Connecting Flights - eBookers - Travel Insurance - O'Hare Transfer

Wanton

Hi Folks,

So the story goes I am booked to fly from LAX to Dublin via O'Hare in April.
The ticket was purchase by a friend via eBookers, its non transferable etc.
Its a single ticket with United Airlines, so we will not need to check in again in O'Hare.

We land @ 8:14pm and are due to take off @ 9:05pm. They are saying this is 51 minutes to transfer. I argue is not as the gate will close sooner etc....

I believe we need to change from T1 to T5.

I spoke to someone very helpful in eBookers on Monday who put me on to someone in United who was ready to change our LAX flight to an earlier flight. That person said we would need 75 minutes, but I couldnt proceed without speaking with the group.

Today they are both refusing to do anything, United referring me back to eBookers, eBookers saying i have enought time to transfer.

I have lodged a complaint, but dont expect much.

So in expecation of a negative outcome I have 3 questions really.

1)Anyone with very recent experience of transferring from T1 to T5 in O'Hare?
2)They say we need 40 mins to transfer, do they factor taxi time, time take to disembark your first flight and/or gate closure time on outgoing flight?
3)Travel Insurance. If we show that we have done everything humanly possible to make our second flight, but miss it anyway, we will most likely be liable for the cost of flying from O'Hare to Dublin on a different flight... Would we have a case to claim on our travel insurance?

Thanks!

Please dont roast me, I didnt book the tickets and I understand the pitfalls of using 3rd parties such as eBookers etc....

ted1

It really shouldn’t matter, it’s single ticket. If you don’t make the transfer they will simply put you on the later flight.

I’ve often booked tight connections and either made them oh got transferred.

In all likelihood with 51 minutes any baggage you may have will not make it into the connection flight

Look up the flight code and see what the history is, does it traditionally land late , on time or early

Wanton

ted1 wrote: »

It really shouldn’t matter, it’s single ticket. If you don’t make the transfer they will simply put you on the later flight.

I’ve often booked tight connections and either made them oh got transferred.

In all likelihood with 51 minutes any baggage you may have will not make it into the connection flight

Look up the flight code and see what the history is, does it traditionally land late , on time or early

Thanks, I just stress over these things!

Unfortunately the outgoing flight appears to be a new route, the flight code currently has nothing to do with this route and doesnt appear to until end of March!

I will check the incoming flight though for reference. If its late a lot then I wont stress as there certainly wont be any arguement over being put on the next flight.

My main concern is where we do land on time, but still miss the flight, which all my research the past few days seems to confirm will happen.

steve-o

Wanton wrote: »

Thanks, I just stress over these things!

Unfortunately the outgoing flight appears to be a new route, the flight code currently has nothing to do with this route and doesnt appear to until end of March!

I will check the incoming flight though for reference. If its late a lot then I wont stress as there certainly wont be any arguement over being put on the next flight.

My main concern is where we do land on time, but still miss the flight, which all my research the past few days seems to confirm will happen.

You will not need to change terminal. All United flights depart from Terminal 1 (concourses C and D) and you can walk between the gates (Aer Lingus go from Terminal 5). The door of the plane won't close until 10 minutes before departure. Bearing in mind that the published arrival time allows for some delays, so you should have well over an hour. Stop worrying about it.

theguzman

Your on a single booking from LAX to Dublin via O'Hare which is the most critical thing here. If you miss the connection then the onus is on United to get you onto the next flight or reroute you via Heathrow (for Example).

Where you would be in trouble would be if you had flown (e.g.) SouthWest from LAX to O'Hare and were flying onwards with United to Dublin on two different tickets and separate bookings and if you are late getting in then you are treated as a no-show and that gets very expensive very quick!

I flew from LAX into Heathrow on New Years eve on a 1hrs 35 transfer time, anyway due to late arrival and forever to deplane the A380 and stupendously long security queues and queues for the immigration check I missed my connecting flight to Dublin, no worries up to customer service desk and moved onto the next flight two hours later.

Had a similar thing happen with Etihad a few years ago except the next flight to Dublin was the following day, que free hotel room, free food and a chauffeur in limousine standard (Cadillac) car from and to Airport; how bad and after coming off a 9 hours red eye from South East Asia prior to that it was probably the most welcome missed flight ever. Etihad also credited me over $100 of airline miles which I redeemed towards a hotel booking then on a later trip abroad. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that.

Wanton

Thanks folks, the initial panic and stress has passed! Fingers crossed eBookers go ahead and move the first flight to an earlier spot. If not we will just have to deal with what ever comes!

Seems more likely now that we don't have to change terminal (as steve-o confirmed) which does certianly make things a lot easier.