s0ssos

I've done plenty of trips across the country, with a stop or two in-between. But nothing was as miserable as today. All due to this new idea of "hubbing" and making very tight connections in Chicago.
The main issue is that there is no time to rest off the plane. I left at 8am from SF, flight arrived on-time, but there was only 20 minutes prior to boarding for my connecting flight. So rush to the lounge, get some food, then back again. No way to relax.
And then a delay on the outbound due to weather.

I really don't see how this is beneficial to the customer. Tight connections don't save that much time, but make life a lot more stressful.

Dave Noble

As a customer , having a minimum length of time between flights is what I would want. Given a choice between sitting in a waiting room or actually getting to my destination, I will take the latter

ideally though would avoid having to have a connection

Based on how early AA conmmences boarding, it would sound like you were at Chicago with 50 mins before the next flight - I wouldn't class that as very tight

As far as resting goes, it doesnt seem like hard work being sat on an aeroplane

ckx2

Because most of us do fly to get from point A to B rather than spending time in a domestic lounge.

UAPremierGuy

Which is all great in theory until there is the slightest hiccup in your schedule. Then you miss your original flight, upgrade, and are relegated to irrops bookings.

I agree with the OP, bring back the pmAA schedule!

VickiSoCal

But if it is a work day, having a bit of time in between to check the email, see if anything urgent is going on and just generally get caught up can mean an overall less stressful trip.

hillrider

Agree. At a connecting airport, I'd rather go from inbound plane to outbound plane without wasting any time (connecting itself is wasting time).
You can always book yourself with a much longer stop at ORD if that's what you prefer. You now have a choice.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Many of us need to leave in the late afternoon and early evenings so our flight options are limited. I'd rather take the extra time (in other words tell the client my flight leaves at 4PM instead of 5PM) and not need to stress or run through some large crowded hub airport like OJ Simpson (have you ever tried to move fast through CLT, its a zoo).

arollins

I don't understand what does hubbing have to do with OP problem. Not knowing the route, but presumably it was SFO-ORD-XXX, was this the only routing available, what about DFW/LAX, etc., was this the only time frame, if so, well it is what it is. MAybe the destination has limited schedule within the AA network, not sure. You booked the flight and knew exactly what you where getting.

hillrider

"Hubbing" is indeed the wrong word.

OP is referring to the fact that AA recently retimed the hubs to what they used to be up until the mid 00s, shortening connection times and providing service to many more city pairs at each bank (i.e. wave of flights in and out).

In the mid 00s AA introduced "rolling" hubs, which costed less to operate (due need for less employees) and created long connection times, but according to current management also lowered profits because revenues took a bigger hit than the cost savings.

Often1

Isn't this about consumer choice and therefore good for consumers?

If OP wants a longer connection time, that's what he should book. If he doesn't like AA, he should book another carrier. If he doesn't have time to scarf down the cr*p at the AC, he can purchase something else.

OTOH, those of us who would prefer to get home sooner and want a short connection, can book that on AA.

Where's the beef?

aaflyer1

I see what the OP is getting at in terms of shorter connection times, but as another pointed out just pick a longer connection time...is there something preventing the OP from doing that? I know I prefer to have more time in ORD and DFW to account for any unexpected delays and use the club, etc....even if that makes my overall journey longer it gives time for food and what not. I mean unless something has changed you can pick a flight first thing in the morning and at your connection point take the last possible flight, meaning you could spend the entire day in ORD if you wanted to for most flights.

iadisgreat

What's killing me is the new timings of these flights:

DCA-ORD in the morning went from

6:00 and 8:30 am departures - >
5:35 and 6:55 am departures - >
5:10(!!!) and 7:59 am departures.

I was fine with the 6 and 6:55, but 5:10 or 7:59? Sorry client, but I'm not getting up at 3:30, so you'll be seeing me at 10 am.

reeg2

If everything works perfectly - re-banking the hubs is great for the consumer because their travel time is reduced, the airports can staff better to increase profit. In other words, it's seamless.

But air travel is far from seamless. AA's on-time departure rate is terrible and re-banking means lots of harried and hurried passengers trying to connect. There's very little benefit to customers that I can see - but we all know that public corporations only serve one master.

bernardd

One thing I don't believe they've allowed for is the impact of baggage charges which are encouraging more and more passengers to carry more and more junk inside the cabins. What barely hung together by a thread 2 decades ago no longer applies and it's getting increasingly common with a 40 or 50 minute connection in DFW to get delayed a few minutes then find boarding is up to well advanced by the time you get to your connecting gate. The dilutes the advantage of a nice shiny card.

And I don't buy the concept of consumer choice - most times the choice is between 45 minutes or 3+ hours. I'd prefer to see the banks planned on a minimum one hour connection - I don't care about trimming the connections by 15 or 20 minutes but I do care about relatively civilized timings with a good chance of making the connection, particularly on the last flight of the day as AA shows zero willingness to hold flights even in those circumstances.

AANYC1981

I hate the newly banked hubs at DFW/ORD. I've had so many issues with connections since this went into place. AA has paid the price to (at least with me) as I have had to be placed on other airlines in some cases. If anything goes wrong you're screwed.....and there's plenty of reliability issues with AA these days.