I purchased my round trip tickets from expedia. On my way back from kauai, I fly into Honolulu using go! airline. I have a three-hour layover and then I am to fly Northwest to LAX.

In an attempt to make my flight back smoother, I called go! airline to find me a ticket that will eliminate the 3-hour layover. I changed the reservation and paid $20.

I got to Honolulu 35 mins before the Northwest flight to LAX takes off. The terminal was on the other side of the airport so it took me 10 mins to ge there. When I got to the counter, 25 mins before the flight is supposed to take off, Northwest tells me that I can't get on, they said I needed to be there 30 mins before. By the way, I didn't have any luggage to check in because it had already been transferred. They tell me I needed to go back to Go! to figure out what happened to my schedule.

I went back to Go! and they refuse to take responsibility. I went back to Northwest and they tell me I need to buy a new ticket for the next flight that is leaving in an hour. The only ticket available is first class for $1000. I can't afford $1000, but then again, the plane I'm supposed to be in hasn't left yet.

Nothing else was leaving until the night after, so I had to stay overnight in honolulu without my luggage. They finally decided that they can send me to go to Oregon instead. So I ended up in Oregon and had to buy a ticket home to LAX, which costed me $300 and my luggage is missing.

This was a nightmare. I felt that noone was accomodating. I felt that Go! should not have booked me a ticket that would be so close to the cutoff time for Northwest boarding. But at the same time, I felt that Northwest could have handled my situation better.

Any insight?

When you changed your go! reservation to eliminate the 3 hour layover, how much layover did the new ticket give you? If you knowingly gave yourself only the 35 minutes...

Your fault.

Your original flight had a three hour layover for a reason.

You decided you didn't want to be stuck in the airport that long (I don't blame you) and you called and changed the flight.

It seems like your call over rided the airlines legal connection time.

I would think you were doomed from the minute you changed a ticket booked via an "agency" by doing so with the airline. No one wants to take responsibility when you there are two different people to blame. Frankly though, with so many delayed flights and even the time it takes to deplane, I'd never have shortened a 3 hour lay over unless it was to something like 2 to 2 and a half hours.

You neglected to say how long the SCHEDULED layover once after you changed the flight. If it was only 35 minutes--or, for that matter, if it was less than an hour--then you have only yourself to blame! In this imperfect world of ours, leaving yourself so little time is an invitation to failure!

I would chalk this up to a very expensive lesson learned.

The 30 minute window is not determined by the airline, it is mandated by the Federal Government.

well, first of all i hate lay overs. if i had to have one, it would only be because i did the scheduling myself and not the airlines that i booked (for example i decided to fly to another city from one airline to get a cheaper roundtrip fare from another airline) and the absolute minimum i would do in this instance is an hour and a half. planes are delayed for the most obscure reasons sometimes that are out of anyone's control. if you gave yourself only 35 min in between flights, that's too close for comfort for me.

consider it a lesson learned, smile and try to move on. i know how terrible this stuff is when you're travelling but at least it's over now, right?

Maggienkids, did you already have a NW boarding pass? Because, from their website, it seems you only needed to board 15 minutes prior to the flight:

"After I print my boarding pass, when do I need to board my flight?
You must be on board the aircraft at least:

15 minutes prior to departure on flights between the 50 U.S.
30 minutes prior to departure on all other flights, including Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and India. "

So, assuming you had a boarding pass, they were remiss in not allowing you to board outside that 15 minutes window. If you still had to CHECK IN and get your boarding pass, then you were beyond the cutoff time.

http://www.nwa.com/checkin/faq.shtml#return_to_top

If you changed the flight without checking if it met with the boading standards of the on-going airline then the fault is clearly yours.

You had a (presummably) single ticket which was legal and would have made the airlines responsbile if you missed your flight. But when you changed it to a flight that was not within the allowed connection time you mae yourself responsible.

A relatively inexpensive lesson learned. NorthWest cold have just said you were a no-show (this doesn't mean you are not there - but not there within the time period that doesn;t delay the plane) and had to pay full fare for whatever other ticket you wanted.

First time poster. Perhaps pulling our chains?

I can't beleive we all agree.

"Any insights?"

Yes I book my tickets with a normal airline, directly with them not using an in between.

That said, I also always allow 3-hours for layovers. When you book using two different airlines or agencies then neither is responsible for what you decide to purchase or for you making the connection.

Sorry to say but the fault is all yours from the scenario you describe.

Consider it an expensive "lesson learned" about booking your own air tickets online.