<p>Just be aware… Usair closes the plane doors 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. So…a one hour connection can really be less. My husband has had usair close the door on him in Charlotte. They do not hold flights due to incoming delays. And he had gold status at the time.</p>
<p>Do not book on the last flight out.</p>
<p>The flight attendant will likely announce the gates for all connecting flights before the plane lands. Be sure to tell your kid to pay attention. It’s a very boring announcement and it is easy to tune out, especially if you are in the middle of an electronic game or something. Knowing the gate before you get off the plane can make a big difference on a tight connection. He or she should ask the flight attendant to repeat if he/ she zones out, and should ask the gate agent which way to go upon exiting the plane. </p>
<p>Sprint-worthy shoes also help; no flip flops!</p>
<p>I’m an extreme outlier, but I prefer to check bags, even with connections. Having to deal with a bulky carry-on really slows me down when sprinting to a connecting flight. Plus, the only time in recent memory that my bag was delayed was when I’ve was forced to gate check my carry-on because there is no room in the overhead compartment. I was the last passenger to board. I handed my bag to the attendant at the plane’s door, but it didn’t make it on the flight! But my checked bag made the connection! </p>
<p>(I don’t check bags when traveling with colleagues, however, to avoid the extreme wrath that having to wait 10 mins at the baggage claim engenders!)</p>
<p>I would pick Charlotte. It’s a big enough airport that there will be options if anything goes wrong. I’ve flown out of a Charlottesville through Charlotte. The Charlotte airport is really nice.</p>
<p>Last two plane trips I took…and they were recent, and two different airlines…we were told to look at the monitors in the airport for the gates for connecting flights. </p>
<p>The only airline I’ve flown on that actually will hold planes for late flights is Southwest. I’ve been on a number of trips where our connecting flight was half because a number of us were on the plane that was late. The SW flight attendants even asked folks to remain seated so a bunch of us could get off the plane first…and RUN to the connection.</p>
<p>“The only airline I’ve flown on that actually will hold planes for late flights is Southwest. I’ve been on a number of trips where our connecting flight was half because a number of us were on the plane that was late. The SW flight attendants even asked folks to remain seated so a bunch of us could get off the plane first…and RUN to the connection.”</p>
<p>Second what Thumper said about Southwest. Instead of announcing the connecting flights, some airlines have an agent meet the deplaining passengers to point them in the right direction, but I would not count on it. </p>
<p>Googling the airline and flight number like “alaska flight 15” will bring up the current flight information, including the gate. </p>
<p>Avoid United if at all possible. They are majorly awful, lowest ranked by Consumer Reports and others. It would raise my blood pressure too much to go into detail, but our latest trip with them was horrendous both directions… I was wary since a previous trip with them had been bad, but decided to give them one more chance. Never again. They really don’t give a #*+%!about the customer.</p>
<p><a href=“JetBlue And Delta Lead, While United Lags, In Customer Satisfaction Survey”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2014/04/22/jetblue-and-delta-lead-while-united-lags-in-customer-satisfaction-survey/</a>
Excerpt “Since United is so far behind other airlines in passenger satisfaction, it will not be easy to gain market share or to keep customers, especially when considering that 30% of (United’s) passengers (awarded) an ACSI score below 50,” ACSI said.”</p>
<p><a href=“United: This Is Not 'Any Way to Run an Airline'”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2013/04/11/united-this-is-not-any-way-to-run-an-airline/</a>
Excerpts: “United doesn’t care about customers – and hasn’t for a very long time”</p>
<p>“Like too many companies, United is fixated on this strategy, even if it can’t make any money. Even if this strategy once drove it to bankruptcy. Even if its employees are miserable. Even if quality metrics decline. Even if every year customers are less and less happy with the product. All of that be darned! United just keeps doing what it has always done, for over 3 decades, hoping that somehow – magically – results will improve.”</p>
<p>Thanks for all the tips everyone; I’ll be sure to pass them along to my daughter.</p>
<p>@VAMom2015, so sorry that happened to your son. I was not aware of that practice so thanks for sharing that.</p>
<p>@thumper1, was your husband’s initial flight on USAir also? All flights have been booked on USAirways and the connection times are about one hour, so your post #20 worries me a little.</p>
