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Hello Cruisers!

I will be taking a flight soon to Barcelona for my cruise on Symphony of the Seas, and enroute have a connection in Miami. I noticed that American pushed my flight to Miami later, then making my connection time down to a shortish time of 1HR and 5MIN. I will also have to change terminals, from Concourse E to Concourse D. Unfortunately to add to the connection drama, I contacted American Airlines, and they weren't able to get a earlier flight for me. If I do miss the connection, then we will have to wait til the next day, losing one (very expensive) night at the hotel in Barcelona. 

So: Do you think that I will have enough time to get to my flight to Barcelona from the Miami flight gate? This seems to be awfully close to me, especially if we get delayed at my home airport! 

Curse you American!

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1 hour ago, CraftyCat05 said:

Hello Cruisers!

I will be taking a flight soon to Barcelona for my cruise on Symphony of the Seas, and enroute have a connection in Miami. I noticed that American pushed my flight to Miami later, then making my connection time down to a shortish time of 1HR and 5MIN. I will also have to change terminals, from Concourse E to Concourse D. Unfortunately to add to the connection drama, I contacted American Airlines, and they weren't able to get a earlier flight for me. If I do miss the connection, then we will have to wait til the next day, losing one (very expensive) night at the hotel in Barcelona. 

So: Do you think that I will have enough time to get to my flight to Barcelona from the Miami flight gate? This seems to be awfully close to me, especially if we get delayed at my home airport! 

Curse you American!

If it was me, I would be very very uncomfortable with a 1hr, 5min transfer time. I would move heaven and earth to change my flight times.

Good luck, I feel for you.

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Im guessing you didn’t use Air2Sea. I had a similar but even worse connection from Rome and they handled the change for me to my satisfaction. 

Do you have travel insurance? 

Could you go to Miami a day earlier and be there for the flight????

 I would definitely try to change it. Good luck. 

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You can walk (fast) between those two concourses; you won't have to take a bus.  There are moving sidewalks (walk on them, don't just ride).   BUT, Chicago flights in and out are notoriously delayed.  That connection is very do-able but nerve-wracking.  If your flight in is delayed, chances are your flight out will be delayed as well, but I wouldn't risk it if you can avoid it.  Plus, your luggage might not make it if you are checking bags.  Yes, fly in the night before if you can, it's just too risky on an international connection.  I used to travel cross-country a lot for work and have spent many nights in the Chicago airport on a cot or bused to some third-rate hotel they provided.  It was hell.

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59 minutes ago, cruise-y said:

You can walk (fast) between those two concourses; you won't have to take a bus.  There are moving sidewalks (walk on them, don't just ride).   BUT, Chicago flights in and out are notoriously delayed.  That connection is very do-able but nerve-wracking.  If your flight in is delayed, chances are your flight out will be delayed as well, but I wouldn't risk it if you can avoid it.  Plus, your luggage might not make it if you are checking bags.  Yes, fly in the night before if you can, it's just too risky on an international connection.  I used to travel cross-country a lot for work and have spent many nights in the Chicago airport on a cot or bused to some third-rate hotel they provided.  It was hell.

Thanks for the info, and I looked at some terminal maps and see that there looks to be a corridor allowing us to not have to go in and out of security, which would be walking on glass with fire under us.  Not good! Luckily, if there is delay b/c of weather in Miami, there will be delays out of Miami too, but for how long?

1 hour ago, Mljstr said:

Im guessing you didn’t use Air2Sea. I had a similar but even worse connection from Rome and they handled the change for me to my satisfaction. 

Do you have travel insurance? 

Could you go to Miami a day earlier and be there for the flight????

 I would definitely try to change it. Good luck. 

Unfortunately, I didn't use Air2Sea on this trip (mistake), but I may be able to call Chase Travel Concierge b/c of my Credit Card, but we are less than 48 hours from the flight, not much they could do I think.

We also can't get there earlier (it's 2 hours away from Monday for a Tuesday flight), so that's a no go. Also took a leap of faith (looks like the parachute has failed on this one), and didn't get Travel Insurance... Oops.

2 hours ago, KWofPerth said:

If it was me, I would be very very uncomfortable with a 1hr, 5min transfer time. I would move heaven and earth to change my flight times.

