<p>As I was searching the net for the answer to my question, I realized that the wise and experienced folks here at CC would probably know the answer or be able to point me in the right direction. Here goes:</p>
<p>My DD is flying to Panama City-PTY from Chicago over winter break for a class. There are no non-stop flights. Most flights includes stops in either Houston, Newark or Atlanta. We’re leaning towards Houston as being the least likely to have weather problems. As of this afternoon, the layovers were either 50 minutes or 5 hours+. I hate cutting it so close with the under an hour choice, but is there anything she will have to do besides find her gate and get on the plane? Since the second leg of the trip is the international portion, does that add any other hoops to jump through? The airline, Continental, flies both legs of the trip. </p>
<p>If anyone has any other advice, I’d love to hear it. This is an expensive ticket and we want to get the most bang for our buck. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>The 50 minute layover is cutting it close. If the flight’s on time it wouldn’t be a problem but if her Chicago to Houston flight is late she could miss her connection. As I’m sure you know, Chicago’s winter weather isn’t the best so a delay is very possible. Newark’s weather isn’t that great either.</p>
<p>Atlanta’s winter weather is usually okay so if the connection was better there you might consider it. Also, aren’t there any Miami connections?</p>
<p>The fact that the second leg is international shouldn’t be a problem other than sometimes the departures are in different terminals which means more time needed on the connection. There should be no extra hoops. Make sure your D doesn’t forget her passport.</p>
Yes it definitely adds hoops. On the return journey she will have to go through immigration in Houston (you always go through immigration and customs at the first airport you land at). Then if she has baggage other than carry on she will have to wait for it and retrieve it from the carousel. She will have to go through customs. Then she will return her bags to the airline and make her connection. Almost impossible in 50 minutes. I do not like to allow less than 2 hours for the connection returning from an International flight. And I have missed connections even then.</p>
<p>If both legs of the journey were domestic 50 minutes would be close - I like an hour. As one is international I would not recommend it at all. The outward leg may be doable though tight (I am not sure of the layout of Houston - both flights being the same airline does **not ** always mean the gates will be close to each other. I flew through Minneapolis last time I flew to England on NWA and the gate I landed at after the first leg was as far as it could possibly be from the gate I had to leave from the 2nd leg. It was a really long hike - my first flight was late and the only reason i made it was because the 2nd flight was late as well) . The return leg in 50 minutes will be almost impossible.</p>
<p>D flew Continental from El Paso to Quito and had to change in Houston. There were no problems. She had 1 1/2 hrs layover and had to go from the domestic to Int’l terminal. She only had to get on to the plane - there were no other security checkpoints to go through and her luggage was transferred by Continental so all she had was her carry on. For her return flight Continental had a couple of connections that looked pretty tight since she would be going through customs returning. Called Continental and they said there was enough time but we opted for a later connection flight. Is there another airlines she could go from Chicago to Houston with that would take care of transferring her bags and maybe give her a slightly longer connection time?
You can check the layout of the Houston airport - it’s not that huge, even if it is in TX [Houston</a> Airport System](<a href=“http://www.fly2houston.com/iahTerminals]Houston”>http://www.fly2houston.com/iahTerminals)</p>
<p>Airlines won’t offer you an unrealistically short layover and the often hold international flights for late arriving connections. Unless your daughter is a total neophyte traveler, I’d jump on the 50 minute layover, it makes the trip much easier. Experienced international travelers avoid layovers longer than an hour like the plague. When you’re already dealing with a long trip and time zone change, sitting in the airport for hours simply adds insult to injury. I avoid bad weather airports when I can but I’ll risk them for a much shorter layover. At most airports 50 minutes is enough time to get to any gate and grab a sandwich. If you have to go through security again which you usually will not, go to the head of the line and say your plane is about to leave.</p>
<p>I am a pretty experienced International traveler. I would *never *book the incoming portion of a flight to the US with a 50 minute layover. Outgoing yes. Incoming with immigration and customs to go through - never. Most times when I come into the US it takes me close to an hour to get through immigration and customs let alone get to the next flight.</p>
<p>A good source to search for flights is Kayak.com . it will list a whole bunch of flights with different combinations of airlines and times. The length of the flights will be listed next to each flight combo and you can go in and check details. You may be able to find a combination where the inward flight has a slightly longer connection than the outward journey.</p>
<p>I made the assumption the 50 minute layover was on the USA->Panama trip in which case it’s a possibility but cutting it real tight - especially in the winter when her flight from Chicago to Houston is liable to be late. </p>
<p>If the return flight from Panama also has a 50 minute layover it’d be very tough to manage since like swimcatsomom stated, she needs to go through immigration, reclaim bags if any were checked, go through customs, and then get from the international terminal to the domestic one (I don’t know how far apart they are in Houston). If she even attempts this, make sure she doesn’t check any bags to expedite it.</p>
<p>Don’t count on the airline holding the flight for her. If they did this routinely it would cost them a lot of money - something airlines don’t seem to have too much of right now. The only time they might even consider it is if they know a passenger is on their way form one gate to another and it’ll be just a couple of minutes. I highly doubt they’d do it if the incoming passenger’s whereabouts are unknown or they’re still in the air.</p>
