Indirect- luggage

[Bazinga 39]

We are flying indirect via Philadelphia for the second time and our connection has changed from 2 hours to 55mins, we don’t have to change terminals so fingers crossed we will make the connection😬, will our luggage be checked through to Orlando or do we collect in Phily?, I can’t remember, both flights are AA on same booking.

[choccielover]

You have to pick up your luggage and negotiate security again.

We have done phl before and that looks tight to me...is there a later flight you can move to?

[Gryff]

You have to do immigration collect luggage do customs then put bags on to forward /connecting flights carousel
Way way to tight for me and we’ve global entry

[Bazinga 39]

What is the best way to see if we can change to a later flight, we have booked through Finnair but the flights are operated by AA, I wasn’t even contacted about the change I just happened to check my booking and found the change.

[7SeasSailor]

Look at airport departures on any day and you will see if there are more flights with your airline that you can be transferred to if there is availability on it.

[Kraken]

As long as the OP is ticketed all on one booking reference, then they are protected if they miss the connection (so Finnair / American Airlines have to move you to the next flight / accommodate you / feed you during the delay).

That said, I am surprised their system (Finnair & AA are on the same one) would even allow a 55min connection for an international arrival to an onward flight.

The checked baggage side of things is simple - the bags will be tagged to MCO and you just drop them on the onward transfer bags belt after clearing customs. (It's how long it takes to clear immigration & customs that is the issue). You then have to re-clear security at the TSA checkpoint and have and have all your hand-luggage screened. 55mins for all this is a near impossibility.

To the OP - call Finnair and point out the incredibly tight connection. They should move you to a later onward flight in advance. It saves hassle for both you & them on the day of the journey.

[Peko]

Originally Posted by Bazinga 39

What is the best way to see if we can change to a later flight, we have booked through Finnair but the flights are operated by AA, I wasn’t even contacted about the change I just happened to check my booking and found the change.

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While fairly tight connections are allowable at PHL, unless your transatlantic flight is from Dublin, 55 mins is below Minimum Connection Time (MCT). This means you will be rebooked onto different flights, whether you contact the airline or not.

When a connection falls below MCT due to a schedule change (pretty common with US carriers) the rebooking doesn’t happen automatically These are in a queue, and flights a few months away are not urgent for the airline, which is dealing with thousands of these cases every day.

That said, it’s an opportunity for you to check AA’s schedule and call Finnair proactively to suggest the alternative you’d prefer, rather than waiting for what is selected for you and arguing the toss. It will need to be via Finnair, since you booked with them.

As above, you have to do immigration, bag claim, customs, bag drop and security before going to the gate for the onward flight, and while PHL is efficient, there would have been little chance in 55 mins. In fact, MCTs at many US airports are too tight in reality for non-US citizens/residents, since they often fail to take longer immigration waits into account. In some ways you are fortunate that this goes below MCT, since the airline has no choice but to rebook you now.

If your transatlantic is from Dublin, most of the above does not apply, since this would be effectively a domestic to domestic connection, with no immigration, customs, bag claim/drop or security to navigate. 55 mins is above MCT for that, and you would not be entitled to automatic rebooking due to the schedule change.

[Peko]

Originally Posted by Kraken

That said, I am surprised their system (Finnair & AA are on the same one) would even allow a 55min connection for an international arrival to an onward flight.

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Finnair and AA are not on the same system, Finnair is on Amadeus and AA on Sabre.

That wouldn’t have mattered too much here, this connection would have been blocked for sale as a new booking itinerary, but can occur (temporarily, prior to rebooking) due to schedule changes.

Separate systems wouldn’t impact either situation, but may explain why the OP was not contacted about the change, it’s one of the possible downsides of booking code shares, depending how the airline systems “speak” to each other, which can be problematic even for airlines hosted on the same underlying system (BA and Iberia springs to mind).

[Bazinga 39]

Thank you very much everyone for such detailed answers, I will phone Finnair to get a later flight sorted

[choccielover]

Did you get this resolved OP?