Do we have enough time?

[Clairescurtains]

Any one know if we are taking a huge chance going from an arrival at LGA at 12:35 to JFK departure at 3:50 on a Saturday? :confused:

 

We will of course have to get our checked bags at LGA and taxi to JFK and do the whole check in process there.

 

I understand it is just 20 min or so by taxi between airports.

Does anyone know if is this correct?

[ab0si]

If everything goes perfectly, you will make your flight. If anything goes wrong, you will not. To quote a quote (metaquote?) of my favorite poster here:

You have to ask yourself, do you fell lucky?

 

The above assumes your flight out of JFK is domestic, if not change "will make" to "might make."

 

Paul

[Clairescurtains]

If everything goes perfectly, you will make your flight. If anything goes wrong, you will not. To quote a quote (metaquote?) of my favorite poster here:

You have to ask yourself, do you fell lucky?

 

The above assumes your flight out of JFK is domestic, if not change "will make" to "might make."

 

Paul

Not too lucky usually but not much chance of changing flights either.

 

We fly BHM to LGA and our Delta flight is supposed to arrive at 12:35 then we go by taxi to JFK and fly Alitalia flight 609 which takes off at 3:50 to Rome. When we orig booked this flights months ago we had five hours between flights but the first flight was cancelled and we were put on another flight.

How much time does it take to get from LGA to JFK on a Saturday?

[Off Shore]

Traffic can be heavy; Is there a sporting event at Shea Stadium? Is there construction? Also, La Guardia has short runways and is the most vulnerable to delays due to inclement weather.

Twenty Minutes is a best-case scenario. I would allow 45 minutes. On the bright side, security is usually not too slow!

 

But I would not consider the timing to be adequate. IT wil only add to your stress!

[greatam]

LGA domestic to JFK international in just slightly under 3 hours???? Your flight is now showing a 12:59PM arrival (Delta flight #5120).

 

Will be REALLY tight. One little glitch-late plane into LGA/delayed or lost lggage at LGA), traffic jam, or more than likely, international check in and security at JFK.

 

I fly into JFK almost every month. Some of the terminals can be BRUTAL when it comes to check in and security.

 

Since the airline changed your flight, what is the possibility of changing to another airline (no cost to you) or even flying into JFK the night before??? Since the original flight was canceled, your airline will change your tickets to something acceptable to you for free. There is a 6:10 Delta flight the night before, arrives LGA at midnight. There is also a flight out of BHM, leaving 6:00AM, connects in ATL and arrives 12:02PM. Not the nonstop you are currently booked on, but either option offers a MUCH better chance of making your international flight. There is a Marriott and Crowne Plaza directly across the expressway from LGA. In fact, the rooms at the back of the Marriott offer spectacular plane spotting. Both are available on Priceline for about $100.00.

 

I sure wouldn't take the chance-LGA to JFK and international check in. Good luck!!

[Clairescurtains]

AirGorilla

I have checked with Delta and they sent me to Alitalia who said I had to go back through the "travel agent" I booked with. I had booked these fllights through AirGorilla back in mid Jan and the orig flight with Delta was to arrive at LGA at 10:44 which would have been no problem, then Delta cancelled that flight and changed us to the flight arriving at 12:35. I understand that AirGorilla purchased both flights through Alitala and they are codeshare with Delta I think so perhaps they will try to accomodate us.

I have written an e-mail to AirGorilla asking what they would do and will give them a little time to respond with a solution hopefully.

 

I suggested the Delta flight 5164 the night before which would require us staying in NY for a night but that is doable.

I will post back when they respond.

[greatam]

AirGorilla

I have checked with Delta and they sent me to Alitalia who said I had to go back through the "travel agent" I booked with. I had booked these fllights through AirGorilla back in mid Jan and the orig flight with Delta was to arrive at LGA at 10:44 which would have been no problem, then Delta cancelled that flight and changed us to the flight arriving at 12:35. I understand that AirGorilla purchased both flights through Alitala and they are codeshare with Delta I think so perhaps they will try to accomodate us.

I have written an e-mail to AirGorilla asking what they would do and will give them a little time to respond with a solution hopefully.

 

I suggested the Delta flight 5164 the night before which would require us staying in NY for a night but that is doable.

I will post back when they respond.

 

I am sorry you are caught up in this mess. As I have posted soooooo many times, when buying tickets from "consoldidators", you are really taking a big chance. When things go well, you have probably saved money. When they go badly, they REALLY go bad.

