Is it possible to clear immigration, get luggage and recheck in at SFO in 4 hours?
Would someone help me calculate the connection time at SFO?
I shall arrive from Europe at 2.30 pm into Terminal 3. Later on I want to fly to Las Vegas, on separate flight.
I am travelling with my family. Me and my wife have visas, and my kids travel on an ESTA basis. For me and the kids it's the first time using our visas/ESTAs, for my wife it's her second entry into the US.
How much time do I need to clear immigration, pick-up the luggage, and reach the Alaskan terminal for check in?
Can I buy the ticket for 6:30 pm? Is 4 hours enough to pass it all, or would the next flight at 7:55 pm be more realistic?
Best Answer
It's not clear if you are purchasing the Alaska Airlines ticket together with your international flight - and the situation is very different depending on whether you are.
To answer your main question, 4 hours is plenty of time to make your way from an International arrival to a domestic connection at SFO. Given check-in (and bag drop) cut-off deadlines that still gives you around 3+ hours, which is plenty of time. SFO is a relatively easy airport to get around, and although delays at immigration can occur, they would not cause you to miss a connecting flight 4 hours later.
Of course, that presumes your inbound flight is on-time. If it is delayed by more than an hour, especially if more than 2 hours, then things will get more complex.
If you have purchased your flights together, and the inbound is delayed, then it is the airlines responsibility to move you to a later flight if you don't make your connection. So if your flights are booked together, 4 hours is still plenty as you can rely on them rebooking you if needed.
If you are NOT booking the two flights together, then the best advice I can give is to NOT fly Alaska Airlines, but instead look at flying United Airlines. United have what is called a "flat tire" policy, which means that if you arrive at the airport late - such as if your inbound flight was delayed - then they will make every effort to move you to a later flight free of charge. Alaska do not have such a policy, and you will likely be forced to either buy a new ticket, or pay a change fee on your existing ticket.
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Answer 2
From this article:
Just under one-third of SFO arrivals had to wait more than 30 minutes, and the maximum average waiting time was more than 55 minutes.
The Alaskan terminal is terminal 2. You can transfer via the AirTrain:
From Terminal 1, 2 or 3, take the elevator or escalator to Mezzanine - Level 3 and walk across the passenger skybridge
Both the Blue and Red lines link terminals 2 and free. I imagine it shouldn’t take you more than 1 and a half hours to clear immigration, check your bagged and change terminal.
You should get to your terminal by 4 pm. This is within the advice that you should arrive 2 hours or more before your flight.
However, if your first flight is delayed, it won’t be the airlines fault that you’ve missed your connection since you flew on different airlines.
According to another news article:
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2018 SFO was the third-most-delayed major airport in the U.S. in terms of arrivals, with about 26 percent of arriving flights delayed. And that's not unique to last year.
You should be fine but taking the 7:55 pm flight is the safer option.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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