Article: Airlines, Please Stop Selling Ridiculously Tight Connections

[Bajar]

Domestic MCT's are absolutely brutal. I frequently transit through BNE domestically and have had transit times of as little as 15 minutes flying VA. If my inbound flight is operated by Alliance, there is no way I'm getting my connection.

On Saturday I have a 40 minute transit time in BNE inbound with Alliance. My travel agent's app is already saying there's a 60% chance of me missing my connection because of Alliance's on-time performance into BNE. Wish me luck.

 

[Rod James]

Years ago, when I used Travel Agents, our flight BNE to CDG went via LHR. We arrived at LHR slightly late and rushed to out Paris gate to just make the flight. Unfortunately our luggage did not make the same flight and we did not receive it until the next day.
We learnt our lesson, leave plenty of time between flights and have not used a TA since.

 

[dajop]

It can work both ways, sometimes especially with award tickets it can be difficult to secure more reasonable/better padded connection times.

An anecdote .... recently my partner and his mother were trying to get to ZRH on a day flight from SIN (instead of overnight). The best way of doing this (on SQ) was via FRA. Only one connection - 3:15 to LX, however that was not available for redemption as a married sector - even though both sectors were available as standalone (and this was economy). The agents could not thread it together, however could get on the much earlier LH flight - a 00:45 connection which they insisted met the MCT (although EF suggested it did not). Anyway ticketed with the expectation (hope?) that they would miss the connection, have some time in the lounge and be put on the later LX flight.

However they were escorted through immigration and actually, miraculously made the flight.

Although the luggage did not. No problem ... I just picked it up off the carousel as I was arriving from LHR 5 mins later than the LX flight was due. Sometimes things work out .....

 

[neils2004]

My experience with Qantas Oct 2024: Booked return flights from WTB (Wellcamp -Toowoomba) to SIN via SYD. All flights on the same ticket/booking.
Departure time from WTB was changed by QF to several hours later and a new ticket sent with an arrival into SYD indicating an extremely quick dash between Dom & Int terminals of 15 minutes !!
It took a few phone calls to the QF call centre (don't get me started on that) to get the problem sorted. Ended up flying out of Brisbane.
Not sure how they expected me to transit in 15 mins or why this wasn't picked up when the flight was changed by QF.

 

[Ade]

My experience with Qantas Oct 2024: Booked return flights from WTB (Wellcamp -Toowoomba) to SIN via SYD. All flights on the same ticket/booking.
Departure time from WTB was changed by QF to several hours later and a new ticket sent with an arrival into SYD indicating an extremely quick dash between Dom & Int terminals of 15 minutes !!
It took a few phone calls to the QF call centre (don't get me started on that) to get the problem sorted. Ended up flying out of Brisbane.
Not sure how they expected me to transit in 15 mins or why this wasn't picked up when the flight was changed by QF.

One of my managers at work had their LAX-SYD delayed, but SYD-CBR remained as is. This left them 25 mins of transit from SYD Int. to SYD Dom. Not sure how QF thought someone with luggage checked-in would be able to make to Dom in 25 mins. They promptly called QF and got it changed to a later SYD-CBR.

 

[jase05]

Then you have Mrs Jase pipe up whilst I’m booking my Cairo flights last night “Don’t choose the 1.45 connection in DOH as I won’t have enough time to sit down and order a steak in the First lounge”
You guessed it, I booked that later flight that has 3.45 to connect

 

[Himeno]

In late 2022, I had a D-I connection via MEL. When booked it was just over 60 mins. After booking, QF changed the MCT for D-I connections to 90 mins and changed my flight.
On the day, the flight I was moved to was delayed. I was in my seat watching out the window as the flight I had booked to start with pushed back from the next gate.

 

[frodo]

For me it's situational and depends on factors such as whether you are starting or finishing your trip and how often the connecting flights run.

I flew HKG-SIN-SYD with a 50 min connection last year and had no hesitation in booking that as it was at the end of my trip. If I had missed the SIN-SYD flight, there are many flights daily and SQ would have been responsible for sorting out hotels, meals etc as pointed out in the article.

Would I do it on the outbound leg to start my trip? Possibly, but I would be less likely to book a tight connection, and only to destinations where there are multiple flights a day and if I did not have anything important planned for the first 1-2 days.

 

[hossein_au]

Is Turkey covered by EU261? My recent travel to IST via AUH were delayed for both outbound (about 6 hours) and inbound (24 hours).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is Turkey covered by EU261? My recent travel to IST via AUH were delayed for both outbound (about 6 hours) and inbound (24 hours).

Yes and no. it’s not a member of the EU.

However tickets for travel originating and departing the EU for turkey will be covered.

 

[jsoprano]

One example that I had to shake my head about recently, and haven't been foolish enough to book myself yet, is an ANA connection that someone on Reddit booked and was concerned about, with a 3 hour MCT (sounds reasonable, but wait for it) of arriving intl at NRT and departing domestic from HND. The bus or train between the two airports takes 1h15 to 1h30 alone without any traffic delays. Add in time for immigration and customs upon arrival at NRT and 30 mins to drop your bags at HND, there's little chance you can make that even if everything is on time but you have luggage or you may need to wait for the bus for 10 mins or more (it only runs about every 30-40 mins), or you may not perfectly know your way around both airports.

