TimNiceBut

I have to go back to the UK in a few weeks as my house is finally under contract (Yay! ). The trip's going to be expensive enough as is so I'm trying to book the flight via my Delta Skymiles.

Only problem is, if I don't want to spend 30+h travelling in each direction, the best connection back I get is via Minneapolis (MSP). Does anybody know if 1:40 is enough to change planes in MSP if you don't have to queue in the tourist queue? Problem is, if I miss the plane in MSP, I'll get stuck in Salt Lake City overnight as I'll miss the last plane out to Reno.

Scouse Express

What's the deal if your first flight is delayed/cancelled.

Minnesota in a few weeks could be a bit dicey. Same thing applies to SLC, too.


Jim.

TimNiceBut

Well, there is always a chance that we get snow here, too...

Basically if the plane to Minneapolis gets cancelled or delayed then I'll be a day late for work. If I get to SLC I might just be a few hours late for work the next day.

The problem is that with Delta I pretty much always have to fly via SLC and I would like to avoid ATL because I've never had a flight leave or arrive on time at ATL.

GeoffM

Depends on your dates but:
DL9472 LHR-AMS (KLM)
DL233 AMS-SEA
DL9078 SEA-RNO (Horizon)
Don't know how reward tickets work out on codeshares. I wondered about other airports but SMF doesn't seem any better!

TimNiceBut

Unfortunately that route never showed up without a long layover in SEA.

I ended up risking the stop in MSP, will report back if that worked out or not.

md95065

My guess is that, if your international flight arrives on time, then you should be OK.

If it is late then you will just have to hope that the connecting flight is delayed as well ...

TimNiceBut

I think I'd probably make it to Salt Lake City even if the international flight is delayed, it's just the last hop that might be an issue.

Fortunately my manager has been in the same situation several times himself (he's also an expat) so it's not going to be that big a deal if something goes wrong.

Vimto

We used to fly via Minneapolis every Thanksgiving for 5 years from Amsterdam on our way to Omaha, we were often the only flight that immigration was processing, with 1 1/2 hours you should be good.

TimNiceBut

Thanks, that's really good news.

taffie77

MSP is pretty small, and in mine (and my H's experience), international flights don't tend to clash, so there isn't a long line. In fact, even when we first arrived on L Visas, we were through secondary processing in about 20 minutes. I remember seeing their board of international flights in there, and everything was spread out. Of course, you can just use your elbows to get to the front of the queue
Oh, and the weather has to be horrendous before they close down a runway in MSP, it's hard core here

TimNiceBut

I ended up having to rebook the flight as I got to go to the dentist instead of the airport first . I did come back through MSP and based on that experience the 1:40 would have been plenty - I was through immigrations and customs in about 1/2h. That was with the majority of the people in the queue being LPRs and citizens.

We'll certainly consider going through MSP on a European trip again.

SanDiegogirl

I always look for at least two hours between changing planes where an international flight is included.

You only need say a 20 minute delay at the start, then lose some more time in the air and you are left with an hour to deplane, get across the airport etc.etc

Too much stress.