TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin 38 minute connection in CLT???

American changed our flight on Christmas morning so that now we only have a 38 min connection in Charlotte before going onto SXM. We are leaving from Newark.
This makes me very nervous or is that doable? I don't know what recourse I have with American. Should I be able to cancel? I could rebook the nonstop at a much higher price but would be willing to do that to insure that we would arrive to meet our sons for Christmas day.

Christmas and Thanksgiving are two of the worst times for travel, both weather and delays of all sorts. While Christmas day typically is not bad I would not chance that short of a connection time.

I would get on the phone with AA and go up the ladder if needed and try to get them to work with changing your flights. Not sure what options you have but I would be very nervous with your connection time.

If this change impacted your original flight time by an hour (I think) you should be able to change/cancel without any problem.

Remember that all the airlines have become extremely pessimistic in their arrival times. If you leave on time, you'll be there early. Even if you are on time, you should be OK. Just don't stop for coffee.

Isn't boarding 30 minutes before the scheduled departure? So technically you'd be late getting to the gate AT departure time? Yikes!

I only have 28 minutes in Charlotte in just a month. So my flight from Nashville has be be on time😄

I just called AA and they put us on an earlier flight from Newark to Charlotte. We now will have 1.2 hour to connect. I little better I hope!!
Good luck with the 28 mins. I will keep my fingers crossed for you!

Glad you took quick action and got it changed.

Glad you called them and got it fixed, as if you would miss a connection on Christmas Day, goodness only knows when you would actually get there!

You are wise to have changed your connection to 1.2 hours. No way would I ever do a 38 minute connection - anywhere!!!

To Andrew - 28 minute connection is only asking for trouble. Any slight delay will cause you to miss your flight. Change it now, while you still have time.

Andrew--I would also check about changing that schedule, as that is really tight. What day of the week is it and when is it in relation to Thanksgiving?? If you are flying at a really peak time and you miss your connection, it could be DAYS before you get to your destination. Airlines book planes very full these days, so if you miss your connection, you will need to get onto some other plane and they may all be full!!

Carol is correct regarding travel around Thanksgiving or any major holiday. Some of my relatives know first-hand what it is like to miss 3 days of a vacation due to poor planning and weather.

Thanks everyone for the advise. It was an easy call and they were helpful in getting the times changed.

Carol, I was so concerned about that connection time especially since it was Christmas morning. Our sons will already be there and we couldn't take the chance of not being able to spend Xmas day with them. We'll just hope that 1.2 hour will be enough time!

Yes, you were right to call back! Actually Christmas day itself is a relatively light travel day, so unless you have weather, you should be ok. The big problem would be that all the days after that, the planes will probably be totally full.

Mine is on the 13th of November- I can't really change as its a very early flight from Nashville to Charlotte already. Not in thanksgiving week. I

What else is available, if you cancel the booking all together??? Check to see if there is something else available with better connections--at a price you can live with--and then if so, call and see if you can cancel your reservation all together, and get your money back. That type of connection is very difficult to make, unless everything goes perfectly. Best wishes!

Make sure you have a back-up plan in case you miss the connection.

If there's not a later flight to SXM on the 13th that you can make consider flying into CLT the day/evening before and overnight at the airport so you can catch the early flight to SXM.

I would absolutely fly in the night before and spend the night near the airport. I have roughly 50 years of experience flying out of CLT, and spending the night there has been my option many times.

I checked available flights and there really aren't many options for a change (none) other than an overnight the night before. I did see that the connection was 38 minutes not 28 (0847a arrival/0925 departure).

From a monetary stand point it would cost some bucks to change the flight:

PER TICKET..plus change in ticket price...and the ONE WAY fare is right around $460 each now

..and add the cost of a hotel room to that.

...and there is a big difference flying out of Nashville vs. JFK or a major busy airport. Chances of leaving on time is better...all you have to worry about is CLT ground time getting to a gate <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> We had a 45 minute connection in CLT a couple of years ago and, with the wiggle room built into the schedule, ended up sitting and waiting for the boarding announcement.

So..I would go with the flight as is. Worse case is you stay in the hotel anyway and get there a day late..but..I bet you will make the flight as it is now.

Now if you were buying the ticket TODAY I would do the overnight thing in a heartbeat. Much less stress...

Same thing happen to us we are flying on Christmas day too, we got an email this past weekend informing us that our flight from Houston is now leaving an hour later so we have 65 minutes to make our flight. We land at 10.15 AM from Houston and our flight to SXM is at 11.20AM.

We are flying thru Miami. Not much options for us in Houston with AA.
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

The good news there I suppose is that hopefully you shouldn't have weather issues in Houston to delay your outbound flight.

I've had 35-45 minute connection times in CLT on at least 7 different times with catching my ongoing flight to SXM. I have never missed the connection and on only 1 occasion did I feel rushed and quick walked through the airport. I think you are unnecessarily worrying.

OK this is an "off topic" remark, but the post by Andrew brings back memories. My very first commercial flight was 50 years ago going from Charlotte to Nashville to start my freshman year at Vanderbilt. On that flight was when I first started smoking. Yes it was a big event in my life.

The problem here is OP has to deal with Murphy's Law of Airports which states that having a short connecting time means your inbound flight will have some delay and your connecting flight will leave from the gate that is furthest away from your arrival gate. However, the reverse is also true - a long connection time usually means your inbound flight arrives early, the gate for your connecting flight is just a few steps away and your connecting flight is delayed. In other words, you can't win either way.

With a 35 minute connection time, did you have to claim your checked bags or were they checked straight through?

There would be no reason to claim checked bags on a flight TO SXM...

Exactly, my bags are checked through to sxm from my originating city. each time I arrive in CLT for my connection, I walk up to my departure gate, show my passport and boarding pass, get the boarding pass annotated and then sit down and relax until they call zone 1.

You shouldn't have to show your boarding pass until you're boarding.

With a 38 minute connection time, keep in mind that even if you are lucky to make it, chances are your luggage might not.

For an international flight, you have to show your boarding pass and passport at the desk at the gate in CLT, prior to boarding.

No, in CLT, they request that you show your passport and boarding pass at the gate counter prior to them starting boarding and than you can put your passport away. When they start the boarding process than it's just like normal at that point with just handing over your boarding pass before walking down the jetway.

Thanks for all the advice. We dont check any bags. Going to just go with it! Again thanks.

Now, everyone coming home has to hope that the customs computers stay up in order to make their connections!
https://www.rt.com/usa/318708-customs-computers-problems-usa-airports/