Legal UA/ORD Connection?

[CruisenOne]

Visited some friends yesterday; they never travelled Internationally.

They booked UA Flights to attend a family reunion in Germany, by computer.

 

They showed me their Flights

 

Lv. PIT 7/13/13 UA3513 @ 1:15 P.M.

Arr. ORD @ 1:55 P.M.

 

Lv. ORD UA 944 @ 2:30 P.M.

Arr. FRA @ 5:45 A.M.

 

Thirty Five minute connection????

 

Can not believe that United would have such a short connection in ORD for an International Flight.

[frugaltravel]

35 minutes in ORD for UA-UA Domestic-International for those two flights is legal. It is never a connection I would ever dream of booking myself, but it is legal.

[CruisenOne]

35 minutes in ORD for UA-UA Domestic-International for those two flights is legal. It is never a connection I would ever dream of booking myself, but it is legal.

 

Thank you --

 

I also would never book such a short connection time either.

I always give myself at least an hour and a half minimum when connecting for an International Flight. PassPort Control, etc.

 

UA 944 will be boarding when UA 3513 is putting its wheels down for landing.

 

I learn quite a bit on this Board.

[KirkNC]

Wow, that is a very short connection time. :eek:

[frugaltravel]

Thank you --

 

I also would never book such a short connection time either.

I always give myself at least an hour and a half minimum when connecting for an International Flight. PassPort Control, etc.

 

UA 944 will be boarding when UA 3513 is putting its wheels down for landing.

 

I learn quite a bit on this Board.

 

From domestic to international there is no passport "control" though the airline will check passports upon boarding. Most airlines start boarding international flights a good hour before departure so UA944 will start boarding well before UA3513 has wheels down.

[Alaskanb]

I've done a 55 minute connection time in ORD on AA for an international flight. It's about the minimum I would consider--much prefer 90 minutes and a little wait. We book seats near the front of our first flight so we are among the first off and make sure we have no carry-on baggage that could be required to go in the hold.

[CruisenOne]

From domestic to international there is no passport "control" though the airline will check passports upon boarding.

 

Whooops:o MisSpoke on that.

 

Again, thank you for your comments.

 

Have been thinking --

Against the advice of my DW;) I am going to advise the folks to rebook an earlier Flight (PIT/ORD) and pay any rebooking penality.

There is no way they are going to make the FRA connection.

 

There is a later flight to FRA after UA 944; however, they may not be able to get on it.

[frugaltravel]

Whooops:o MisSpoke on that.

 

Again, thank you for your comments.

 

Have been thinking --

Against the advice of my DW;) I am going to advise the folks to rebook an earlier Flight (PIT/ORD) and pay any rebooking penality.

There is no way they are going to make the FRA connection.

 

There is a later flight to FRA after UA 944; however, they may not be able to get on it.

 

If it were me, I would first check into same day travel change options. Usually that is quite a bit cheaper (maybe $50/person vs. $250/person to change the already-issued tickets?). There are three other flights before the one they are booked on from PIT to ORD.

 

Also, there are actually three more flights from Chicago to Frankfurt that day (two operated by Lufthansa), plus there are other options through Dusseldorf and Munich. I would just pack my carry on to last me a couple of days (which I always do anyway) and try any changes the day of departure if UA allows that.

 

Though I know most people on this forum disdain most travel agents, this is an example of where even a modest travel agent service fee could have easily prevented this and saved them money in the long run if they end up paying $250/person in change fees. Sure, there are no guarantees that a travel agent would have steered clear of this extremely short connection, but the agent I use and agents I have dealt with in the recent past would never have booked it.

[kenish]

United will scan their passports at PIT when they check in. There's no further passport formalities until FRA, other than "flashing" their PP and boarding pass to the gate agent at ORD.

 

Nevertheless, I agree it's a recipe for problems. Did they book the tickets in the USA in the past 24 hours? The airlines have to provide a 24h cancellation period under the new airfare laws.

[CruisenOne]

Drove over to my friends home last evening.

 

They realized that neither they nor their luggage would not make UA 944.

 

I called UA and rebooked them on UA 590, no change fee.:D

Lv PIT @ 9:47 A.M.; arr ORD @ 10:23 A.M.

 

Gives them plenty of time to connect with UA 944.

 

Again, thank all of you for your input.

 

BTW -- The UA Agent was suprised at the 35 minute connection.

[frugaltravel]

Happy ending when most airlines these days are addicted to fees. I was surprised myself, but more that 35 minutes indeed is a legal (but crazy) connection.