That’s a good option and always worth a try. I’ve switched to earlier flights lots of times - sometimes just a few minutes before the flight was going to leave. If they say they’re full when she gets to the gate she can always try standby since she’d just be sitting around anyway.</p>
<p>That’s a really long wait on the outbound flight. Maybe she can try to switch to the earlier flight then as well if she happens to make it to the gate on time. My suggestion would be to counsel her to still hurry to the earlier flight’s gate in Houston and try to switch to the earlier one.</p>
<p>(EDIT: looks as if you need to be 21 to use the lounges on your own. I don’t know if this will make my suggestion (you should pardon the expression) moot.)</p>
<p>mootmom, what a good idea. Thanks! She will be 21, plus about a month. I’ll see what she thinks.</p>
<p>ucsd, it’s worth a try. It would just figure though that I would shell out the $45 for a lounge day pass and then she would make it in the 50 minutes. Oh well…time will tell!</p>
<p>If you make it onto the earlier flight, what about luggage? Won’t you just have to wait around till it arrives on the flight it was transferred to (ie the later one)? (I realize this only applies on the outbound flight as you’d need to have your luggage to get through customs).</p>
<p>^^ Unless she’ll be gone for an extended time I suggest she carry her luggage on with her (one carry-on and a small backpack or something) which would solve the checked luggage issue and maximize her chances of making the earlier flights. My D managed a month or so in Europe with just one carry-on plus backpack but I’ve taught her to travel as light as possible.</p>
<p>One modification to my suggestion above - we were surprised when returning from the UK a year ago that they limited carry-on bags to ‘one’. This was being imposed by the UK airport security people as opposed to an airline rule or a USA rule (they also had the airport on a special heightened security due to bombings in the UK within the previous couple of days). This meant we had to check some bags that we carried on for the trip over there. They wouldn’t have allowed the carry-on plus backpack suggestion I made above. I don’t know what restrictions Panama might have. If possible, try to go for one carry-on or at least a carry-on and backpack that could be placed in the carry-on if need be.</p>
<p>^^ I would love to find a way for her to be able to just carryon. Even though it’s just 12 days, she’ll need both business and casual attire. From past experience, I know she’ll probably take way more than necessary.</p>
<p>^^ It can be done with discipline and planning. It also helps to sometimes bring a small packet of laundry detergent (following TSA guidelines) and do some washing of underwear and socks in the hotel sink to reduce the amount of clothing being carried. Another possibility is to use the hotel’s guest laundry if they have one and do a load halfway through. More and more hotels have this but I don’t know about in Panama. Finally, there’s the possibility of sending the laundry out through the hotel’s laundry service but that can cost more. Nevertheless, it’d be worth it to me to save a few hours on a connection. The bonus is a lighter load of luggage.</p>
<p>^^ucsd, you’re preachin’ to the choir. The one good thing is that the average temp in Panama in January is 80 degrees. No bulky sweaters or sweatshirts will be needed!</p>
<p>And sometimes kids try to go overboard. When S was in Tibet for 7 weeks (moving regularly in the countryside so little time for daily laundry) he tried to convince us he could fit everything into a medium size backpack(carryone size), half of which was filled up with camera paraphernalia - he was the photographer for the group so this meant lenses and large cameras, and also included his sleeping bag. We did convince him to include a small duffel so he could bring back stuff for us ;)</p>
I’ll see what she thinks.</p>