I know in Atlanta and in Minneapolis you do have to go through another security line after you return your bags to the airline. Can’t say for sure for other airports because I try and not have connections on flights returning to the States but I imagine it is the norm now - presumably because you could have taken something out of your bag that is not allowed in carry on. In Atlanta we were running late for our flight because it took 1 1/2 hours to get through custom and immigration. We had 20 minutes to make our connection and thought - just maybe. Then we saw the line to get through security to get out of the customs area. When we tried to ask one of the cattle herders - er helpful people in positions of authority - if there was a quicker way as we were going to miss our flight we got yelled at - not pleasantly. We were nowhere near through the line when our flight took off.</p>
<p>
I have missed 3 connecting flights in the last few years. None my fault. They have *never *held the flight for me. I did get to stay in a very nice hotel in Houston on Continental’s dime.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, I’m so surprised you have not had flights held. Airlines are running so lean these days they need full flights. They have cut back the number of flights per day on most routes to the extent where there’s probably 20 people on a flight trying to make the same connection. I travel the same routes so often I know the flight crews who are always able to tell me a flight will be held.</p>
<p>I don’t think any airline will offer you a 50 minute layover on the return.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for your comments and advice. </p>
<p>Ucsd-ucla-dad, your assumption was correct. The 50 minute layover was on the 2nd leg of the outbound trip- Chicago>Houston>Panama City. Not being a risk taker, I am never comfortable with that short of a layover. There are just too many things that can go wrong. But it’s good to know that on her outbound trip she won’t have to worry about immigration stuff in Houston (or wherever her layover winds up being).</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, your explanation of the incoming immigration/customs process on her return flight was exactly the kind of info I was looking for. </p>
<p>csleslie51, thanks for your first hand Houston/Continental information and the airport link.</p>
<p>I have some more researching to do, but at this point, it looks like this ticket will be around $1000 unless she adds another stop in Mexico or Guatemala. I don’t think so! Kayak.com, here I come.</p>
<p>After researching a flight on various travel sites, you can usually determine which airline is offering the best deal. From that information I go directly to the airline site. I have yet to find a better price than they can offer. Continental has a way to search for cheaper fares by looking at dates around your preferred departure date. We saved some using that. Also, the price of a ticket from El Paso to Quito booked directly through Continental was cheaper than breaking up the flights and looking at El Paso - Houston and then Houston - Quito (also at Continental). Can’t figure that one out :P</p>
<p>Have you tried searching for a flight with Kayak.com? it is jus a search site - it will link you to the airline site to buy the ticket. $1000 seems very high unless it is because you are having to travel on particular dates that are more expensive.</p>
<p>My husband and I both fly Continental connecting through Houston a lot and we think 50 minutes is okay if you aren’t coming back into the country through Houston.</p>
<p>Let me concur. I am a very active international traveler (was Munich five weeks ago, in Mexico City three weeks ago, London two weeks ago, London/Cambridge last week). Three comments:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It can take a while to go through customs. Your layover needs to be at least two hours. </p></li>
<li><p>Sometimes they hold flights for connectors, sometimes they don’t. My flight back from Mexico City to Dallas was delayed and they did not hold the Dallas to Boston flight. So, they put me up in the hotel at the airport in Dallas, which was annoying because it meant I wouldn’t get home until Saturday morning and I was leaving Sunday morning for London. On the other hand, on Friday (two days ago), I flew from London to Newark, had a meeting/early dinner in NJ, and took the 9:30 flight back to Boston. They held the Newark-Boston flight for half an hour for connectors as it was the last flight back. The first airline was American. The second was Continental. But, I suspect that the different decisions had more to do with the situation and number of passengers than the airline.</p></li>
<li><p>I love kayak.com but switched to [ITA</a> Software - Solving the Travel Industry’s Most Complex Problems](<a href=“http://www.itasoftware.com%5DITA”>http://www.itasoftware.com) because American Airlines is no longer providing its information to kayak. itasoftware writes much of the software that airlines use on their websites. To Panama, American is often the best bet, with Continental second. I like Continental a little more, but I think you’ll be OK with either. Incidentally, I just plugged some dates for November into the itasoftware site and got fares of $328 for Continental and $337 for American. I’m sure these fares are non-refundable advance purchase fares, but it may be possible to get the fares down a bit.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I wouldn’t rely on an airline holding a flight; good chance the flight will be delayed in winter and sometimes gates are far away. You could book her on the 50 minute layover flight and if she misses it they will put her on the next flight…of course you run the risk that flight might be full.</p>
<p>Thanks again to everyone for their advice. After searching long & hard, and trying many different configurations, I just purchased her ticket on Continental for just over $1K. Our inflexible travel dates were definitely part of the cost problem. However, she wound up with layover times that should cover any problems that might arise. </p>
<p>The trip down through Houston is a 5+ hours layover (only alternative was 50 minutes). The trip back through Houston again is a 4 hours layover. The alternative was 2 hours. We opted for the longer layover hoping that, if she can get through customs quickly, they might let her on the earlier flight. But given how tightly packed planes are these days, I’d rather have her sitting for a couple of hours at the gate, than not being able to catch the later flight if customs held her up too long. </p>
<p>Thanks again. I knew you guys would come through!</p>
[Houston</a> Airport System](<a href=“