 

I hope AirGorilla will do something for you. The Delta/Alitalia codeshares fly out of Atlanta, NOT out of JFK. Ask AirGorilla to change your flight to BHM/ATL/FCO on the Alitalia codeshare. There are 3 flights out of ATL per day that are Alitalia codeshares. However, if these are strictly Alitalia tickets OR if this was booked by AirGorilla as two separate tickets (which is a possibility), you are STUCK with the Alitalia flight out of JFK. They only fly their own planes out of a few US cities.

 

Good luck. Please let us know the result.

[Clairescurtains]

I only found Cruise Critic recently, long after these flights were booked.

I found Air Gorilla based on a recommendation in Arthur Frommers newspaper column of a travel site called Mossimo.com[not sure of spelling]

We are considering buying a new ticket to NY for the day before but that will add a huge amount to an already expensive trip.

We might be better off taking a chance of this working out and if we miss the Alitalia flight then getting on the next Alitalia flight out of JFK the same afternoon. I was warned by an Alitalia rep that there could be a penalty for this option but they couldn't tell me how much of a penalty.

 

Wouldn't it be Delta's responsibility if we missed the connection based on their plane being late [i know this doesn't take into consideration the traffic] and put us on their flight to Rome that same afternoon? :confused:

 

I will certainly let everyone know the outcome of this delimma.

Thanks so much for your continued help.

[greatam]

Wouldn't it be Delta's responsibility if we missed the connection based on their plane being late [i know this doesn't take into consideration the traffic] and put us on their flight to Rome that same afternoon? :confused:

 

I will certainly let everyone know the outcome of this delimma.

 

Not Delta's responsibility. These are NOT codeshare flights. And no one REALLY knows how AirGorilla purchased these tickets. Are they two separate tickets???? Or did Alitalia just use their SkyTeam connection to get the Delta flights???

 

I'm going to make an educated guess. Alitalia's flight out of JFK was the cheapest AirGorilla could get to Rome. And with the SkyTeam connection, they prevailed on Alitalia to get the Delta tickets from BHM. So you are left dealing with Alitalia/Air Gorilla to change the flight. Delta actually has no knowledge of anything about your ticket (price, how it was booked, that you are actually traveling on to Rome, etc), other than you have a seat on the plane from BHM. Delta was cut completely out of the loop and will stay out of the loop.

[megr1125]

 

I fly into JFK almost every month. Some of the terminals can be BRUTAL when it comes to check in and security.

 

 

THAT is an understatement!!! Blech! I only fly out of there (or thru there) if i can save over 100 bucks!!!

[wrp96]

Before you buy a separate ticket for the day before, make sure that your flight to LaGuardia is ticketed separately than your flight from JFK. If not, and you fly in the day before, you could show up at JFK to find the rest of your flights have been cancelled.

[Clairescurtains]

How do I tell if the flights are ticketed seperately or are together as I suspect they are?:confused:

 

It looks like our least expensive, but certaily not cheap, and easiest way would be to book a Southwest flight the day before to Long Island Islip and stay in a hotel overnight but that might not work if the tickets are issued together.

If the tickets are together then we may have to just try to make what we have work and then pay whatever penalty to get on the next flight to Rome. I will practice looking pitiful which won't be much of a stretch by that time.:o

 

Oh, what a wicked web we weave when first we practice to...... try and save money.:D

[greatam]

How do I tell if the flights are ticketed seperately or are together as I suspect they are?:confused:

 

It looks like our least expensive, but certaily not cheap, and easiest way would be to book a Southwest flight the day before to Long Island Islip and stay in a hotel overnight but that might not work if the tickets are issued together.

If the tickets are together then we may have to just try to make what we have work and then pay whatever penalty to get on the next flight to Rome. I will practice looking pitiful which won't be much of a stretch by that time.:o

 

Oh, what a wicked web we weave when first we practice to...... try and save money.:D

 

Booking a SW ticket to Islip could be another money looser. It is almost 50 miles to JFK and will cost about $100.00 for transport between the two, unless you use a combination of buses, trains and taxis (not easy with cruise luggage).

 

Does your entire itinerary show up on Alitalia???? Do the fare codes/buckets show up in your itinerary???

 

Hopefully, AirGorilla or Alitalia will get back to you stating what they can and will do for you. Are you on Delta #5120??? I posted before, but according to Delta's CURRENT schedule (which may change again) the flight now arrives LGA at 12:59. Another 25 minutes lost. Just so you are aware.

[Clairescurtains]

I have not found a way to check the ticket on-line on Alitalia's website at all. I have checked it on check my trip dot com and both flights show up on my Delta Skymiles acct but I just signed up yesterday for an Altalia frequent flier acct and it doesn't show anything.

Yes, we are on Delta 5120 and everything I have seen today shows 12:35 arrival.

