Indirect Via Newark

[geomac79]

You would be ok with that as long as everything goes to plan. There would be a lot of people coming off your flight going the same route so every chance if it was late they would hold the plane up, but obviously not guaranteed.

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by geomac79

You would be ok with that as long as everything goes to plan. There would be a lot of people coming off your flight going the same route so every chance if it was late they would hold the plane up, but obviously not guaranteed.

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I’m not sure they would hold the plane for a few passengers? Most won’t be going onto Orlando (based on my experience of flying via New York, anyway)

I have seen them try and get passengers with connections at risk off the plane first, but that doesn’t always go so well as it needs everyone onboard to co-operate

[Kraken]

An airline would almost certainly not hold a connecting flight for a few passengers - unless their bags are already onboard the onward domestic flight (possible given that passengers will most likely have to queue to re-clear TSA security while their checked bags are making their way through the handling system to the aircraft gate.

You may *just* get lucky if you are on the last connecting flight of the day, as this saves the airline having to put you up overnight in a hotel - but don't count on it.

Most airlines will have a minimum connecting time (MCT) at each airport. Their system should not allow you to book a connecting flight without allowing less than the MCT. As has been said above, some connecting routes have a high frequency of flights, so you may get lucky and make an earlier connection of everything goes smoothly.

At the end of the day, you've got to take the US Immigration hit somewhere. Many indirect routes can be better than MCO, as we've all seen that that immigration hall can get like when 3 or 4 long-haul flights all arrive together.

[landandword17]

They wont hold domestic US flights because there are so many of them they will just put you on the next flight. They do sometimes hold international flights to allow for a delay in those connecting domestically because it's harder and more expensive to deal with a dozen passengers who miss the last evening flight to the UK.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it. I can't see NYC airports being back full throttle in 2021 because there will be less business travel. 2H15M is a decent amount of time and Newark has always been an easy connection for me (now LAX, MIA, SFO - those are beasts when it comes to immigration queues!). There will also be several flights down to Orlando from Newark.

[dac123]

Before they cancelled the Belfast Newark route we flew that route to Orlando. They were well over 2 hours late leaving because of the incoming flight, which meant the connection would not happen. Someone also going to Orlando asked a crew member and she said normally we would simply be put on the next flight. Just before landing we were told they would be holding the Orlando flight. This was because of the number of passengers on the Belfast flight who were also booked to travel on the Orlando flight. It was early August so I suspect it was down to the school holidays. I spoke to someone about this and they said they will only do this if a lot of people are booked on the same connecting flight but would not give an exact number.

I have traveled indirect to other parts of the US with United and never had a problem