With minimum connecting times during the holidays, one must be an Olympic sprinter to get between airport gates for flights.
There has been a long-time joke about Minimum Connecting Time (MCT) in the travel industry. As I tell clients regularly, airlines don’t publish schedules they can’t usually make…because they don’t want to deal with the consequences.
But even if an airline makes a scheduled connection 9 out of 10 times — or even 99 out of 100 times — that’s small consolation when you’re the one dealing with the consequences.
As we enter the holiday (and winter) season, the consequences may be more than you want to risk.
Several things can go wrong with a connection, and most get worse during holiday travel.
Here are five prime examples:
1. Weather: Now, in theory, weather might delay both incoming and outgoing flights. But not always. Especially if the weather at the connecting point is fine, but the origin is not.
2.Amateur travelers: This is one of those ‘if you know, you know.’ issues. When most travelers on a flight are business travelers, they tend to board and deboard relatively quickly. When you have a flight full of families and occasional travelers heading home for the holidays, the whole process can take considerably longer, especially with overhead bin bags…or if you’re behind those slower-moving people with a tight connection…
3. Checked bag issues: If you’re flying with presents and other things that you really don’t want to have delayed, even when you run and make a connection, your bag may not. (Although twice this year, I’ve had clients miss connections when the airline managed to transfer their bags to their original flight.)
4. Crowded airports: So you can run between people like an NFL running back, but even so, there’s also another issue. If you want to stop for food or a restroom break between flights, crowds will definitely slow that down.
5. Full flights mean fewer options: If you miss a connection, an airline will put you on the first available flight. But if the next flight or flights are full, you could be stuck on standby for a while. Also, with more people flying, the increasingly limited number of airport agents means it will take longer to get help.
Now, if you use an actual travel agent, help may be available. And I have bailed out a few people already this month. But our options are more limited at this time of year.
Plan on minimum connecting times being tighter based on the problems noted above.
Sometimes the only way to get to your destination — or score the only decent fare — means reasonably tight minimum connecting times. If so, do what you can (perhaps purchase more forward seating or book through a travel agent) to better your odds.
But if you have an option for extra time at a connecting airport, take it. Airports are colorful and festive at this time of year. And if you don’t feel like eating or shopping, you can always people watch, including watching people running for THEIR tight connections.
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Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)