how to NOT miss a flight

[wiskt]

We live in Southern California and are headed out to the East Coast in a few months for a Caribbean cruise. This is our FIRST TIME flying! Our cruise leaves Miami on a Sunday. We are taking a 6am flight out of LAX on Saturday-with a 55 minute layover in DFW and then onto FLL arriving at 4pm. From there we will SAS it to our hotel right near the miami port.

 

So here is my fear: Delayed flights! We are going a day early (even tho it doesnt seam like it arriving so late Saturday evening (I am guessing it will be close to 7 by the time we get to the hotel) but I am SO worried about our first flight being delayed-missing our connection and being stuck in DFW overnight!

I have already decided that from now on I will only book flights with no connections-but this one is done for now. What I am looking for is advice/help/tips on how to lessen our chances of being stranded somewhere due to airline delays. We already know to arrive at LAX at least 90 minutes early-and we are early people so we will probably be there earlier than that. What can we do? Is there a way to map out our route inside of DFW? Should we have certain phone numbers (of whom?) to contact in case of delays? Any advice is much appreciated!!!

 

This is one thing I always have and had to use it on my last cruise.

1- Go to the airline website and sign up for the text notification if they have one. You can check it about your connecting flight when you leave and as soon as you land so you are not caught off guard.

2- Put the customer service phone number for the airlines into your cell phone. If you have any problems you will be glad to have it at the ready instead of standing in line at the customer service desk.

 

A quick story.

My last cruise I was flying day of in Jan from philadelphia-Orlando and you guessed it SNOW & ICE. Long story short, my flight was cancelled after sitting on the tarmac 3 hrs waiting to be de-iced. I immediately called the customer service number when we were told the flight was cancelled and they were able to switch me to a different flight getting me to Orlando in time to make the ship. Most everyone else on the plane and 3 others that were cancelled were standing in the customer service line. I know there were 2 other couples on my same ship from my flight, but I never found them as I was racing to the next gate to catch my re-scheduled flight.

 

It's always good to be prepared for anything just in case and when you do need it you will be glad you did the extra legwork.

 

WISHING YOU NO DELAYS or PROBLEMS! Have fun on your cruise!

[wrp96]

If for some reason you do miss your connecting flight, ask the gate agent for the next confirmed seats to FLL OR to MIA which will give you a lot more flight options (FLL and MIA are co-terminals). If the first flight with confirmed seats is not the next flight, ask to go standby on the earlier flights - and then ask them to roll you from flight to flight until you get to the flight with confirmed seats.

 

If for some reason they can't get you out until the next morning, you can ask for a distressed passenger voucher for a hotel (that's in case of a weather delay - if it's a mechanical delay that causes you to miss your connection, they should provide you a voucher for the hotel room at no cost to you, but you may have to press the issue).

[BSQ]

First, try not to worry so much.

 

My first (and only) missed flight was on AA, from LAX to MIA. I would focus on LAX more than DFW. I had just relocated back to the area after 13 years away and miss-judged the amount of time it takes to park the car and take a shuttle to the terminal.

 

Your bags need to be checked 45 minutes prior to your departure. A human doesn't make the cutoff, the computer does. So even though you will be traveling to LAX during the wee hours of the morning when there "shouldn't" be any traffic, allow extra time if you are driving to park your car and catch the shuttle bus to the terminal. When you are in a hurry, it's amazing how painfully s-l-o-w every one else moves. :cool:

 

It can take a while to get through Security. Actually even just getting in the terminal door there can be a line. Use a skycap if you can. They seem to funnel everyone through two check points. Ugh.

 

If you think it's going to take you 2 hours to get to LAX and checked in, allow three. Better to sit around the airport than have to try and rush through everything.

 

I've flown many times from CA to FL going through DFW on American from LAX and ONT. Depending on the time of year, DFW can get pretty bad storms that can delay your flight. But when that happens, my experience has been every flight is delayed so catching your connection is a non issue.

 

If You Miss your LAX flight ... go immediately to the gate agent and get on the standby list for your next flight. Do not leave the gate area even if they tell you they will page you. It can be difficult to hear them over the paging system and you don't want to fall out of the stand-by queue.

 

I will saw American was really good about getting me on a flight. It was a long day, but I got to my destination the same day I started out.