<p>This is a last minute trip scheduled for next week, so we had limited choices. I just checked and it does look like she is on the last flight to SFO. So what are the possible scenarios if she misses her connection? Is it reasonable to expect USAir to put her on another carrier?</p>
<p>I don’t know if USAir will put her on another carrier. Delta will. But they would at least give her a voucher for an airport hotel, free meals, and should book her out as soon as possible (hopefully the next morning). The hotel should have a shuttle.</p>
<p>I know people have been bad-mouthing United for some time. I have to say, I’ve been so far, pretty satisfied with them over the years. They do have the most flights in and out of most of the cities I fly to and from (especially HNL), so it is more convenient than other airlines. I do not have much experience with USAir–things have changed over the years as well with the various airlines.</p>
<p>I know that sometimes airlines will put you on planes with less than an hour or perhaps a 60 minute connection. We still feel better with a 90 minute connection or longer, even if sometimes that means we are at the airport for 2.5 hours instead of the 45-60 minute connection. It is much less stressful for us, but we’re all different. I know other folks who seem to enjoy having as tight connections as airlines will allow and then get angry when the first flight is late and makes them miss the connection.</p>
<p>As far as closing the gate early. In Detroit, Delta shut the door at least 17 minutes early on my husband. He had run through the airport, panting and sweating to get there. Paid, first class ticket. There were about four sweaty people right behind him. But the plane was still there, so he pounded on the door as hard as possible, and the gate agent came out, annoyed. She told him, “In Detroit, we shut the door on our own time.” What the crap does that mean? Well, I can tell you, for people who have spent much time in Detroit, there can be a bit of an attitude around there that is not customer service oriented. And Delta’s commuter jets often have short connections to the Delta jets, though the terminals are far apart. So a 35 minute connection could be impossible, even for an athlete. Fortunately, they have been putting more of their commuter jets on closer terminals lately. Probably too many missed connections.</p>
<p>Actually the point of my story is not complaining, but about banging on the door. They allowed all the sweaty passengers to board the airplane. Something I will do if they shut the door early, but the plane is still there.</p>
<p>bogibogi, my experience has been that when travel issues arrive, “reasonable” seems to escape a lot of airlines’ vocabulary. To be prepared, you can check now to see options of any scheduled flights to SFO later that night on other carriers. The last flight to anywhere is not optimal many times, as your options disappear. BUT! when flying into SFO, a lot of illogical things happen. Sometimes, because of major summer fog, SFO gets so backed up, that the East Coast has ground holds. And then magically, your flight is only 1/2 late landing…after a 2 hour departure delay. Go figure.</p>
<p>I’m sure your D’s travel will be fine. Just have that contingency plan in mind, have phones charged and a cc and cash. As someone mentioned upthread, flying into Oakland can sometimes be a better option…and an alternative if she misses her flight. Then you just have to make adjustments to pick up.</p>
<p>When our kids were flying back to west coast from college, we monitored Flightaware.com to not only follow their flights, but to check on the flight status of the prior/incoming plane that would be taking them. I would guess there were 5 times that we knew goskid’s connections weren’t going to happen due to delayed incoming planes. It allowed H to make alternate plans. Twice, because of missing the connecting last flight out to SFO, goskid #2 spent night in Houston. And because of flightaware, H knew his connection had left, so booked S a room. (and H needed to book, because S did not have a lot of wiggle room on his credit card limit!). And that first time, we had to walk him thru getting a cab, giving directions, paying, tipping, checking in, checking out, not raiding the mini bar, timing for getting back to airport next a.m. for flight, etc. A good learning experience…and some memories were created!</p>
<p>Time of year matters. Northern airports in wintertime are at the mercy of snow storms.</p>
<p>How old is child? If u are that nervous then u can opt for “unaccompanied minor” service, even for older kids.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend u not book child on last connecting flight of the day, so there is an additional flight in case there is a connection problem.</p>
<p>No major complaints about United here – I’ve flown on, and have had troubles with, every carrier. </p>
<p>Make sure she knows how to go through security. No liquids, and understand that the TSA definition of liquid is quite broad and includes gels and toothpaste (and varies from airport to airport). Shoes will need to be removed. Nothing in her pockets, and I mean nothing. Not even a gum wrapper. (I was once behind an old Japanese couple who kept insisting their pockets were empty, but the buzzer went off; turns out they had huge wads of cash hidden in their clothes.) </p>
