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Getting to Bonaire: Tight Atlanta Connection
Bonaire Talk: Getting to Bonaire: Archives: Archives 2006-2008: Archives - 2008-03-01 to 2008-12-31: Tight Atlanta Connection
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Wilgus (BonaireTalker - Post #20) on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 6:37 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Has anyone taken the flight from O'Hare to BON with a 40-minute connection time in Atlanta? How was it?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By pat murphy (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1654) on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 3:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

can't speak for atlanta but we landed in san juan a few years ago and only had 20 minutes to make our AE flight to bonaire. not a big problems for us since sju is a pretty small airport but i didn't think we'd see our luggage for a few days. surprisingly, in that 20 minutes they got our luggage (including my bicycle) off one plane and onto the next one. sometimes the airlines can amaze you with their efficiency...sometimes it's the reverse. all you can do is hope for the best.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #741) on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 3:25 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We spent a little more money for a lot less stress. Flew to ATL from DTW the day before, and spent the night there and back. Atlanta airport is a MESS, and when there's one problem, it dominoes there. A 40 minute connection would be cutting it very close. Our plan worked perfectly.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By R J (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #110) on Friday, December 12, 2008 - 12:22 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Susan,We have flown from Atlanta on three previous trips, last year on Delta non stop to Bonaire.We drive down and spent the night before.One year a couple in our group flew to Atl,and almost missed flight due to delay departing from Memphis. I would not be comfortable with that short amount of time. If you miss a connection coming back it's bad enough, but if you miss one going it's BAD.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Goodwin (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #426) on Friday, December 12, 2008 - 3:40 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Susan,

I fly out of ORD a lot. Anything can happen at that airport to slow traffic down. If you are flying during the winter months, wind, snow, sleet, etc could cause delays up to several hours. Summer time delays are less likely, but can result from thunderstorms, hail, or wind.

And, of course, there is always the chance delays due to mechanical issues or personell problems (late flight crew, etc.).

Remember, if your plane is late leaving ORD and arrives late at ATL, the flight to Bonaire will not wait. You'll be left in ATL.....

Also, in-route issues can delay you also. Maybe theres weather along the way that will need to be detoured around. That could cause your plane to be late. So even if you leave on time, you could still eat substantially into your 40 minute connection time.

When we went to Bonaire this past September, we thought about the exact flight you are looking at. We decided that there were just too many possible gotchas that could cause a delay.

40 minutes is a tight connection at any airport, let alone ORD to ATL.

Just my 2 cents worth. Good Luck.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Beck-ee... freezing her toesies off (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2063) on Friday, December 12, 2008 - 5:20 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Susan,
I've done that ORD-ATL-BON once and Milwaukee-ATL-BON once. Less than an hour connection each time in ATL. We did make it both times. The first time (ORD-ATL) it was a group of 13 and bad weather had prevented us leaving Chicago in time, the plane was held for us and we left Atlanta about 40 minutes late. The second time was fine - all flights left and arrived on time. I agree with Dave, though... they might not hold the plane for 1 or 2 people, and of course there isn't another Delta flight out for a week!

The trips back were another story altogether. I made the flight from ATL-MKE, but my luggage didn't due to leaving BON nearly an hour late and having to go through customs and all that happy c#*p. Oh well, if you have to have luggage delays - the way home is definitely time to do it.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By pat murphy (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1660) on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 12:44 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

beck...what you are saying is that you and your luggage cleared customs in atlanta and you rechecked your luggage but it didn't make the plane to MKE? is that right?


wonder what would happen if your luggage didnt' make it on the plane in bonaire. has anybody ever had an experience where you got to the states and you had no luggage to take through customs? how would you get it and where? just wondering.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Leo Irakliotis (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #138) on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 12:55 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Susan, we are flying ORD-ATL-BON in January but we'll spend a night in Atlanta. For reasons that David and Mary explained so thoroughly.

We'll arrive mid-afternoon in Atlanta, meet old friends for dinner, go to bed early, and next day take ourselves and our luggage to the airport for a direct flight to Bonaire.

