Aer Lingus to San Francisco via Chicago - Anyone done this?

Sumaire

Hi there,

I'm considering heading to San Francisco with Aer Lingus. The flight runs Aer Lingus, Dublin to Chicago and United from Chicago to San Francisco. I've heard quite damning reviews of United Airlines (bags lost, flight delays, old & dirty planes).

I was wondering if anyone has taken this route to San Francisco and if they have any advice on the transfer time between planes (I don't think there are any terminal changes at Chicago? I'm most apprehensive about the Chicago to San Fran leg of the trip - as above the reviews of United Airlines are not very favourable.

Any advice on getting from Dublin to San Fran in one piece (and with my luggage) would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Su.

BuffyBot

You will be changing terminals, however the process is eased somewhat by preclearing US customs and immigration in Dublin meaning no having to wait around for immigration/haul bags etc.

I don't think United is any better/worse with luggage than anyone else. If you look hard enough you'll find horror stories about all airlines.

ProudDUB

The airline you fly on doesn't make a bit of difference to your bags going missing or not. If they go missing, it's the O'Hare and/or Dublin baggage handlers that made a mess of things, not the airline. Am not saying it won't happen to you, but I flew to Ireland via O'Hare numerous times, on numerous airlines, and I never once had my bags go missing.

You will have to change terminals. You'll arrive in the International Terminal and will have to transfer by the train to the domestic terminal that your flight for SF leaves from. You won't have to go thru Customs and Immigrations, as you'll preclear that in Dublin, but you will still have to do a lot of walking to get from A to B. You will also have to go thru security again as you soon as you get to your domestic terminal. That can take 5 mins or it can take forever. There is no way to predict it. When you have gone thru security, you'll have another long walk to get your gate as O'Hare is a huge airport. O'Hare does have a bad reputation for flights arriving and departing late. I've done more sitting around in the plane at O'Hare waiting for a gate to become free, than I have in any other airport. That is an airport issue though, it affects all the airlines.

So given all that, I wouldn't book anything that had less than a 3 hour connection time. I've had connecting flights at O'Hare with only a 90 mins connecting time. I made them by the skin of my teeth, but only because there were no excessive delays along the way & I sat at the front of the plane from Ireland and didn't lose precious time waiting for everyone else to get off before me. Three hours may seem excessive, but not when its O'Hare in the summer time. You may not need all of it, but you can't beat the piece of mind that the additional wiggle room time gives you.

Sumaire

Many thanks BuffyBot and ProudDUB.

I've just checked the potential itinerary and in Chicago O'Hare the Aer Lingus flight lands in Terminal 5 and the UA flight departs from Terminal 5, so I would assume that there isn't a terminal change. Unless there is an International Terminal 5 and a Domestic Terminal 5. There is about 90min stop-over time outbound and inbound, which I had thought sufficient as I will be travelling in early February, however given your advice ProudDUB I think I may have to reconsider the options.

Most of the Aer Lingus options on my travel dates either swing between a 5hour stop over or 90min stop over.


Thank you for your advice, I think I'm going to have to either a) just go for it or b) reconsider my plans.

BuffyBot

Departing United use terminals 1 and 2 at O'Hare, not 5 - so I'm not sure what is showing as 5, but it shouldn't really be.

ProudDUB

Yep, Terminal 5 is for International flights only. For domestic flights you'll be transferring to another terminal.

Sumaire wrote: »

Most of the Aer Lingus options on my travel dates either swing between a 5hour stop over or 90min stop over.

Tough call. Go with the 90 mins and spend a 7 hour flight stressing over whether or not you will make it. Go with the 5 hours, and you'll be just killing time for a lot of it & your travel day becomes very long overall. The 90 mins is not a true 90 mins. You have to be at the gate for your flight to SF 30 mins before it departs. So you just have an hour really to get from plane A to plane B.

It's plenty of time if your flight from Dublin lands on time, if there is no delays in it getting a gate & connecting the air bridge, if there is no delay in your getting off the plane & if there is no delay in your getting thru Customs. (You still have to wait in line to physically get thru Customs even though you'll have handed in your documentation in Dublin. There may be loads of people in line in front of you who have not done so, and you can't just skip the queue to get past them.) Then there is the biggest if of all, which is if there is no delay in your getting thru Security once you arrive at your domestic terminal.

That is a lot of if's. It's up to you. Go for it. If you don't make it, United will either put you on a later flight, or send you to SF via their Denver hub. (SF is a hub for United too, so there are a boat load lot of flights to it.) Just make sure that you book all this on the one booking, and with the same airline or airlines that code share. If you book them separately, or with different, non code share airlines, the lines get blurry on what the airlines do and do not have to do for you if you miss a connecting flight.

Sumaire

Thanks again for your advice.

krb1979

Just a few thoughts
I have travelled on that route a couple of times. The Chicago to SF flight is internal domestic flight. It's ~4 hrs and there is usually no inflight entertainment and the seats are uncomfortable. Coast to coast travel is better as you get in flight entertainment so Dublin-NY-Sf or Dublin Washington SF is better/more comfortable and seats are better.