Hi,

Our niece and nephew are flying down in a few weeks to meet us and have a very tight, but 'legal' connection into San Juan on AA from the midwest.

We have called multiple times to see if there are seats that have a better connection. I actually went to the AA site and can see that there are some seats still available bet Dallas and San Juan (which would be better than their current connections) But I can not get AA to flip the seats to FFM types.

Any suggestions or words of wisdom? TIA

Hi Lydia, We use FFM quite often and what your suggesting, to the best of my knowledge they will not do. Your niece and nephew can however check and see if they can go stand by on another flight but will put them in a risky situation. They allot X amount of seats per flight for frequent flier seats and do not increase them. Also, is it possible they upgrade to business or first class or anytime miles? That would be a solution but of course eats up more miles.. Hope you get it worked out. They should be okay with a tight connection if it's at least 30 minutes, they should be able to make it if they hustle through the airport. Make sure they get there boarding passes for all flights when they check in if they going the entire way on AA.

If they go standby they could end up in Bonaire without their bags. Be sure if they go standby that their bags make the flight. They'll make it but there may be a delay.

What is the routing? Midwest is pretty vague... how many connections?

Standing by in DFW might be a good option. Just have them carry enough stuff in their carryon to get them thru a day or two, in case the checked baggage is delayed.

A legal connection is at least 45 minutes, right? How often does the SJU-BON flight actually go out on time? Once you hit SJU, you are officially on Island Time. That 45 minutes could easily become an hour or more.