[wrp96]

Just an FYI, early morning IS a busy time at LAX for AA, so make sure to give yourself plenty of time.

[eastoftheboston]

The skylink train arrives every two minutes, so even getting to the "farthest away" terminal from wherever you are won't take long at all. Don't exit through baggage claim, just look for the skylink signs, each terminal has 2 skylink stops so they are never far away.

 

Also, log on to AA dot com and sign up for text alerts for your trip. You'll get your gate assignments on your phone, and if there is a gate change, you'll know about it before anyone in the terminal announces it. I fly AA all the time, the text alerts are awesome. When there's a gate change, I get the text, and try to tell people at the gate, but they all just sit there, so what happens is I go by myself and end up getting to the new gate all relaxed and wait for the masses to arrive 10 minutes later once the gate agent finally gets around to announcing it.

 

55 minutes is close in DFW but completely doable. It just means your connection won't involve a stop at Hudson News or the Au Bon Pain :)

 

And finally, if you miss your connection, since DFW and MIA are both AA hubs, your chances of getting on another flight are REALLY good.

[melli_fera]

The skylink train arrives every two minutes, so even getting to the "farthest away" terminal from wherever you are won't take long at all. Don't exit through baggage claim, just look for the skylink signs, each terminal has 2 skylink stops so they are never far away.

 

Also, log on to AA dot com and sign up for text alerts for your trip. You'll get your gate assignments on your phone, and if there is a gate change, you'll know about it before anyone in the terminal announces it. I fly AA all the time, the text alerts are awesome. When there's a gate change, I get the text, and try to tell people at the gate, but they all just sit there, so what happens is I go by myself and end up getting to the new gate all relaxed and wait for the masses to arrive 10 minutes later once the gate agent finally gets around to announcing it.

 

55 minutes is close in DFW but completely doable. It just means your connection won't involve a stop at Hudson News or the Au Bon Pain :)

 

And finally, if you miss your connection, since DFW and MIA are both AA hubs, your chances of getting on another flight are REALLY good.

 

sorry for the quick OT...but... I love your name "EastoftheBoston". I'm originally from East Boston. ;)

[ampleiwb]

You are all awesome and reassuring! I actually took my parents to LAX last saturday for a 6am flight so I got a chance to see that is actually is quite busy that early in the morning. Also-we left with plenty of time (we are just on time/early type of people) but we were surprised to see one of our freeways was shut to just one lane (of course they have to do freeway work before 5am-when else would they be able to do work on a socal freeway!). So-our ticket says to arrive 90 minutes before flight time-we will shoot for 2 hrs. Luckily, after being with dh for 10 yrs, I have totally converted him to an early person too-we both would much rather get somewhere early and sit and read a book/play on our phone etc than even FEEL rushed whatsoever-I hate feeling like i MIGHT be late!

I feel comfortable with what to do now that you all have helped me. I already signed up for text alerts-did not really know what they would alert me to-but i figured i should sign up when i got the tix. Now its just fingers crossed that we fly out of LAX on time.

Backstory: I thought that booking the 6am flight would be smart bc there would be a lesser chance of getting backed up in delays-first flight of the day. However, when i took my parents to LAX last Saturday their 6am flight did not take off until 8:30! I was getting phone call updates from my mom while they were stuck waiting. Now they had a direct flight-so no biggie-but that whole situation is what led to my stress. So-now i know what to do and what to say and who to talk to should I run into a delayed flight out of LAX. Thanks everyone!

DH & I are 30 & 28-have not traveled much-but decided to make crusing a priority! So here we go on an adventure in just a few more months-and with much more peace of mind thanks to you all!!

[eastoftheboston]

sorry for the quick OT...but... I love your name "EastoftheBoston". I'm originally from East Boston. ;)

 

Melissa, that's how all my relatives say it. I just say Eastie :) I used to live right by the high school. My great aunt is still on Falcon St.

 

I used to love being able to literally walk to the airport to catch a flight! (well the Airport T stop to catch the terminal bus) Or even more fun, coming home from a trip (I travel A LOT for business) and seeing the p!ssed off look from the cabbies when I tell them I'm only going to Eastie and the fare is like 7 bucks :)

 

Sorry for the thread hijack!