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WHich connecting airport


rbslos18
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I think there's more to it. Where are you coming from and where are you going to? For example, I wouldn't recommend Dallas if you were flying from Milwaukee to Toronto.

 

All others aside, it's a crap shoot. December is early enough that Dallas should be void of any ice, but you never know these days. Chicago/Minneapolis/Detroit could all be snowy, but they know how to handle them, and should be fine unless there's an unusually large December storm (which could happen...but odds are it won't on the day you are traveling).

 

All that being said, I would probably choose Dallas if it's not too much out of your way.

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There's another missing factor: what are the connection times at each. I might take a less desirable airport to avoid too short or too long connection times.

 

The originating airport is Louisville. The connection times are around 1.5 hours each. None of them seems to be a good choice.

RB

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The originating airport is Louisville. The connection times are around 1.5 hours each. None of them seems to be a good choice.

RB

 

Flying to? Louisville to FLL, it is silly to backtrack...Lousiville to Southern California is another topic. You got to give us details.

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Flying to? Louisville to FLL, it is silly to backtrack...Lousiville to Southern California is another topic. You got to give us details.

 

We leave Louisville, KY on December 12 to fly to San Francisco. Our options are a stop of 1.3-1.5 hours in Chicago, O'Hare, Minneapolis, Detroit or Dallas-Fort Worth. I hope this is sufficient.

Thanks!

 

RB

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We leave Louisville, KY on December 12 to fly to San Francisco. Our options are a stop of 1.3-1.5 hours in Chicago, O'Hare, Minneapolis, Detroit or Dallas-Fort Worth. I hope this is sufficient.

Thanks!

 

I have to suspect that you are planning to purchase through the cruiseline, and those are the only options they are presenting to you.

 

 

There are many options with longer connecting times, including DL through both ATL and MSP, AA through DFW and ORD and UA through ORD, IAH and IAD. One way pricing for under $260 for all of these options.

 

If you are forced to use one of those options you presented, I would go with DTW as my first choice and DFW as my second. Both are quite efficient as a connecting hub - DTW surprisingly so. MSP and ORD connects can be long walks down one concourse and back out another.

 

I would be looking at some of the other options available to you. ITA Matrix can show you many more options than you might be finding elsewhere.

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We leave Louisville, KY on December 12 to fly to San Francisco. Our options are a stop of 1.3-1.5 hours in Chicago, O'Hare, Minneapolis, Detroit or Dallas-Fort Worth. I hope this is sufficient.

Thanks!

 

RB

 

United has non-stops out of Cincinnati to SFO, as I have taken them. Would that be interesting to you?

 

Otherwise I would do the DFW connection.

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My initial reaction is to choose DFW during winter months, but then I remembered what someone mentioned above. Southern airports don’t know how to handle winter events. Minneapolis and Detroit are much better at keeping airplanes movie in moderate

snow conditions while southern airports like Dallas can come to a screeching halt even if there’s a light dusting of snow.

 

Based exclusively on the terminals and ease of connecting, I would choose Detroit out of the ones mentioned. Nice, modern terminal connected to the regional terminal by a tunnel. Very easy layout.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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United has non-stops out of Cincinnati to SFO, as I have taken them. Would that be interesting to you?

.

 

THIS is what I would do. Plus you don't even have to leave KY as the airport is on the KY side of the river. NO reason to connect if you don't have to. Louisville to CVG is only about a 1-1.5 hr drive depending on where the starting point is in the Louisville area.

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United has non-stops out of Cincinnati to SFO, as I have taken them. Would that be interesting to you?
THIS is what I would do. Plus you don't even have to leave KY as the airport is on the KY side of the river. NO reason to connect if you don't have to. Louisville to CVG is only about a 1-1.5 hr drive depending on where the starting point is in the Louisville area.
It's an option, but not necessarily the best one for the OP. It's not as if a plan that involves driving for 1½ hours to get to the airport is free of risk. (It's 100 miles by road between the two airports, so I've used 1½ hours as the default duration.) It's just as much a connection even it's an inter-modal (road-to-air) connection, and things can still go wrong. Obviously, wherever the OP is starting from there will be a transfer to an airport, but if that's a local airport and a short journey then the risks are smaller.

 

So the availability of a non-stop from CVG is one factor to take into account in planning. The OP would also have to take into account that there are only two non-stops:-

  • DL1758 at 0950-1210; and
  • UA502 at 1900-2120.

Neither of those is at a particularly convenient time; the DL would involve a very early start if there's a 1½ drive beforehand, and the UA arrives at SFO when it'll feel very late to the OP.

