Will me miss our connection tomorrow?

[Anonymous]

Yay! Report back on that package please!

[Anonymous]

Enjoy your vacation, OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Call United and ask for an earlier flight to Newark. Tell them you are afraid that if you miss your connection and have to return home, you might need to rent a car and drive home if all the return flights are full, and that traffic would be impossible given the bridge collapse in Baltimore. They should make the change for free. If they hesitate, ask for a supervisor and repeat.

What? There are alternate routes. Do we even know what time OP is traveling?

What are you talking about? You don’t rent a car and drive home if you miss your connection. You are simply out on the next flight. The flights to Newark generally land about 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, of course unless there are delays. Assuming you land early and are seated near the front it’s doable, but why chance it? You have a much better chance of getting on an earlier United flight than on a later Aruba flight, so call them now and ask to switch to an earlier one.

[Anonymous]

Are they the same airline? If so, tell the cabin crew that you have a really tight connection when you are on the first flight. They can check on the status of the second flight and also sometimes call ahead to say you are on your way. Occasionally if the stars align, they will even send a golf cart / buggy to get you through the airport faster than running with children.

In my experience they typically only hold flights if they are waiting for a fair number of passengers, not just one family. BUT as much as your first flight could be late landing, your second flight could be late leaving.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Congrats OP have a great trip!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised United would sell this itinerary. There’s a high chance you won’t make the connection, and your checked bags likely will not. You should notify the flight attendant and see if they will let you deplane first (sometimes they will ask passengers to stay seated unless they are on connecting flights XYZ). It’s possible they’ll hold the Aruba flight but it depends on a lot of factors (how many people need more time, how tight a turnaround time they have in Aruba, etc.).

Your bags have a better chance of making it then you do. Cargo holds are opened immediately. You have to wait 15-20 min to deplane.

OP unless you're in the front of the plane without kids I doubt you'll make it. Any slight delay and you're going to miss the connection.

What's with the basic wrong info so constantly? On a normal narrowbody I have usually been off the plane around 10 minutes from gate arrival, even at the back of the plane. If near the front of economy it's within 5 minutes. Pretty big difference between 10 and 15-20 when talking about making a connection.

Now the C to A connection, yes that's the major problem, especially now with the new A terminal being farther away. But the comment about the train is incorrect, because the train at Newark is before security, so if you take it you will have to exit the secure area and then clear security again at A. Instead you have to take the post-security bus that United runs. See here:

https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/airport/ewr-map.html

You will have to walk to the bus stop near C71 and the bus will take you to the A terminal near gate A28

Also, you should check the gates/terminals again on the day of departure and when arriving at EWR. Gates often change during operations, and it's possible they would put the second flight into C.

We landed at Pensacola, which is small, and had to wait 10-15 minutes for another plane to leave the gate. All sorts of delays like that happen all the time.

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is all stressed out and making us all miserable. We have a 45 minute layover in Newark, going to Aruba. We land in terminal C at Newark but flight to Aruba is terminal A. He insists there is a 90% chance we will miss the flight to Aruba. I don’t think United would have offered this flight if we were guaranteed to miss the connecting. What does DCUM think?

Yes

[Anonymous]

Congratulations, OP! And thanks for the update.

I have a similarly tight itinerary coming up, and I hope I'll have a similarly successful connection.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the updated OP! I booked a similar international connection through EWR - though I have 2-hours...after all these comments, I was JUST on with United trying to change the fight. They insisted 40 minutes was enough time to connect! So glad it worked out for you and hoping we make our connection too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guess what DCUMers….this is OP and we made it to the gate for our flight to Aruba 15 min before boarding started. Wahooo!!! Our bags also made it. For those that are curious, this trip was a package deal…5 nights at a new hotel not on the main strip and not an AI, but between Eagle Beach and Palm Beach, including flights (flight home is direct to IAD) and transportation to and from hotel in Aruba. Two adults and two kids. Breakfast included every morning, $4,700 total.

That’s awesome op! Thanks for updating us!! And I hope your dh was appropriately contrite!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our last connection at Newark was a nightmare. There were two busses involved, if that tells you anything.

Similar experience. We sat on the jetway for 45 minutes with no gait. Finally they deplaned us outdoors on the outskirts of the airport property and shuttled us to the terminal. We had to take a second bus from there to a different terminal for our flight. We missed our connection and had to spend the night in a hotel in Newark which was so sketchy and scary. (And I live in Columbia Heights).
I vow to never fly through that airport again.

[Anonymous]

You will miss it.

[Anonymous]

lol people are still going on and on about how you’re going to miss it. I was a PP certain you’d make it if the plane was on time and it was likely to be early.

Let this be a lesson to people looking for advice from DCUM on travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will miss it.

Too late. They made it.