The Southwest option would probably cost us about $700.00, who knows what any penalty would be and buying new tickets would be maybe $4000 or so which is not an option.

 

I will have to wait and see what if anything Airgorilla will do.

 

Again, thank you for your advice and help.

[Clairescurtains]

I did at least get an e-mail from Alitalia saying they were sending my request to their special fares department for a reply. They will be in the office on Monday.

 

The saga continues....

[Clairescurtains]

I finally got a reply form Air Gorilla and here it is and what the heck does it mean:

Hello Claire,

I apologize for the delay in my response since our department was closed for the holiday weekend. I have since spoken with a supervisor at Alitalia Airlines who advised that they re accommodated you in regards to the schedule change that they made on July 4th, 2008. The ticketing agent will revalidate your ticket at the airport.

I have re emailed a copy of your confirmed itinerary to you. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Of course I emailed back and left a phone message but it was fairly late this afternoon and no reply yet today. I will post when I hear anything more.

[Globaliser]

I have since spoken with a supervisor at Alitalia Airlines who advised that they re accommodated you in regards to the schedule change that they made on July 4th, 2008. The ticketing agent will revalidate your ticket at the airport.

This means that you have been rebooked onto other flights. If you were holding a paper ticket, that ticket would traditionally have been "revalidated" for the new flights by putting a sticker over the old flight details. However, in today's e-ticketing world, I'm not entirely sure why you'd need to see a ticketing agent to do that, as the revalidation can be done by the airline without you because it now only involves amending the electronic record held by the airline which constitutes your ticket. (Any paper document that you hold is not a ticket but simply evidence of the ticket, which is a purely electronic document.)

 

The best thing to do is to check your reservation using an online service, if you have a reservation reference (locator) that allows you to do so. You may be able to do this on the airline's website, or - if your reservation has been made on one of the big computer reservation systems - through the system's website. http://www.checkmytrip.com, http://www.virtuallythere.com, http://www.viewtrip.com and http://www.mytripandmore.com are the big four.

[PennyAgain]

Please post your new flights and schedules so our experts can debug them (if possible). Frequently there are folks who post here who have problems after buying supposedly cheap tickets.

 

Those of us who fly often and have a great deal of experience with these things know when to smell a rat. The average person who flies overseas, perhaps once in a lifetime, has no chance!

 

It also goes almost without saying, watch your baggage weight allowances for deals like this!

[greatam]

I have re emailed a copy of your confirmed itinerary to you. Please let me know if you have any questions. [/font][/color][/color][/size][/font]

Of course I emailed back and left a phone message but it was fairly late this afternoon and no reply yet today. I will post when I hear anything more.

 

It appears Alitalia has 3 nonstops almost daily from JFK. 3:55 (your original flight), 4:50 (flight AZ7615-Delta codeshare on a Delta 767) and AZ 611 at 9:10PM. Just making an educated guess, but the late flight is most likely what Alitalia rebooked you on. Didn't AirGorilla email you a copy of your new itinerary???? The late flight is your best bet with airport change and international check in. A few hours to kill at JFK, but better than being left on the Van Wyck Expressway. Good luck and Enjoy!!!

[Clairescurtains]

The new itenerary is just like it was before with the slight time corrections made.

I totally agree with you about the other flights. I originally sent an e-mail suggesting the later flights or the possibility of leaving here a day earlier and you saw the reply they sent. It makes no sense to me, I don't know what re accomadate means. I have called and left messages twice and sent another e-mail. I also called and finally spoke with someone other than Cindy and she said I had plenty of time and it would be straightened out and she would tell Cindy to call. Not much help from them!

I know now that booking through them was a mistake but I have spent the money and want to get to Rome on time. I guess I will wait for her to call or e-mail me again with a definition of the previous e-mail.

[Clairescurtains]

I finally talked to Cindy with Air Gorilla and she was very nice, kind and reassuring. She said [i have no choice but to believe her] that we will check in all the way to Rome from BHM and should have no trouble making our way to JFK in plenty of time. If the DeltaComair flight is delayed we will be put on the next available flight with no penalty. As of now there are no available flights [probably at this cost] but some should open up between now and then.

For those that are interested here are our flight plans:

 

SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE

 

 

DELTA AIR LINES 06SEP BIRMINGHAM AL NEW YORK NY 900A 1235P

DL 5120 SATURDAY LA GUARDIA

T ECONOMY AIRCRAFT: CANADAIR REGIONAL JET

FLIGHT OPERATED BY OH COMAIR INC.

