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I will be flying into Newark on United from SFO, flight arrives 9:35pm in Terminal C. I have a Norwegian flight to London from Terminal B at 12:15am. Norwegian Air told me the check-in desk closes exactly at 11:15pm, I must be checked in before that time. I also have to pick up 1 check-in bag from United, go thru security again. I am nervous about the 2 1/2 hours layover, getting to Norwegian Air desk prior to 11:pm....will I be OK with the time?

I have never flown into Newark and an airfare booking site arranged my flights, otherwise I would have been more aware of having a longer layover in Newark had I booked my own flights.

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Unless something unusual happens you are fine.

The flight from SFO to EWR is a domestic flight. You can just walk out the plane, out of the security and to the baggage claim to get your bags. You can then just hop on the air train to terminal B and go over to the Norwegian check in. That really shouldn't take more than an hour.

Things are different if your incoming flight is severely delayed or they misplace your bags, but this can't be predicted. Since it's two tickets you assume the full risk of a missed connection. This may include having to buy a whole new same-day ticket from EWR to LON. While the risk is low, it's not zero and hence I personally budget a minimum of 4 hours for a two ticket connection. It really depends on your own personal risk tolerance.

If you happen to have booked this on KIWI and planning to rely on "connection guaranteed by Kiwi" policy, I strongly recommend reading the fine print. Kiwi does NOT guarantee to get you to your destination but the coverage is capped at the price of the flight that you miss (and there are plenty of loopholes for them to weasel out of that). This is very different from "connection guaranteed by airline", where the airline has full responsibility to deliver you to your final destination.

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I'm guessing you used kiwi.com. Basically, they self-insure against the possibility you don't make this unpublished connection. If you miss, they are supposed to take care of you. There is a flight on United in the morning. I don't believe there are other red-eyes after the Norwegian flight, but without knowing which day you are leaving, it is impossible to tell.

Security will not be an issue. Getting to the Norwegian counter by 11:15 might be. If you could take your bag as a carry-on, you could check in for Norwegian by Internet.

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    The Kiwi guarantee is iffy at best. The max they will do is to refund the price of the missed leg and even that requires jumping through a lot of hoops. They will not get you to your final destination.
    – Hilmar
    Jan 29, 2019 at 13:59
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    Kiwi's gimmick is to sell people separate tickets as if they were an actual single booking. They often are not, as in this case. It's risky. While it seems to work out for most people, when it doesn't work out you're pretty screwed. Having a refund doesn't help much even if you can get them to give it to you, when you're stuck in a random airport and have to buy a new last minute ticket at probably full price. I don't have the appetite for risk that this requires, so I would not ever use sites like that.
    – Michael Hampton
    Jan 29, 2019 at 17:14
  • Thank you all for your Feedback! Yes, I did use Kiwi and will not again. I was having a challenge finding itinerary to Sicily from south OR not several thous$ ticket prices. After what Norwegian CS mentioned about desk closing time and commentd, I am going to book earlier United flight from westcoast pay the extra. Thanks again.
    – Ditlefsen
    Jan 29, 2019 at 21:46

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