<p>Attempting to book a cross country thanksgiving week flight. I am finding that it is going to take a couple of stops to get D home. I am coming up with a few options of routes. She can stop and change planes in Dallas, Chicago or atlanta. Any pros and cons of each</p>
<p>On the chance of an early snow hitting the largest hub in the US, I’d avoid Chicago.</p>
<p>DFW is OK - much improved new train system inside of security to change terminals if needed. Other than May hail-storms the weather is usually good.<br>
I’d take over Chicago easily.
We haven’t had a snowstorm Thanksgiving weekend since about B.C. 45,000</p>
<p>I suggest she avoids Atlanta if at all possible.</p>
<p>thanks. I am leaning towards DFW since it looks like it is a stop but not a plane change. Of course final decision will be based on fare. I wish I had booked last week since it just seems like the fare keep inching up.</p>
<p>sorry silvervestersmom, I disagree with you on Atlanta airport. Why do you say that? I never have problems going in or out, and the train system is very efficient .</p>
<p>Look at the statistics for on-time arrival for each and every flight. A flight with a stop and no plane change decreases the chance of a missed connection, but airlines can introduce plane changes at the last minute.</p>
<p>Mom60, watch the airline sites like Orbittz and Kayak for a week and you’ll see prices go both up and down.</p>
<p>In Chicago, I’d avoid O’Hare (H got stuck there twice in November). Midway is OK (Southwest’s connecting airport). Check Southwest’s website - they do not sell through online travel sites. I have only positive things to say about Southwest after my cross-country trip in August. I happened to fly out of New England back to Seattle on the day of the infamous air traffic control meltdown, and my plane was about an hour delayed, which meant there was a fat chance of me making my connecting flight. The smart people at Southwest counted how many passengers were going to miss their connections at Midway, and delayed the planes at the gates for 10-20 minutes, just enough for all of us to dash through the airport! This airline seems to have decision-makers.</p>
<p>Also, research hotels in or near the point of connections and have their phone numbers handy.</p>
<p>In large part it depends upon the airline for me. For example, I would avoid Chicago, unless I was on United where it is a great hub with lots of flights to help make up for any issues. Dallas is great on American - terrible on United. Atlanta is Delta country etc.</p>
<p>From a weather point of view, at that time of year, Chicago is the one most likely to have issues - but the probability is pretty low. From a crowds point of view, DFW is probably the best - Chicago will be a zoo and Atlanta won’t be far behind.</p>
<p>The two things that would dictate my choice (assuming airfares are roughly equal): 1) Which route offers me connections of at least 60 minutes but not more that 120 minutes and 2) Which route offers me a later flight home in the connecting city in the event that my first flight is delayed.</p>
<p>I like SW but it does not fly to our local airport. I don’t want to drive 2 hours each way on the Sunday after Thanksgving to bring her to LAX. Plus child 2 has a flight that sunday out of our local airport that is only 10 minutes from home.</p>
<p>My college kiddos, both on the opposite coast, almost never have to change planes more than once to get back and forth. Maybe due to the airports home and schools are near?</p>
<p>Oldest child has a system. He avoids Chicago/O’Hare in the winter and has also learned that earlier flights have better luck than later flights (having spent the night at both Chicago AND Dallas). He goes through Dallas or Houston in the winter. He will avoid these in spring and early summer though as tornadoes and thunderstorms are troublesome (and worse later in the day).</p>
<p>I don’t have much experience with Atlanta except it took FOREVER to get my luggage there a couple of years ago. I rarely check a bag anymore, but sometimes you just gotta do it.</p>
<p>We like to use our regional airport. It is two hour drive each way to a major airport that is crowded and time consuming. I would rather pay a bit more and not have to deal with security at LAX. This means we fly very few places non stop. I have flown to her with just one connection but all those flights are already sold out thanksgiving week. She hasn’t flown home in a year so this is a splurge and she is staying a week. With it being Thanksgiving I am going to give her plenty of connection time.
I think we are looking at American, Continental or Delta.</p>
<p>I would second Southwest Airlines… if at all possible to use them. She might still have to come through Chicago, but Midway just does not have the issues that O’Hare does - in fact, I almost always drive the extra 25-30 minutes further from home to use Midway whenever possible. They go out of their way to help people make their connections, as BB suggests.</p>
<p>I think Dalllas looking at everything. Atlanta and Chicago can be problemmatic, and weather is a possible issue for Chicago.</p>
<p>It would help if we knew the start and destination.</p>
<p>Also I would try to get a nonstop as much as possible. With the possibility of snow closing airports, you may end up spending more money because you have to get a hotel room than if you just flew nonstop.</p>
<p>I fly from west coast to east all the time and I also flew a variety of airlines, everything from Virgin America to jetBlue to United. I NEVER have to connect more than once from a tiny airport in central California. If you’re in the SFO area, I’d suggest looking at United. It’s got a fairly huge operation there so you’re going to find a ton of frequencies to SFO. If you’re terminating or originating in New York I’d suggest looking at jetBlue.</p>
<p>Between major cities on both coasts, there are more nonstops than you can count: why would you connect and have to risk overnighting at an airport? Most airlines fly twice a day both ways on bigger nonstop routes like JFK-SFO or JFK-LAX. Speaking of which, I’d suggest connecting on the west coast if you absolutely have to. Nicer weather, less chance of overnighting (chance of weather cancellation at LAX=nearly zero).</p>
<p>Anyway go with nonstops even if you have to pay a little more. I book my own flights and I always always always look at nonstops first.</p>
<p>I would recommend 1) DFW 2) Chicago 3) Atlanta</p>
<p>I don’t know DFW as well, but the few times I’ve been there, I haven’t had a problem. I don’t mind Chicago at all unless there is bad weather, and you can’t predict that so far away. I’ve always had some kind of problem in Atlanta.</p>
<p>Oh, and if you want to get to your destination on time, avoid regional jets like the plague. If the airport has a weather problem, regional jets are the first to be grounded and last to be allowed to take off after an airport closure. You’re also more likely to get bumped due to some kind of weight issue.</p>
<p>futurenyustudent- our regional airport has a daily average temp of 70 degrees. In 21 yrs I have used the airport I have only had one flight cancelled due to weather. The majority of the flights in and out are puddle jumpers to LAX. Most often the flight is the same price as from LA. We go through security in 5 minutes! You fly into la but you are already on the other side of security so you don’t have the hassle of traffic, long lines. It is ideal. We also have direct flights to SLC, Denver and SFO and Seattle, San Jose and Sacramento and Phoenix.
I am looking for Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach to Santa Barbara with a return the sunday after Thanksgiving. There are a few one stop flights from Ft Lauderdale but they are coming up as way over 1000.
I also try to avoid US Air since they seem to have the hardest time making it into SB on time and I find their customer service lacking. Strangely US Air does a good job on east bound but I have had heard and experience many horror stories of a night in Las Vegas or Arizona on the way home due to cancellations.
At DFW does American have more then one terminal? Or if she had to connect from Continental to American would it be a terminal change?
She used to live in Denver and even though it was an expensive flight it was nonstop and easy.</p>
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</p>
<p>YES</p>
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<p>I believe YES, but here is the link that lets you see whether I am correct and how this terminal change is made.</p>
<p>[dfwairport.com</a> - Terminals](<a href=“http://www.dfwairport.com/terminals/]dfwairport.com”>http://www.dfwairport.com/terminals/)</p>
<p>My S’s mom travels all the time in business and I know she makes terminal changes in Dallas all the time. The biggest concern is to make sure the connection times “work.”</p>