RESERVATION CONFIRMED

CLICK HERE FOR NEW YORK CITY INFO, TRANSFERS & EVENTS

 

ALITALIA 06SEP NEW YORK NY ROME 350P 615A

AZ 609 SATURDAY JOHN F KENNEDY FIUMICINO 07SEP

S ECONOMY AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-400

SEATS xxL/xxJ CONFIRMED

RESERVATION CONFIRMED

CLICK HERE FOR ROME CITY INFO, TRANSFERS & EVENTS

 

ALITALIA 21SEP ROME NEW YORK NY 215P 535P

AZ 610 SUNDAY FIUMICINO JOHN F KENNEDY

S ECONOMY AIRCRAFT: BOEING 777-200/200ER

SEATS xxL/xxK CONFIRMED

RESERVATION CONFIRMED

CLICK HERE FOR NEW YORK CITY INFO, TRANSFERS & EVENTS

 

DELTA AIR LINES 21SEP NEW YORK NY BIRMINGHAM AL 930P 1109P

DL 5525 SUNDAY LA GUARDIA

T ECONOMY AIRCRAFT: CANADAIR REGIONAL JET

FLIGHT OPERATED BY OH COMAIR INC.

RESERVATION CONFIRMED

We will have to wait until we get back to give you the final word.:rolleyes:

 

[greatam]

I finally talked to Cindy with Air Gorilla and she was very nice, kind and reassuring. She said [i have no choice but to believe her] that we will check in all the way to Rome from BHM and should have no trouble making our way to JFK in plenty of time. If the DeltaComair flight is delayed we will be put on the next available flight with no penalty. As of now there are no available flights [probably at this cost] but some should open up between now and then.

 

She is WRONG. Delta WILL NOT be transferring your luggage from LGA to JFK. And even if they did, YOU would STILL have to recheck your luggage-stand in line, present your passport, get checked for the "no fly list", etc. etc.. ANY TIME you touch your luggage, it has to be rechecked by TSA and you have to reclear security.

 

GET IT IN WRITING that they will put you on the NEXT available flight with NO penalty. And MAKE SURE it is in writing if you miss the flight for reasons OTHER than the Delta flight delayed into LGA. Like a traffic accident, security delay, hang up at check in, taxi breakdown, etc. etc.. You will have to make ADVANCE reservations for a car service to meet you so you don't get hung up in the taxi queue. You have NO time to waste.

 

I wish you luck. I have offered the best advice I know. MAYBE one more phone call to Alitalia in NYC. Ask for a supervisor right away. LGA is KNOWN for delays. With no available flights right now and a BIG IF that more may open up, what are your options???? They need to offer you something CONCRETE in WRITING. Hope you are flying a couple of days pre cruise, have refundable hotel reservations in Rome and GOOD, third party travel insurance.

 

Next time you speak to "Cindy", ask her if she would take a chance getting off a flight in Tijuana and transferring to the San Diego airport in your time frame? You are essentially dealing with the EXACT same scenario, including the distance.

 

Good LUCK!!!!

[nho9504]

I finally talked to Cindy with Air Gorilla and she was very nice, kind and reassuring. She said [i have no choice but to believe her] that we will check in all the way to Rome from BHM and should have no trouble making our way to JFK in plenty of time. If the DeltaComair flight is delayed we will be put on the next available flight with no penalty. As of now there are no available flights [probably at this cost] but some should open up between now and then.

 

[/url]

 

I feel for you, but I would not trust what this woman at Air Gorilla tells you.

 

What else she could tell you other than soothing words?

 

In the info you provided, I dont see DL has ANY responsibility regarding your Alitalia flight, nor the luggage transferred.

[FlyerTalker]

I finally talked to Cindy with Air Gorilla and she was very nice, kind and reassuring.

She was saying whatever she had to to get you off the phone and out of her hair.

She said [i have no choice but to believe her] that we will check in all the way to Rome from BHM and should have no trouble making our way to JFK in plenty of time.

Greatam hit the nail on the head....your situation has NOT been resolved and you are still faced with a great deal of exposure in case of ANY bit of delay.

 

As for "I have no choice but to believe her": You most assuredly have a choice. If you blithely just accept what she says, you have a great likelihood of being bitterly disappointed down the road. Or down the Van Wyck Expressway, as the case will be.

[PennyAgain]

The average wait time to pick up baggage that has been checked at JFK is how long? I have never waited less than 30 minutes from the time my flight landed. If I am out of the airport in less than 40 minutes with my checked bag I call it a good day. You will check in at Birmingham but will have to check in again with your baggage at La Guardia.

 

I agree completely with greatam and nho9504.

 

Miss Cindy gave the OP nothing! Nothing at all!