The final cost is an extra day of traveling and $140 for the hotel. Not having to worry about the tight connection, and catching up with old friends: priceless :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Wilgus (BonaireTalker - Post #21) on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 3:47 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks to all who responded to my query. The good news: there was a slight change to the ATL>ORD flight since we booked it, reducing the connection time to 35 minutes, and I was able to use that fact to get Delta to switch us to a Friday evening flight to Atlanta with no extra charge. The bad news is that the cost of the entire flight has dropped, so we could have saved over $100 for 2 tickets had we waited until yesterday to book the flights. When I mentioned that to the Delta agent, she just said, "Don't you hate when that happens?" Oh, well, who knew the ticket prices would drop in this economy? Another weird bit of airline nonsense: the ATL to BON flight, if booked by itself, costs MORE than our tickets did, even though we take that same flight as just a part of our itinerary.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Leo Irakliotis (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #139) on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 5:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Susan there is a reason airlines employ PhD scientists in statistics and use advanced supercomputers to run their pricing algorithms :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By B-B-B-eck-k-k-k-k-eeeee (it's c-c-c-old) (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2071) on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 6:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Pat - yep... luggage came through customs and got rechecked (one bag was completely trashed, but that's another story:-)) but the bags didn't make the plane to Milwaukee, just me and my mom. :-) Oh well, it was all good. And I got a new suitcase out of it! :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Deborah Bennett (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #164) on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 10:27 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Pat, I had luggage not go out of Bonaire (DAE left all luggage in Bonaire due to "overfilling with fuel, so they had to take off weight") My luggage arrived at my house in WV in fine shape 3 days later.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ****Tink**** (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #7967) on Sunday, December 14, 2008 - 2:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Susan, you can request that Delta reissue your ticket at the new reduced price (if it has dropped enough).

I bought my ticket in August, cheapest I could get was 1109. and change. SNA to ATL on Friday, overnight in ATL, then ATL to BON. Same routine on the way back. I checked this last week and it had dropped to 650!!!! I called Delta, and it was a 150 charge to reissue the ticket, and I got a 290 something voucher for a flight to use within the next year, and it's transferable to someone else.

She did say that it was 100 ding, but they raised it in August to 150. She said the ding now is 200. Makes me think that they were having a lot of folks who bought tickets at those high prices last summer, and now, are asking for vouchers.

BTW, it was a pain to try to book mine online through Delta because of the overnights on the way, and back home. If you try to book them all separately, it is muy caro!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Wilgus (BonaireTalker - Post #22) on Monday, December 15, 2008 - 2:54 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks, Tink. The price only dropped by $57 per ticket, so rebooking is not an option. I booked the original itinerary through Orbitz, and they have a "Price Guarantee" that will refund the difference IF another Orbitz customer books your same itinerary at a lower price. I emailed them to find out if that still applies, since I changed the itinerary through Delta, and they emailed back that I need to call and talk to a human, since my issue was too "complicated" to give a simple answer to. I'll probably give them a call, since a $104 refund check would be nice.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ****Tink**** (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #7980) on Monday, December 15, 2008 - 5:00 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Good luck, a 104 refund would buy a couple nice dinners, or almost a week of air fills!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Woodward (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #148) on Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 11:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We came thru Atlanta a week ago returning from Bonaire with about 1hr 10min to do the passport control, customs, recheck thing. Everything went quckly except we waited most of our time for the luggage and barely made the plane and only then because it left late--one bag did not make the plane and came home the next day.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jennifer V. (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - 6:30 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for the above info. I have since changed the ORD>ATL (flight 1933) in Feb. to the night before. According to Delta's email:

'The minimum connection time in Atlanta, GA airport from domestic flight
to international flight is 90 minutes. Our records indicate that the
connecting time for your flights is not sufficient. Therefore, it will
be necessary for you to contact our International Reservations
department at 800-241-4141 for questions regarding your ticket.'

We are staying over in Atlanta the night before as suggested (flight 1949) without additional cost. According to Delta, We will still be allowed 2 pieces of luggage free of charge as ORD>ATL is still considered a connection to Bonaire the next day. Thanks again!


 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Anne Silvia (BonaireTalker - Post #17) on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 5:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hello:
I called Delta, since we have a 35 minute connection in Atlanta going TO Bonaire with origination in Providence, RI.

They said, given the posted gates, etc. that the 35 minutes is enough time to change planes. She said that they are still booking on that flight with that connection time.

There are several other flights from elsewhere in the country that connect to this Bonaire flight also, so I'm hoping we'll be fine.

In the email from Delta, mentioned above (about 90 minutes for International flights), isn't that on the return into Atlanta from Bonaire since that's when you'd need to go through customs?

I don't think you need a minimum 90 minutes heading out of the country. At least that's not what Delta is saying.

Thanks for any clarification.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Schamp (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #172) on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 7:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Delta is lying.
Any kind of wx delay and you'll be stuck in ATL trying to figger just what to do next.

We flew PVD-ATL enroute to LAS last year, missed our connection due to late departure from PVD but eventually got to LAS since they do 10 flights a day there.

Waaay less flights per WEEK to BON...

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jennifer V. (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #8) on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 7:29 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Anna:
You get a different answer with different Delta agents. I kept calling back until one gave me the answer I was looking for. Given the ORD>ATL track record, and winter, we did not want to chance it (Even with travel insurance). I just posted the above email Delta response, that allowed me to change my flight without charge. Good luck.

 


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