<p>While there are plenty of horror stories, thousands of people fly every day and get to their destination with no troubles. </p>
<p>Another altnative for SFO is San Jose (SJC). Alaska and Southwest are the two dominant dogs there, which means that a flight most likely will have a connection somewhere. I like SJC because the business-travel oriented crowd that flies from it knows the shoes/liquids/laptop etc. drill and this makes the security lines so much faster. The airport is compact but not tiny and feels so much more efficient than SFO. </p>
<p>“My husband has had usair close the door on him in Charlotte. They do not hold flights due to incoming delays. And he had gold status at the time.”</p>
<p>Quoted for truth! </p>
<p>I consider myself a pretty experienced flyer, and never ran between gates like I did a few weeks ago on a US Air flight out of Charlotte, connecting in Phoenix to Sacto. I hear them saying it’s boarding time on my next flight, and we are still in the air! I am ready to dart through the door when it opens, and ask the stewardess if we are late, and about connecting flights. The guy behind me was more help, and their customer service told me I had better run. I was channeling OJ back in the day, but all my working out did not seem to help. I DID make it , but sputtering and coughing so much I’m sure someone thought I had a deadly virus.</p>
<p>Moral of the story; US AIR will let you connect with a 60 minute layover, but in some airports that may be cutting it cllse. </p>
<p>I’m a high-mileage flyer on United (due to actual travel) and my H is high-mileage on AA (due to his business using an AA credit card). Honestly, I don’t see any difference between any of the major airlines - I just threw my lot in with United since I’m based at ORD. For the average person who doesn’t have status on an airline, it’s all the same. </p>
<p>“This is a last minute trip scheduled for next week, so we had limited choices. I just checked and it does look like she is on the last flight to SFO. So what are the possible scenarios if she misses her connection? Is it reasonable to expect USAir to put her on another carrier?”</p>
<p>This is why I said google “nonstop CLT to SFO.” Have a list of all the next flights out of CLT airport on all carriers. Though it is USAir’s discretion if they will put you on another carrier or give you a voucher for the night. </p>
<p>“Also, I would choose CLT over ORD for connection any day. Personal preference, but I like CLT better.”</p>
<p>Leaving aside any size of airport considerations, I think there are just 2 diff philosophies in these connections. I’m of the “get closer to my destination” school of thought. Esp in bad weather. Get out of the bad-weather region, to anywhere. </p>
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<p>Assuming you have both segments on one ticket, the airline should rebook you to another flight. However, this can result is a much greater delay, if the next flight with space available is many hours in the future or the next day, etc… Check for how many other flights to your final destination there are after the scheduled one, in terms of seeing how many options there are in case of a missed connection. Also, missed connections likely increase the risk of missing checked baggage.</p>
<p>Chicago O’Hare has a reputation of frequent delays resulting in high risk of missed connections.</p>
<p>Depending on your actual destination in the San Francisco area, Oakland or San Jose may be closer.</p>
<p>Two worst travel stories:
Blizzard in either 2010 or 2011 (forget which) in Philly. Arrived Sunday, with business Mon and Tue, intending to leave Tue night. This was the storm that closed down I-95 and basically paralyzed the East Coast. I was able to get myself to the airport hotel before the roads were shut down, and didn’t get out til Fri morning. There was simply no way out - we would have flown anywhere just be out of the East Coast and then worried about getting back to Chicago - but everything was paralyzed.</p>
<p>This Feb: Flew into NYC; another storm was coming and all flights were cancelled for the next few days. Same deal - we looked into flying anywhere (south, whatever) to get out of the storm but everything was shut down. My business partner and I wound up taking the ONE Amtrak that was running on a 24 hour back to Chicago - sharing one of those little sleeping pods. Thank god we have been friends for years and anything goes; it was tight quarters and quite the adventure. A friend texted me that in the murder mysteries, they always go after the person in the bottom bunk, so I put my business partner there :-)</p>
<p>But I don’t mean to scare the OP. At this time of year, I’m sure it will be fine and an uneventful connection and the hour will be plenty. Just tell your kid to move immediately to the next gate, and THEN if there is time worry about going to the bathroom, grabbing food, etc. Make sure at the initial check-in they give you BOTH boarding passes for both flights. </p>