Tight Connection in SFO

[onlycopunk]

Hello knowledgeable travellers,

I have a question, or rather need reassure/ideas for backup/etc..

We're flying QF73 into SFO, set to land at 9:35am.

We then have a Virgin America flight to Seattle at 11:05am.

Leaving a 90 minute connection window.

My contingency plan included buying F tickets on my Virgin America flight, and checking in online before we leave Sydney. Then all we need to do is drop our bags and breeze through priority access. (possibly easier said than done) On QF73 we'll be down the back.

I'm normally more conservative when it comes to connections on separate bookings, but I don't know what I was thinking on this one. Am I tempting fate? Are there any tips for when we get to SFO like transfer desks, or seeing if Qantas will interline our luggage? I figure if our flight is delayed leaving Sydney at all than I'll call and change our flights.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Hello knowledgeable travellers,

I have a question, or rather need reassure/ideas for backup/etc..

We're flying QF73 into SFO, set to land at 9:35am.

We then have a Virgin America flight to Seattle at 11:05am.

Leaving a 90 minute connection window.

My contingency plan included buying F tickets on my Virgin America flight, and checking in online before we leave Sydney. Then all we need to do is drop our bags and breeze through priority access. (possibly easier said than done) On QF73 we'll be down the back.

I'm normally more conservative when it comes to connections on separate bookings, but I don't know what I was thinking on this one. Am I tempting fate? Are there any tips for when we get to SFO like transfer desks, or seeing if Qantas will interline our luggage? I figure if our flight is delayed leaving Sydney at all than I'll call and change our flights.

Are you travelling prior to 01 September? If so you could purchase an AA ticket SFO/SEA and they will through check your bags to SEA (you will still need to collect them in SFO) and after clearing customs drop them off at the bag drop inside the customs area and take a short cut to your departure gate.

If you have separate tickets SYD/SFO on QF and SFO/SEA on VX, QF won't interline your bags to VX so afer customs you'll need to go landside, checkin again then go through TSA which can sometimes take ages.

The last couple of times we've been to the USA there's been no such thing as Priority AAccess for QF Plat or other elites and even a first class ticket you queue up with the masses unless you happen to get 'TSA Pre-check' on your boarding pass and are therefore eligible to use that queue.

You don't have a 90 minute connection window as VX checkin closes at T-45 so you would need to be off QF73, through customs collected bags then checked in by VX in 45 minutes when their baggage acceptance closes. It may be easier just booking your SFO/SEA ticket once you have arrived in SFO than go through all the hassle of cancelling and changing a separate ticket.

https://www.virginamerica.com/cms/fly-with-us/airport-info/san-francisco-sfo

 

[BAM1748]

There is a good chance you will not make it.

If you must use Virgin rather than connect with American go much later, if the QF flight is late out of the gates you could be struggling. Why wouldn't you go QF then AA? It will make sure you get there and don't lose your monry.

It took me an hour to clear customs two weeks ago at SFO, just a lot of people that needed to go through as other flights from Asia arrive around the same time.

Matt

 

[BAM1748]

Having a think about and the other post re Virgin check in, I think you have less than a 50% chance of making.....based on my own and anecdotal experience.

Matt

 

[SYD]

There is a good chance you will not make it.

If you must use Virgin rather than connect with American go much later, if the QF flight is late out of the gates you could be struggling. Why wouldn't you go QF then AA? It will make sure you get there and don't lose your monry.

It took me an hour to clear customs two weeks ago at SFO, just a lot of people that needed to go through as other flights from Asia arrive around the same time.

Matt

Did your flight arrive on schedule? I flew on 22 Jul and was surprised to find NO ONE already in the immigration line. Being one of the first off the plane, that part was relatively painless and soooo much better than my last LAX arrival. So much so, I will be looking at SFO as a preferred transit point into the US / Canada.

None the less, 90mins could still be tight. Regardless of AA or VX you still have to change terminals.

Does VX have a transfer desk in the International arrivals? If they do, you can always recheck bags there.

I suspect you need to go through TSA changing terminals anyway?

 

[BAM1748]

Did your flight arrive on schedule? I flew on 22 Jul and was surprised to find NO ONE already in the immigration line. Being one of the first off the plane, that part was relatively painless and soooo much better than my last LAX arrival. So much so, I will be looking at SFO as a preferred transit point into the US / Canada.

None the less, 90mins could still be tight. Regardless of AA or VX you still have to change terminals.

Does VX have a transfer desk in the International arrivals? If they do, you can always recheck bags there.

I suspect you need to go through TSA changing terminals anyway?

SFO is far better than LAX although LAX has moved forward in leaps and bounds.

There seem to be 3 flights that arrive nearly at the same time, as I walked from the gate people were stating to stream in from the the other aricraft so if we'd been 5 mins later it would have been an even longer wait. We were on time.

So I wonder if you managed to fluke one of the other flights being late.

Anyway, I wouldn't risk it myself.

Matt

 

[onlycopunk]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'm tossing up the decision of formally changing our flights, or risking it and changing when we arrive if need be.

Problem is now, prices for those flights have gone up a considerable amount, across all carriers, really only 3 that do the route, Alaskan, Virgin, and United.

I know that VX have flights from Mexico that arrive in the international terminal so there is a good chance they have a transfer desk. I should probably just give them a call and see what they say.

 

[liamsal]

Problem is now, prices for those flights have gone up a considerable amount, across all carriers, really only 3 that do the route, Alaskan, Virgin, and United.

Delta also do this route, couldn't check prices/availability though as unsure what your date of travel is.

 

[harvyk]

Bite the bullet and get your flights changed now.
Whilst typically SFO is pretty quick to get through, you have absolutely no give for anything to not go your way. From late departures, weather, to a slow customs officer, there is a lot of things which can eat into time very quickly.
At the other end of a long haul the last thing you want to be doing is scrabbling to find last minute tickets. That could be both extremely expensive and a good way to end up on standby for a very long time.

 

[codash1099]

I have a similar situation, arriving on QF73 and originally leaving on AA to PHX about 3 hours later. The lack of through checked baggage/boarding pass isuue caused me to reconsider. A check of QF73 on time performance did not exactly fill me with confidence, so I have belatedly switched the AA flight to a later one. (Did the same with an AA flight DFW-SFO to connect with QF74). Had I switched earlier, I could have saved quite a few $$$.

My advice? Don't take a punt and switch ASAP.