BNA-DFW-HKG connection time at DFW

We can book a flight at 6 a.m. that will have a 2.5 hour layover or one at 7:20 that will have a 1 hour 7 minute layover.

Today the international flight left from Terminal D.

Today the earlier flight from BNA arrived at terminal D, and the later flight arrived at terminal C.

Since the international flight is almost 17 hours we would much prefer to take the 7:20 flight. Is that likely to be a problem?

Flights are on AA

I'd pick the 6am flight. From my standpoint there's not a huge amount of difference between getting a 6am and 7.20am flight, you have to get up pretty early for both. However, having a 2hr 30min layover versus just over an hour makes a big difference, particularly when you're connecting to a once per day international flight.

Generally the first flight of the day is less likely to have an issue but if it got in late the night before then you could find yourself being delayed for crew rest issues.

I wouldn't pay much attention to the arrival/departure terminals of the BNA-DFW flight, they could arrive on pretty much any terminal. Your international flight will depart from D though. DFW, whilst huge, is very easy to get around. I've had 45min scheduled layovers where I had enough time to get a drink at the Admirals Club before my next flight.

I concur with fbgd on taking the earlier flight. I don't understand this huge aversion to a slightly longer connection time, when that's actually what you are hoping for in this situation.

When you have a short connection and there are a number of later flights for you if you miss the connect...fine. But stop and think this in the big picture. You have ONE flight a day running DFW-HKG. What happens if you miss that one because your inbound was delayed. Ooops. By taking the earlier one, you pad the connection time and work to mitigate any risks to your second flight. Which is the more important one. You don't want to miss that one.

The earlier one will give you time for bathroom breaks and a leisurely connect experience. The later one will have you dashing from your inbound. One can easily take a 45-90 minute delay....the other might not even handle a 20 minute delay.

In the big picture....it's a long flight experience overall. The extra connect time isn't the end of the world and should give you a lot more assurance than the short one.

Just my two kopeks.

With the longer layover you will have if nothing else.....time to get some decent food before that long trip in a metal tube at 38k ft.

Definitely the earlier flight, for a couple reasons (in my opinions):

1) Better chance of making it...or less of a chance of missing it

2) More time to stretch, walk around, and burn off some energy before the DFW-HKG flight

I'm not an early morning person, so I understand the aversion to the 6.00 am flight. But out of those two, it's the more sensible option unless the OP thinks it's not a problem to miss the DFW-HKG flight.

Personally, in order to avoid the early start I'd be seriously thinking about flying to DFW the night before.

Take the earlier flight. If your departure out of BNA is delayed for whatever reason, you run the risk of missing your international flight. And given the length of your travel day, an extra hour of sleep will hardly matter.

My rule of thumb is to take the flight that gives you the longest layover always when going on your trip. I have a choice on my next International trip. 4.5 hours, 3 hours, 1 hour 45 minutes, and 45 minutes. I took the 4.5 hours. I have at least 3 flights to save my trip if something goes wrong. I have time to eat a nice meal before getting on a 14 hour flight.

On a return flight, the opposite. I will take the fastest trip, but if something goes wrong, the airlines will find a way to the final destination. The worst thing that will happen, is that I miss work the next day......or I have a really good excuse for missing work!

Early flight. No question you should not even be thinking about the other. More of a buffer and first flights in the morning tend to have less issues with delays. Take the 6:00 a.m. flight. 67 minutes is not much for an international flight as they usually start to board 50-minutes before departure time. You will have plenty of time to sleep on your flight to Hong Kong.

As someone who flies into DFW often and used to live in North Texas and used that airport weekly go with the 2.5 hour layover.

The more time the better for you and for your luggage.

Keith

Uh, I think it is about 10 for the earlier flight and 0 for the later.

DW can get breakfast, and we live less than 10 miles from BNA so it isn't that early.

We do need to make the DFW-HKG flight as the cruise line is giving us two free nights in a hotel, and a full day excursion the day before the cruise.

Thanks for the clear thinking.

Uh, I think it is about 10 for the earlier flight and 0 for the later.

DW can get breakfast, and we live less than 10 miles from BNA so it isn't that early.

We do need to make the DFW-HKG flight as the cruise line is giving us two free nights in a hotel, and a full day excursion the day before the cruise.

Thanks for the clear thinking.

To be fair, DFW Terminal D is quite a nice space to kill some time in...decent food options, lots of natural light, good views of the planes moving around. You can often wander around and find a deserted gate too, where it's a bit quieter.

Actually, I had that same option for my February flight out of BNA. We chose the 6:00 flight. Additionally, since we were flying BC, we spent the wails time in the Admirals Club and were very comfortable there.

Since we live a couple hours out of Nashville, we stayed and parked at the Marriott Nashville Hotel, and caught their free shuttle over to the airport at 04:30. Plenty of time prior to caught the flight!

Actually, I had that same option for my February flight out of BNA. We chose the 6:00 flight. Additionally, since we were flying BC, we spent the wails time in the Admirals Club and were very comfortable there.

 

Since we live a couple hours out of Nashville, we stayed and parked at the Marriott Nashville Hotel, and caught their free shuttle over to the airport at 04:30. Plenty of time prior to caught the flight!

Terminal D Admirals Club is much more enjoyable before the HKG flight than it is in the evening before all of the Europe/South America flights. There are definitely a few Asian flights to compete with space for, but in the evening that Admirals Club is borderline painful.