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Not so fast: Why you should think twice before booking flights with a tight connection
All travelers, at one point or another, have run a marathon through the airport, cursing themselves for booking such a tight connection (or whatever delay put them in that situation), and sweating as they slalom their way through Auntie Anne’s and Hudson News lines with a roller bag in tow. And sure, there’s an element of personal choice in that, but experts say part of the problem could be that many airlines even allow you to book tickets with such short connections in the first place. Travel… (www.usatoday.com) Plus d'info...
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It’s not a marathon we are doing through the airport, it’s a sprint, ala OJ Simpson (old Hertz advert).
Ha, that's nothing new. My most amazing connection story is from the 1980s with People's Express airlines at their hub at Newark's airport. The terminal was an absolute mad house, packed from one end to another with people desperate to get to their connecting flights. I squeezed through some people roughly to get to a gate agent, she then opened a door to the tarmac and pointed to a 737 in the distance, and my wife and I sprinted across the tarmac past other aircraft to the air stairs for that plane. As we entered through the doorway all the other seated passengers started applauding and cheering. Apparently the pilot had announced that they were waiting for one more couple and he could see what he hoped was them running towards the plane. My face was hot with embarrassment but they closed the door and took off. Seems surreal in retrospect.
Airlines frequently force tight connections through their CRS. I've seen them come up with 30 minute connections at places like ORD and ATL. That's nuts even if the flights are on time.
If people aren’t smart enough to figure out that things go wrong during travel and schedules don’t flow like clockwork, they deserve to have their travel plans interrupted. It’s not the regulators or airlines fault that a lot of people can’t plan and have no concept of time management.
That’s an overly broad assumption. I generally try to have plenty of time between connecting flights, but I have seen my two or three hour cushion disappear when bad weather or other d Ed vintage strike. It’s not bad time management skills, it’s simply life.
I have to agree with you on that. Most of my pax who are not regular fliers think we make up delays due to our inefficiency as an airline. I try to explain how the system works and a lot of them get it.
