How long does a connecting flight require at SFO?

Question

A couple days ago, my partner and I booked our flights for a Hawaiian vacation in December; we're flying out of Toronto (Pearson International Airport) to Honolulu via United/Continental, with a connection in San Francisco.  When we originally booked it, the connection time was well over an hour, which I (despite having relatively little travel experience) was comfortable with.

Now, we've noticed that the itinerary has changed, with the time from arrival at SFO to departure therefrom being 40 minutes.  I've never been to SFO before, and don't know much about it...I'm guessing (hoping) that the two flights will be at the same terminal, but we're a bit paranoid about it, and our travel companions are reluctant to book the same flight now.

As a note, I'm relatively unconcerned about the international component of our arrival at SFO:  In my experience, flying out of Pearson to the U.S., we pass through U.S. customs before boarding, so I don't expect that we'll need to go through customs in San Francisco.

Gerald J · Accepted Answer

You should be okay as long as your flight from Canada arrives on time. Since you do undergo customs pre-clearance in Toronto, your United flight will land at the domestic Terminal 3 at SFO and your connecting flight will also depart from Terminal 3. You should receive both boarding passes in Toronto and only have to go from the arrivals area to the departure area when you arrive at SFO. All United domestic flights arrive and depart from Terminal 3 at SFO.

lildude211us · Answer

United actually only has 1 flight that they operate themselves between Toronto and SFO and that flight will use T3 (this one should be a morning flight) There are a couple other flights that are codeshared with Air Canada, with Air Canada operating the flight. So, if your united flight is operated by Air Canada (it would say "operated as:" or something), there might be a possiblity that you will land in the international terminal (area A or G) After all, that is the terminal Air Canada uses and its Air Canada's flight. Also, i checked today's flights and most of them said international terminal

But dont worry, if you happen to land in area G, there should be a connector to terminal 3 available. If you get unlucky and land in the A side, you would still have time to make your connection because it doesn't take that long to walk to T3. Just walk across the hall to the G side and connect with T3 through the double doors (follow the signs) This walk could take 10-15 minutes. I think you can just go straight to security, since you should already have the boarding pass for this leg when you checked in at Toronto. Again, if you arrive at one of the G gates, then you can just use the connector thing. The captain might tell you what gate or what side you guys will be arriving at, so listen for that.

40 mins should be ok for an airport like SFO. There is not much distance between the terminals and you dont have to go outside. I wouldn't suggest making any stops to buy something or do something else until after you get to the gate for your next flight, as there will be shops over there too. Have a safe and fun trip!

AJ · Answer

In general, 40 minutes is not alot of time. And that is from the time the aircraft parks at the gate to the time the next flight actually takesoff. What you have to subtract is the time from when the plane parks at the gate til the time you actually depart the aircraft. If you are in the back of a decent size aircraft, it could be nearly 10 minutes before you actually get off the aircraft. Then on the other side, they often close the aircraft door about 10 minutes before departure time so they can get in line to takeoff on time. So in many cases, you almost have to subtract 20 minutes.

Now I will say if you are uncomfortable about the shortened layover, you can call the airline to see if there's an alternate flight that will give you more time.

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How long does a connecting flight require at SFO?

3 Answers