Is 45 minutes enough between flights?

[bkcwilliams]

Pardon my novice, but I am an inexperienced flyer (the only other time I flew was a direct flight). We bought our airline tickets a few months back for a November trip at a great price through US Air. We are going from Albany, NY to Orlando with a connection in Charlotte, NC. I thought when I booked that we had enough time between flights. My concern is that they have changed the flight times and we will now be arriving in Charlotte at 8:45pm and then departing on the next flight at 9:30pm. Id 45 minutes enough time between the flights? Will we have to go through security again in Charlotte? As it is the last flight out of Charlotte to Orlando that night, what happens if we arrive in Charlotte too late?

 

[Robert P]

Assuming the inbound flight is on time, and despite the size of the Charlotte airport, you should make the next flight fine.
If the inbound is delayed, or there is a slowdown while de-planing, then you could be cutting it close, but still probably okay.
No, you don't have to go back through security, unless you leave the terminal area for some reason. I have never had to do that at CLT.

I think you will be fine.

 

[Dis31]

I would say that i cutting it a little too close. Considering your flight is sch. to depart at 930 meaning boarding would start 30 min prior. Also if your flight is delayed taking off or landing by 15 min you might be in trouble, or traffic at the airport, and then getting off and such takes some time. Are you sch. for a palne change or is it simply a stopover with a connection on the same aircraft?

 

[bicker]

For Charlotte, 45 minutes between flights is okay for most folks. I'd only worry about it if there were factors that would tend to slow me down (a big family, young children, injuries or disabilities, etc.)

 

[DebbieB]

I've done 30 to 45 minute connections in Charlotte with no problem. You'll have assigned seats so it doesn't matter if you board after boarding has begun. I was on the last CLT-PIT flight one night last year and they held it about 10 minutes waiting for connecting passengers.

 

[safetymom]

That is cutting it real close. You could get to the airport early from the first flight and the gate be occupied which happened to me the other day in CLT.

Boarding starts 30 mins before departure and they usually try to close the door about 10 mins before flight time. You could come into D and have to get to B and that is a healthy walk.

Sometimes they will hold the flight but most times they will not.

 

[jcodespoti]

If your outbound flight is delayed my 15 minutes or more it would be close. I wouldn't do it.

Joe in CT

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

A similar recent thread, Connecting Flight in Charlotte (CLT) Enough Time? dealt with a 40-minute connection in Charlotte.

The summary is that 40 (or 45) minutes is enough time — if your inbound flight isn't late (or is only a few minutes late).

My concern about a 40- or 45-minute connection is that it leaves so little margin for error. I try to avoid connections of less than one hour at any of the hub airports throughout the United States.

 

[djm99]

45 minutes IMO is perfect. Yes I'm familiar with Charlotte's airport. It gives you just enough time to get where you need to be without a wait. I personally like it when the flights are right at 45 minutes. Just be prepared to get off your plane and immediately find your new gate. You just might have enough time to use the rest room. Last year when we went to Disneyland we had a stop in Texas. Our gate was two gates down - ya never know!!!!

 

[bkcwilliams]

Thanks for all of the opinions. We are flying in on US Air and just connecting to another US Air flight in CLT. They are still selling the itenary that way, so I think if I call them and try to change to another itenary, they won't let me becuase they believe that it is enough time. Good point about the assigned seats.

 

[chipscinderelly]

Each airport has it's own policy for what is a "legal" amount of time between flights. In St. Louis I believe it's 29 minutes as I fly through there often and I know I can make a connection in less than that but I can't book it. However, in Miami we often RUN for international connections due to the layout.

 

[Katy Belle]

For what its worth....they are telling you that you can't change it because they believe its enough time. This happened to me once...I booked a flight and chose a very long layover, like 6 hours, in Chicago to avoid the hour layover which I thought was too short. They ended up changing it and giving me an hour layover. I called and they told me the same thing. I had researched and knew there were seats on many flights with longer/better layovers. I wouldn't take no for an answer and they gave me what I wanted. Granted it was a different airline and Chicago was where we would enter the USA so we had to go through customs, etc. But I held to my guns that I was the CUSTOMER and I had chosen a long layover for a reason.
Good luck!
Katy