Why the short connections?

[maxiesmom]

Good grief. I am ready to buy my airline tickets, but all that is popping up are flight with short connections. Am I crazy to worry, or could I really do a 32 minute connecting thur Detroit, or a 41 minute connecting thru Memphis?

And why do they even bother listing flights that way? Don't they know it just causes the airlines more problems if you miss you connecting flight?

I guess I will wait for a while before buying my ticket, but I don't want to wait too long as I fly in just over 2 months. Grrrrr.

 

[sshaw10060]

I couldn't agree more. The minimum I will ever except is 45 minutes. I also take into account the airport where the connection is made. 45 minutes in Memphis or Chicago Midway may be OK. 45 minutes at OHare, Atlanta, Detroit, DFW..... Forget about it. Nothing worse than missing a connection. If I am stranded I would rather be stranded at my origination or destination.

 

[seashoreCM]

Can you hand pick individual flight segments as opposed to entire itineraries?

 

[maxiesmom]

Hmmm, never even thought to try that. That is why I love it here, you all are so smart!!!

 

[dudspizza]

We recently had a short connection at ORD. It was about 50 minutes. Our flight left a bit late, but arrived in plenty of time to make the connection.

I have a tight connection in April. I have a 45 minute connection in DFW that will be interesting. I am flying alone, so will be fine as long as everything is on time.

I also had a 35 minute connection in ORD on the way to my destination, but recent time changes have move that connection to 65 minutes. That is perfect, as long as everything is on time.

Have a great trip.

Duds

 

[jlewisinsyr]

One thing to remember is that flight times have a quite a bit of cushion, so if your flight is scheduled to depart at 10:00 and doesn't leave until 10:15, for a flight with an hour listed, the actual flight time is probably 25 minutes from wheels up to wheels down, so a 15 minute delay, plus 25 minutes in air, still gets you on the ground before the flight was scheduled to land at 11:00.

I cannot tell you how many times I've departed late (15 - 20 minutes) and arrived either early or on time based on the schedule.

 

[Melknor]

The 41 minutes in Memphis would be ok. The 32 in Detroit - no way!! When I was looking for ours, we were getting the short Detroit layover as well. A couple of years ago when we flew we went through Detroit. To change gates, we had to go through an under ground tunnel to change hubs and with kids in tow, there is no way could we make it with that short of a connection time. I would rather sit 2 hours in an airport than stress with that little connection time.

Houston is another airport I wouldn't risk a short layover either. The one time we flew through there, we had to get on a shuttle bus to take us to our gate.

 

[jamstew]

Houston is another airport I wouldn't risk a short layover either. The one time we flew through there, we had to get on a shuttle bus to take us to our gate.

I assume your talking about IAH, which can be a real pain. There's no problem with short connections at Houston Hobby. Same can be said for the difference between DFW & Dallas Love Field.