 

In contrast, searching for connecting itineraries through DFW (to take one example of a connecting point) where the connecting time exceeds two hours but the overall journey duration is no more than 8 hours, there are the following options:-

  • AA5745 --> AA2248 at 0641-0753 then 1105-1250 (which the OP would no doubt reject on timing grounds);
  • AA5788 --> AA139 at 0826-0938 then 1259-1440;
  • AA5764 --> AA1175 at 1220-1332 then 1655-1835; and
  • AA5927 --> AA75 at 1615-1726 then 2045-2226 (which the OP would probably also reject on timing grounds).

The total scheduled duration of the flights on this routing is only about half an hour more than that of the non-stops; the rest of the difference in total journey time is accounted for by the (deliberately generous) connecting time at DFW. The option starting at 1220 could be done at very convenient and comfortable times both for the start and finish of the travelling day.

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As a long time resident of DFW, a former resident of both Chicago and Detroit, and a frequent business traveler to MSP, I can tell you that winter weather delays in December are minimal at DFW compared to the others. January is the month most likely to have cold weather problems at DFW, but still far less likely than up north. Actually spring and fall are the seasons when DFW gets the worst flying conditions due to thunder storms. The other factor I like to consider is the availability of later flights should I miss a connection. DFW has many flights every day to the west coast.

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It's an option, but not necessarily the best one for the OP. It's not as if a plan that involves driving for 1½ hours to get to the airport is free of risk. (It's 100 miles by road between the two airports, so I've used 1½ hours as the default duration.) It's just as much a connection even it's an inter-modal (road-to-air) connection, and things can still go wrong. Obviously, wherever the OP is starting from there will be a transfer to an airport, but if that's a local airport and a short journey then the risks are smaller.

 

So the availability of a non-stop from CVG is one factor to take into account in planning. The OP would also have to take into account that there are only two non-stops:-

  • DL1758 at 0950-1210; and
  • UA502 at 1900-2120.

Neither of those is at a particularly convenient time; the DL would involve a very early start if there's a 1½ drive beforehand, and the UA arrives at SFO when it'll feel very late to the OP.

 

In contrast, searching for connecting itineraries through DFW (to take one example of a connecting point) where the connecting time exceeds two hours but the overall journey duration is no more than 8 hours, there are the following options:-

  • AA5745 --> AA2248 at 0641-0753 then 1105-1250 (which the OP would no doubt reject on timing grounds);
  • AA5788 --> AA139 at 0826-0938 then 1259-1440;
  • AA5764 --> AA1175 at 1220-1332 then 1655-1835; and
  • AA5927 --> AA75 at 1615-1726 then 2045-2226 (which the OP would probably also reject on timing grounds).

The total scheduled duration of the flights on this routing is only about half an hour more than that of the non-stops; the rest of the difference in total journey time is accounted for by the (deliberately generous) connecting time at DFW. The option starting at 1220 could be done at very convenient and comfortable times both for the start and finish of the travelling day.

 

 

Your tag says you are in London, so I'm not sure how often you have actually driven between Louisville and the Cincy airport...but as someone who drives that stretch of road on a regular basis it is a very easy drive. Leave at 6:30 and be sipping coffee at the gate by 8:30, plany of time for the 0950 DL flight.

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In the end I decided not to drive to CVG. Kentucky can be difficult to drive in when it snows.

 

After some study, I chose MSP as as the connecting city. It has multiple flights to San Francisco and handles snow extremely well. Initially I chose ATL but ATL and DFW and southern states do not do as well as MSP with bad weather.

 

Thanks for your advice and helping me think this through.

RB

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In the end I decided not to drive to CVG. Kentucky can be difficult to drive in when it snows.

 

After some study, I chose MSP as as the connecting city. It has multiple flights to San Francisco and handles snow extremely well. Initially I chose ATL but ATL and DFW and southern states do not do as well as MSP with bad weather.

 

Thanks for your advice and helping me think this through.

RB

MSP is a great airport, enjoy

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Your tag says you are in London, so I'm not sure how often you have actually driven between Louisville and the Cincy airport...but as someone who drives that stretch of road on a regular basis it is a very easy drive. Leave at 6:30 and be sipping coffee at the gate by 8:30, plany of time for the 0950 DL flight.
Until the day that it goes wrong.

 

The point is not that it isn't normally an easy drive, but that a drive of that length to a more distant airport is not a risk-free option and shouldn't be treated as such. Just as in the case of choosing a connecting itinerary over a non-stop flight, you have to be aware of the risks and plan accordingly. Assuming without thinking that because it's an hour or 1½ hours to drive to CVG, nothing can possibly go wrong with that section of the journey, is almost like inviting Murphy to bite you.

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