thursdaysd

My sister is visiting the US in late July. she will fly into Boston from the UK, and needs to connect to a domestic flight. Is three hours long enough (or too long) to allow for the connection?

clarkgriswold

I'd recommend 4 hours just in case the flight arrives late from UK. Then again we had a flight from UK that arrived 10.5 hours late so you never really know. If you connect to a domestic flight with the same airline or an affiliate/ ticketed all together on one ticket, you have less worry as they will adjust your 2nd flight.

RoamsAround

How long it will take your sister to clear Immigration & Customs in July, or any other time, is impossible to predict since it depends on so many variable but assuming she's not a US Citizen I'd allow a minimum connection time of 2 hours so her planned 3 hour connection should be OK.

Keep in mind, that it's far better to have extra waiting time for a connecting flight than cut it too close and miss the flight by 5 minutes.

thursdaysd

Yes, I've advised her to put the domestic flight on the same ticket, but of course, you never know if there will be space on a later flight.

clarkgriswold - 10.5 hours late? That's a marathon... how miserable!

RoamsAround - she's a UK citizen. I know it can take a very long time for immigration - back when I was a permanent resident (before they let them use the same line as citizens) I once spent 90 minutes clearing immigration at Newark. But I was wondering whether Boston was particularly bad, and whether changing terminals was a pain.

cw

There is a shuttle bus that goes around to all the terminals for her transfer, though depending on what terminal she's going to, it may be faster to walk. The Massport site for Logan has a lot of information.

She'll have to go through security again at the new terminal. If she's on one ticket, her checked luggage should be transferred so she won't have to bother with that. Three hours should be enough, I wouldn't cut it any closer.

Ackislander

If she puts it all one one ticket, they will get her to her destination even if they have to put her on another airline, unless of course there are no more departures.

She will have to go through Immigration, then collect her bags and go through Customs and Agriculture. She then goes out into the main hall and checks her bags at a transfer desk, just to the left. They can tell her whether walking or the shuttle bus will be faster to get to her next flight.

How long a connection is required? Normally, three hours would be fine.

The first thing that might go wrong is arriving late in the afternoon, when all those flights that leave Europe/UK in the early afternoon all arrive at once: it can be AA, BA, AF, Lufthansa, Alitalia, and Aer Lingus. On a really bad day, TAP or a flight from the Azores might also arrive. If she is scheduled to arrive then, I would think hard about a 4 hour connection. It will still be an order of magnitude better than JFK, and if she takes a morning flight, she is likely to be on her way very quickly in Boston.

The other issue in July and August is thunderstorm activity in the Boston area. If it is rough, all the transAtlantic flights will be diverted to Bangor, Maine, where they will sit until the weather clears, usually an hour or two. There is nothing she can do about this except not over schedule herself for the day of arrival or the next day. The airlines do a really good job of getting everyone on their way after these kinds of delays.

None of this meant to alarm; I am just one of those people who like to think through the possible issues.

thursdaysd

Thanks! I'll pass all this on to her.

clarkgriswold

Thunderstorms, plus yes, Logan (all of New England really) is particularly bad in July and August (that was one of your initial questions).