Info re: United SNA - ORD - LHR

My Son, DIL and I are traveling on United FF tickets to Heathrow. We're First from SNA to ORD and Business from ORD to LHR. They just revised the schedule and we will only have a 1 hour layover in ORD. I've never flown this route and I'm concerned we may be cutting things way too close. Will they check our baggage through from SNA or will we have to pick it up and take it to the international terminal when we arrive? Will they ticket us through or do we go through security again at ORD (if so, what is the likelihood we'll make it)?

Our outbound flight is December 29th, so there are no other FF seats available out of SNA, LAX or ONT. Fortunately, our inbound is non-stop.

TIA to Pat and the other global travellers on TUG for any help!!

You'll do fine.

You will arrive at either concourse B or C in the United terminal and will depart from concourse C. At most, it will be a brisk 10-minute walk from one flight to the other and you won't have to go through security at ORD.

Although an hour isn't a lot of time between flights, you'll be leaving SNA fairly early in the day (I'm guessing at 11:05 a.m.), so it's unlikely that you'll be significantly delayed.

When you check in at SNA, you'll get boarding passes for both flights and your luggage will be checked through to LHR.

Thanks, Dave, for the quick response. I called United to request an earlier flight out of SNA, but they refused since they felt we would have more than enough time. I needed to hear it from someone with "real world" experience.

The only potential problems I see would be bad weather in Denver or Washington, DC or a mechanical problem.

Based on current schedules, the flight (if it is at 11:05) that you'll take from SNA originates in IAD (Washington Dulles) and stops in DEN before arriving in SNA at 10:15. With only a 50-minute turnaround, UA will need almost all of that to get you out timely. If the same plane handles those flights on 12/29, snow in the east or in Denver could delay the flight. But even if there is a delay of 30 minutes or so, you should still make your LHR connection in ORD.

It's not likely that there would be other causes for a delay, since that flight coming from the east will be leaving early in the morning - when most flights are on time.

With a little detective work (or by asking here) on the 28th, you can determine what incoming (to SNA) flight will be the plane you will go out on. Then you can watch progress early on the 29th and decide whether you need to call UA - don't wait until you get to the airport! - to politely holler that your SNA flight will be delayed and you'll miss your connection and can they help? If I really needed to make that connection, I would make sure I was checking early enough so that I could make the 8:40 a.m. SNA-ORD flight if UA tells you they can get you on that flight because your scheduled flight will be late.

Please don't be alarmed. All I'm suggesting is that you be proactive so that you don't get to the airport on Saturday morning only to find out then that your SNA flight will be delayed and it's too late to make alternative arrangements.

Thank you again, Dave. I always arrive quite early and I will take your suggestion about checking the incoming flight. I actually tried to get a change to the 6:45 out of SNA (you are correct about my flight being the 11:05), but United said no - because my existing flight should be fine. I would rather sit in Chicago during a 5 hour layover than lose a day in London

There is only 1 FF seat available on the earlier flight or UA would have let you change the flight for no cost. You just have to get from Plane 1 to Plane 2 in Chicago so an hour will be enough time. I'm curious about your statement that the return is non-stop. Are you flying to LAX on the return because I know there aren't any non-stops to SNA?

Hi Pat, thanks for the info. You are correct, the inbound is LHR to LAX. They only had 2 FF tickets for LAX to LHR or we would have preferred that route both directions.