35 minute layover Reagan airport?

AA says plenty of time for plane change. Flight from Portland, Maine to DC (probably into the hell that is gate 35a) and then DC to JFK to catch flight to Madrid. All on AA. If we miss the flight to JFK, there is no other AA flight that would get us there in time to catch the Madrid flight. Guess the good news is that we are first/business class so at the front of the plane for getting off. What do you think?

Luckily we have friends in DC if we have to stay over.

Your biggest worry will be weather! No controlling Mother Nature and if thunderstorm in the area with Dulles/BWI/Joint Base Andrews and DCA all sharing that little bit of space it can get really backed up with not much reason! Also if Obama is going out somewhere can close the area off for a few --or if some idiot tries to come into the air space and they scramble the military jets just because there are IMPORTANT folks to protect. This is a complicated system to travel around in the DC metro area and NYC is just as bad.

35 minutes with no plan B I would not do it. Even a minor delay taking off and landing in DCA and you don't make your one and only shot for the Madrid plane. Is there another plane to Madrid that would work for the rest of the trip? Whether your luggage makes it -- well that is also another question. And will there be room for your carry-on -- well another question. They start to load early on some flights but maybe not what is really a shuttle. Could you get a flight directly from where you are to JFK? Least planes the better. Call and see if anyone would help you out with the schedule.

AA says plenty of time for plane change. Flight from Portland, Maine to DC (probably into the hell that is gate 35a) and then DC to JFK to catch flight to Madrid. All on AA. If we miss the flight to JFK there is no other AA flight that would get us there in time to catch the Madrid flight. Guess the good news is that we are first/business class so at the front of the plane for getting off. What do you think?

 

Luckily we have friends in DC if we have to stay over.

See if you can get AA to change your airport. Does not matter where you land to take another plane to JFK. I would not accept this stress if anything else would work. DCA is not the only airport. Could you go Maine to Boston then to JFK or to BWI or to PHIL or IDA or Wherever. 35 minutes might be OK but everything has to be perfect -- no weather, air traffic control, late flight at your gate so you can't pull in etc all of which has been a factor for me in the last few trips in and out of the metro area.

Unfortunately we don't have many options. Only two flights with one at 5:45 a.m. The other is the one we're booked on. We could drive it faster than that. Luckily we have more than 10 days in Spain before our cruise in October. We have friends in DC if we get stuck.

Good Luck. I'd surely change airports but that is just me. Are there NO OTHER flights out of Maine? Really only 2 flights a day to get round about to JFK?

Hopefully it will all work out.

Sound like you did have an option which was the 5:45 AM flight. I would have done that, or driven to a different airport, or broke it up into two days and flown from Maine to WDC day one and stayed overnight and then took the two planes the following day.

Will you make it? Only you will know that day.

Keith

AA says plenty of time for plane change.

Plenty of time to change planes? Ha. If everything goes perfectly, maybe. If you are even a little bit delayed? Good luck. While 35 min may be the minimum connect time allowable, I wouldn't call it "plenty of time for plane change," especially when the transatlantic flight you're on after is the ONLY such flight.

That said, if you don't want to switch to the 5:45am flight, look at other options for how to get to Europe. Your scheduled flight may be the only one to your destination, but likely there are other flights on other alliance carriers that could get you SOMEWHERE in Europe, and you can connect from there or take a train. Research these options so if you miss your connection you can present options to the airline for rebooking you.

How about routing at 8:05am via Charlotte? Gets into JFK at 3:19pm with an almost 3 hour connect at CLT. AA 1986 to AA 566.

Far better than trying for a 35 minute connect at DCA in my view, and it's not as early a departure as the 5:45am.

Sounds like you've already booked and need to use AA - maybe points - whatever. There seems to be so many more options from BOS... roughly a 2 hr drive. Would get rid of all the stop-overs and worries.

Sounds like you've already booked and need to use AA - maybe points - whatever. There seems to be so many more options from BOS... roughly a 2 hr drive. Would get rid of all the stop-overs and worries.

Yes, sound like. I held back and didn't give my usual "well, if we had all the information we could give a more complete answer".

GIGO

DCA is the airport I have experienced the most delays at with missed or nearly missed connections. Keep in mind that you need to take the shuttle between terminals for many flights which means going down stairs, loading on the shuttle, going across the Tarmac, and going up stairs. That in itself is as long as 30 minutes.

I think DCA is an easy airport....

I fly out of Portland monthly and one thing I have found recently is that there more ground stops in Portland when the air traffic is heavy in major airports. We actually missed a connection in Newark recently.

Have you looked at the bus from Portland to Logan? It is really convenient and we often use it for international flights. Saves time, money, aggravation.

IMO 30 minutes is too tight in DCA.

I think DCA is an easy airport....

It is very easy when flights are on time and you don't have to change terminals. You would probably think differently if you've encountered delayed flights, or the worst, sleet when you are changing terminals and have to go up and down the metal stairs and walk along the slippery Tarmac to the bus in it. I have see many people slip and fall and have come close myself.

How about routing at 8:05am via Charlotte? Gets into JFK at 3:19pm with an almost 3 hour connect at CLT. AA 1986 to AA 566.

 

Far better than trying for a 35 minute connect at DCA in my view, and it's not as early a departure as the 5:45am.

Or just take the direct CLT-BCN flight and avoid DCA/JFK al together. :D

I don't know why you are doing that crazy routing to begin with..you can go PWM-PHL-BCN or PWM-CLT-BCN and avoid the two connections.

I suspect that this is all about post-purchase confirmation.

Rather than pre-purchase research.

Update. AA must have decided that too close as it totally changed our schedule now routing us through Miami(!) and adding about five hours to our travel time. Called TA. Apparently it takes 48 hours for AA to let them know if we can change to another itinerary with the same beginning and ending. Alternatively, the same fares are available so we could cancel and rebook without penalty.

DCA is the airport I have experienced the most delays at with missed or nearly missed connections. Keep in mind that you need to take the shuttle between terminals for many flights which means going down stairs, loading on the shuttle, going across the Tarmac, and going up stairs. That in itself is as long as 30 minutes.

We have that at IAD - didn't realize it was at National as well.

I've not heard about it taking 48 hours. I've done it instantaneously with reservations.

We have that at IAD - didn't realize it was at National as well.

This only applies if taking a Regional Jet or prop, there is no shuttle if you are on a mainline aircraft.

This only applies if taking a Regional Jet or prop, there is no shuttle if you are on a mainline aircraft.

Portland to DCA will be on a regional jet on pretty much all carriers.

Update. AA must have decided that too close as it totally changed our schedule now routing us through Miami(!) and adding about five hours to our travel time. Called TA. Apparently it takes 48 hours for AA to let them know if we can change to another itinerary with the same beginning and ending. Alternatively, the same fares are available so we could cancel and rebook without penalty.

It doesn't take 48 hours for a normal booking. I've had them re-route me more than once and have always been able to change it on the spot. Perhaps the 48 is so your TA can have the weekend off..:eek:

As for the original question, I can't think of a single airport that I would accept a 35 minute connection. No matter how "easy" it may be, there are too many variables that have nothing to do with a particular facility to make me comfortable with the idea.

As for the original question, I can't think of a single airport that I would accept a 35 minute connection. No matter how "easy" it may be, there are too many variables that have nothing to do with a particular facility to make me comfortable with the idea.

I do remember a 20 minute connection that I gladly took some years back. It was on a mileage run and the "connection" was the same aircraft coming in and going out at a small Florida panhandle airport. They only had 5 or 6 flights a day, so no danger of equipment swap to the departure. FA was quite surprised to see my board again.