover it later.

Peace of mind is priceless. But you should be fine, as long as nothing goes wrong- in my experience, when something DOES go wrong, it goes REALLY wrong. Lost baggage/severe delays are an exception, not a norm. I wouldn't think October will be a problem. But the best advice I can give you- shell ou the extra couple hundred, if you're truly worried, and get longer layovers:)

What is the exact itinerary?

Flight Information - Mon., Oct. 16, 2006
United
Flight 5905 Departs: 9:45a
Hopkins Intl (CLE) Arrives: 10:09a
O'Hare Inter*national (ORD)
Economy | CR7 | 1h 24m | SPR21ZAN
Layover at O'Hare Inter*national (ORD) for 1h 51m
United
Flight 115 Departs: 12:00p
O'Hare Inter*national (ORD) Arrives: 2:12p
Los Angeles (LAX)
Economy | 752 | 4h 12m | SPR21ZAN
Layover at Los Angeles (LAX) for 0h 43m
United
Flight 926 Departs: 2:55p
Los Angeles (LAX) Arrives: 4:13p
San Francisco (SFO)
Economy | 752 | 1h 18m | TPE14NR1
Layover at San Francisco (SFO) for 0h 32m
United
Flight 65 Departs: 4:45p
San Francisco (SFO) Arrives: 7:41p
Lihue (LIH)
Economy | Boeing 757-200 Passenger | 5h 56m | TPE14NR1

Flight Information - Thu., Oct. 26, 2006
! This flight leaves and arrives on different dates.
United
Flight 4906
Operated by Aloha Airlines Departs: 6:00p
Lihue (LIH) Arrives: 6:29p
Honolulu (HNL)
Economy | 737 | 0h 29m | TPE14NR1
Layover at Honolulu (HNL) for 2h 31m
United
Flight 84 Departs: 9:00p
Honolulu (HNL) Arrives: 5:14a
Los Angeles (LAX)
Economy | 763 | 5h 14m | TPE14NR1
Layover at Los Angeles (LAX) for 0h 47m
United
Flight 576 Departs: 6:01a
Los Angeles (LAX) Arrives: 9:24a
Denver Inter*national (DEN)
Economy | Boeing 737-500 Passenger | 2h 23m | SPR21ZAN
Layover at Denver Inter*national (DEN) for 0h 46m
United
Flight 6630 Departs: 10:10a
Denver Inter*national (DEN) Arrives: 2:58p
Hopkins Intl (CLE)
Economy | Canadair Regional Jet 700 | 2h 48m | SPR21ZAN

Booking Options
By Internet
Buy direct at United Airlines
$566



By Phone
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800-241-6522

Looking at past records of UA115 when it operated ORD-LAX in the spring (it was discontinued since 5/4/06 for that leg), it is a pretty reliable flight, arriving LAX on-time most of the time.

UA926 is also a very reliable flight, with an excellent on-time record. So, while this may not be as risky as it sounds.

Having said that, if you decide to go ahead with this flight, I suggest you list out all possible UA flights from ORD to LIH. This way, say if you find that your ORD-LAX flight will be departing late, you can proactively tell UA to reschedule you on a ORD-SFO non-stop (if there's one that suits you), or find a way to get to HNL (so that at least you can spend that night in Hawaii, not LA or San Fran).

You have three layovers with your last one being only 1/2 hour! What happens if you miss the SFO to Hawaii flight? Do you have to go the next day? How valuable is your vacation time?

If it was me...I would spend the money and take a more direct flight.

For $140 more you can fly from ORD to HNL without any LAX or SFO stops.

As it's all on UA I wouldn't be overly concerned with the connections; they'll protect you on subsequent flights if you misconnect. FWIW I can't find that fare on united.com or ITA (big search engine) for your travel dates.

That said, it sounds grueling as hell, especially starting and ending with a commuter jet, especially the one from Denver (a long way in a wee plane.)

Only you can make the budget call. Me, I'd (a) wait a bit or (b) pay a little more and get cracking on hotel savings that could wipe out the difference.

One final thought is that you might look at air/hotel or air/hotel/car packages through the airlines or through Expedia et al. Often you can save significant bux by buying a package.

This itinerary is cheap because some legs include the very good SPR21ZAN fares that UA loaded to its system this morning. There's a long thread about this on Flyertalk (268 posts since this morning). It seems to be gone from ual.com, but some people are still finding the fare on Expedia.

I agree the budget issue is for you to decide. Apart from that, I'd consider a couple of things. The schedule is brutal. If my math and interpretation of your flights going over is correct, it's taking you over 15.5 hrs to get from Cleveland to Kauai - 9+ hrs just to get to SFO. You're only going to be gone 10 days and it seems like you're really eating into your vacation time - again your decision. I agree that if all flights on UA your chances of missing flights and/or not being able to deal with delays is greatly reduced. But multiple stops (even if you don't change planes) still increase chances for delays/problems, eats into vacation time, and would increase stress level (at least for me - which is the last thing I want on a vacation). Good luck.

I think it's worth it but I'm buying 4 tickets, so that's a $1300 savings, which is no drop in the bucket.