Indirect Flights - Anyone missed thier connecting flights?

[Guest]

Thanks guys for all your replies!

[Pipic]

Can I ask what would happen to the car you booked if you were a few hours late or "over night" late? Also, would you have to inform your hotel that you are not going to be there for that one night but you still want the room?

Sorry for butting in

[Guest]

We missed our connecting flight from LGW to EDI on our return on Christmas Eve
Not an experience I care to repeat. I have told the whole story in my trip report.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Anne K

Hi,

You have to go through immigration, then collect your baggage and go through customs at your first port of entry into the USA.

HTH
Anne

See more...

Thanks for clearing that up for me Anne

Helen x x

[Guest]

It will depend on the airline and circumstance. If there are a few people on the connecting flight which is late, they may hold the plane for you (they did this for 30 of us travelling LAS to DFW on AA to join a BA flight). If not they will normally put you on the next flight. However if the delay is of your own making (staying in the bar too long etc..) they are not obliged to do anything.

As to car hire, a quick call will secure your car especially if you have just reserved your car with no deposit. Same with a hotel, always give them a call as if you have just reserved they do reserve the right to re-sell your room if a no-show. Not sure how this works if you have pre-booked and pre-paid however.

[florida girl]

Our first flights with US Airways we missed our connecting flight from Philli to Tampa by about 30 minutes we were met off the plane with new boarding passes for the next flight about an hour later,the staff rang Dollar to check they would still be open when we arrived.

Last Christmas similar problem but going to Orlando and they held the plane.

Have to admit they seem very well organised in these circumstances.

[Harry]

last year we was a tad late getting back to our Virgin flight at MCO (only traffic was saw... and got stuck in the whole 3 23 days we was in Florida)... so we missed our flight! Had to book into the Sheraton on I Drive for a extra night and another days car rental... Virgin were excellent... just got us on teh next days flight free of charge... was really impressed with them... in fact so happy with the service I would gladly miss our flight again!

[Rigstig]

We missed a connection at JFK back in '02. Flight was booked as a Delta flight via Paris. Flight from Paris was on Air France and left Paris late.
We did actually get to the boarding gate with 10 mins to spare , but the staff had closed the gate. We then realised they had sold our seats to standby passengers. One of Delta's staff actually turned her back on us and bluntly refused to help.
Anyway, after a lot of tears from Suzie and the girls and with no-one prepared to stand down from the later flights, one of the staff, a Delta supervisor called Craig [ a really nice bloke ] asked us if we were prepared to fly to Ft Lauderdale, taxi to Miami Airport, stay in hotel room for the rest of what was left of the night and then fly up to Orlando the following morning. This was at Delta's expense so we agreed. The one thing that did upset us was that it was our 1st wedding anniversary and we flew out the day before so that we would already be there on the day. Never mind though , we got there in the end.
We did speak to another family on the return home and it became apparent that the staff at JFK regularly sell the seats to standby's and closed the gate early as its quite a regular thing that the Air France plane is cutting it a bit fine. They knew this as the same thing that happened to us happened to them the following day.

BUT thats not the end. We then got delayed at Atlanta on the way home , missed our connection in Paris, but luckily we got put on the next flight.
When we got home Suzie sent a letter of complaint via email to Delta's head office in the USA. This was not a complaint about the missed connection but a complaint about the woman member of staff at JFK who turned her back on us and refused to help, although in the letter Suzie did mention the other stufff as well.
We got a prompt reply from Delta asking for our details and was told we qualified for automatic compensation of... $450 EACH in flight vouchers or $400 EACH cash. We accepted the cash and Delta sent us a nice cheque for $2400 which once converted at the time was £1495. We didnt even pay that much for the 6 flights, nevertheless the money didnt last long as it went to pay for the flights for our 2003 trip.

Stuart

[Guest]

Hi Stuart - thanks for yoru feedback!

How long did you have between the connecting flights?

Do you think 3 hours is enough?

[LizzyBear]

I would say outbound 2 hours minimum, the longer the better though! We had 3 1/2 which I know sounds ages but our flight was delayed by nearly an hour anyway and immigration and security were both busy so I was relieved we had a fairly long connection time. Coming back is much easier since there is no immigration to clear and your luggage goes straight through to the UK.. We had 2 hours and that was generous, especially as our flight was delayed by over an hour (sensing a pattern here!)