 

[jsoprano]

For me it's situational and depends on factors such as whether you are starting or finishing your trip and how often the connecting flights run.

I flew HKG-SIN-SYD with a 50 min connection last year and had no hesitation in booking that as it was at the end of my trip. If I had missed the SIN-SYD flight, there are many flights daily and SQ would have been responsible for sorting out hotels, meals etc as pointed out in the article.

Would I do it on the outbound leg to start my trip? Possibly, but I would be less likely to book a tight connection, and only to destinations where there are multiple flights a day and if I did not have anything important planned for the first 1-2 days.

I have done and would again do 55 mins at SIN with SQ, it's one of the options that's offered as I think the fastest end-to-end option FRA to MEL or vv. Would it be my first choice: maybe not. Would I book it over a 5+ hour connection: definitely.

But the fact that there are multiple other flights to FRA, MUC, ZRH etc. that would likely get me there with little delay if something goes wrong is important. If it's a flight to somewhere exotic with only a few frequencies a week, no thanks.

 

[Matt_01]

There seems to be an exception for connections off QF730, the 6am departure from ADL to SYD. This specific connection still has a 60-minute MCT because otherwise a bunch of connections from ADL to Qantas international destinations out of Sydney would not be possible on the same day.

I am based in ADL and am yet to catch to the 6am flight to SYD for an international connection on a morning flight as it is just not worth the risk due to delays or the line to get on the transit bus in the morning. We have become used to taking the second to last flight ADL-SYD on the day before and stay at th Rydges.

 

[Matt_01]

Based on my last experience in HKG this is another that can be tight, IIRC the MCT is around 50 minutes. I seem to recall prior to covid there was areas that you could de-board go through security and get back into the terminal quite quickly. On my last trip I had to jump on the train to get back towards immigration, go through security and then back into the terminal. This can be quite time consuming if you arrive at the gates close to 47/48 or 66/67 and then need to get back to the same vicinity.

 

[Himeno]

One example that I had to shake my head about recently, and haven't been foolish enough to book myself yet, is an ANA connection that someone on Reddit booked and was concerned about, with a 3 hour MCT (sounds reasonable, but wait for it) of arriving intl at NRT and departing domestic from HND. The bus or train between the two airports takes 1h15 to 1h30 alone without any traffic delays. Add in time for immigration and customs upon arrival at NRT and 30 mins to drop your bags at HND, there's little chance you can make that even if everything is on time but you have luggage or you may need to wait for the bus for 10 mins or more (it only runs about every 30-40 mins), or you may not perfectly know your way around both airports.

I've done aircraft to airside NRT-HND connections, in both directions, in 80 mins a number of times.

 

[CaptJCool]

I am based in ADL and am yet to catch to the 6am flight to SYD for an international connection on a morning flight as it is just not worth the risk due to delays or the line to get on the transit bus in the morning. We have become used to taking the second to last flight ADL-SYD on the day before and stay at th Rydges.

Yeah I’m like you on that one

My mistake to “trust” the tour company flogging Orf the cheap re-positioning tour out of Cape Town to “follow QF offer” but there we go. Really at QF risk as I don’t especially care that much seeing we would lob a week early there anyway.

Should we get missed connection in Sydney then that’s on QF

 

[GrahamBRI]

Airlines, Please Stop Selling Ridiculously Tight Connections is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

I sit on the other side of the fence on this one....... I love the option of Ridiculously Tight Connections. It gives me the power to make the best decision for myself. Matt's example of his experience in Madrid, shows how you can actually make it work.
I only travel with cabin bags, so that may put me in the minority........ but if you have the choice of a tight connection vs a long/overnight layover, you can pick the tight and rely on the airline paying for your layover costs, rather than yourself....... and sometimes you get lucky and you make the tight layover. win! win!

 

[AFF Editor]

I sit on the other side of the fence on this one....... I love the option of Ridiculously Tight Connections. It gives me the power to make the best decision for myself. Matt's example of his experience in Madrid, shows how you can actually make it work.
I only travel with cabin bags, so that may put me in the minority........ but if you have the choice of a tight connection vs a long/overnight layover, you can pick the tight and rely on the airline paying for your layover costs, rather than yourself....... and sometimes you get lucky and you make the tight layover. win! win!

Yes, this can be a win-win if (a) you don't have a checked bag, and (b) you don't absolutely need to get to your destination that day.

In my case I had a checked bag, and had to mess around with getting the Iberia staff to return it to the baggage carousel so that I could take it with me to the hotel. If I hadn't have done this, they said they would have automatically re-tagged my bag and put it on the next day's flight to Vienna. But who really knows if it would have arrived.

 

[Cynicor]

I’ve done 45 min SQ even with a late arrival making it 25 and luggage made it too.
SIN is a miracle airport.

And NRT to HND in 3 is pretty doable but you don’t want any issues. You should be at the bus area within 30 min of arrival, typically.

There is an express train that only takes 60 minutes that no one seems to know about. Keisei Narita-Haneda express and it leaves every 40 min.

So that gives you 90 min of your 180.
Let’s call it a bad day at 60 min to kerb, plus max wait for train, you have 20 min to drop bags and bolt to the plane. Doable, but not perfect. I’d book it if I couldn’t get a better option knowing there are 100 flights a day to wherever I’m going from HND.