 Good luck, I feel for you.

Yeah, this doesn't look good as I said above for moving the flight to Monday, and there are no earlier flights to Miami without keeping the same class of fare. 

 

I did contact American again, and said that I could get a earlier flight to Miami (the one I was booked for originally, but moved from ?), but not in First, which is what I originally booked with to add to the vacation experience. I *may* be able to get a refund for the lost costs, but wouldn't know the refund amount til back home from the whole trip. Could be $100, could be $8.50.

As I said in the post above, things are not sounding good from American, or you, or me. Thanks for all of the well wishes though! Need some fast legs for the transfer time.

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2 minutes ago, KWofPerth said:

Let us all know how this works out!  Once you are on the ship this issue will melt away into insignificance ?

I will! You can follow the full trip (and my flight experience) at my SemiLive Blog, right here on Royal Caribbean Blog! Link is in my signature below. (and here: 

)

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Just had another thought. I read your blog and see you are traveling with your parents. I have no idea how old they are and if they are able to navigate in a hurry. Could you arrange to have a cart meet you and give you all a ride to your new gate????? That would be easier and quicker  and safer than running on the moving sidewalks. Just a thought.

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9 hours ago, CraftyCat05 said:

I did contact American again, and said that I could get a earlier flight to Miami (the one I was booked for originally, but moved from ?), but not in First, which is what I originally booked with to add to the vacation experience. I *may* be able to get a refund for the lost costs, but wouldn't know the refund amount til back home from the whole trip. Could be $100, could be $8.50.

As I said in the post above, things are not sounding good from American, or you, or me. Thanks for all of the well wishes though! Need some fast legs for the transfer time.

Personally, I would jump on the earlier flight even if you are not in First class and without a refund.  Losing the difference in class fare is very different than losing a large amount of money in a missed cruise!

I would never chance the logic of if your incoming flight is delayed, your outgoing flight may be too.  That would only happen if the delay was in Miami.  If the delay is due to mechanical problems or weather at the first airport, you will be out of luck and miss the flight.  You could look at the on time % to make your own decision but I've always had the worst luck with AA.

 

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2 hours ago, Mljstr said:

Just had another thought. I read your blog and see you are traveling with your parents. I have no idea how old they are and if they are able to navigate in a hurry. Could you arrange to have a cart meet you and give you all a ride to your new gate????? That would be easier and quicker  and safer than running on the moving sidewalks. Just a thought.

Luckily, both of them are very fit and able to walk fast, but ill look at the Miami airport website or call them to see what they could do. Thanks for the idea!

 

2 hours ago, melski94 said:

Personally, I would jump on the earlier flight even if you are not in First class and without a refund.  Losing the difference in class fare is very different than losing a large amount of money in a missed cruise!

I would never chance the logic of if your incoming flight is delayed, your outgoing flight may be too.  That would only happen if the delay was in Miami.  If the delay is due to mechanical problems or weather at the first airport, you will be out of luck and miss the flight.  You could look at the on time % to make your own decision but I've always had the worst luck with AA.

 

Fortunately, we planned to spend 4 days before in Barcelona, so we wouldn't miss the cruise, unless flights out of Miami are delayed for multiple days to international spots. The flight does have a 84% On-Time rate, which seems to be better than other flights that same day. And I feel you with the worst luck with American; we were delayed one time for 2 hours! Hasn't happened since though, but knock on wood!

Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and advice, wish me luck tomorrow! 

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Update

Realized I never updated you guys.

I was able to rebook everything and get here in Barcelona on time. I had to go though Heathrow instead of Miami, but all was well. Took an American 777-300ER to London, then a British Airways codeshare to Barcelona. Now enjoying the sights and soon the be cruise! Glad everything worked out.

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17 hours ago, CraftyCat05 said:

Update

Realized I never updated you guys.

I was able to rebook everything and get here in Barcelona on time. I had to go though Heathrow instead of Miami, but all was well. Took an American 777-300ER to London, then a British Airways codeshare to Barcelona. Now enjoying the sights and soon the be cruise! Glad everything worked out.

Excellent news. Enjoy!!

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