Slack schedule + minimum connection time = nearly nine hours
Aug 17, 2016, 5:41 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Programs: Emirates Silver, BA, Flying Blue, Virgin, IHG
Posts: 950
Slack schedule + minimum connection time = nearly nine hours
I fly from Lusaka to Manchester a couple of times year. The timetable is awful becuase the inbound from LUN (which starts in Harare) is scheduled to arrive at 6.40am which means the morning Manchester flight is outside the MCT and so you end up with a 7 hrs 55 mins transit. This morning we landed just before 6.05am and so we would have had ample time to make the connection to the 7.35am. If the Lusaka flight was scheduled to come in a bit earlier it would turn a 27 hour door to door journey into less than 20 which with overnight in economy is a much better proposition. As it is a slack schedule makes for a much longer journey.
Aug 17, 2016, 5:52 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Economy, mostly :(
Programs: Skywards Gold
Posts: 7,801
Did you try ask the transfer desk if they could switch you to the earlier flight? Not sure if EK allows this or has a policy on it but given you could have made it you might have had some luck
Aug 17, 2016, 6:32 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Programs: Emirates Silver, BA, Flying Blue, Virgin, IHG
Posts: 950
Not looking for perfect connection (most of mine are around 3 hours but nearly nine hours when there are three flights to Manchester is tough). Would love there to be a fourth flight...
Aug 20, 2016, 11:52 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Programs: Emirates Silver, BA, Flying Blue, Virgin, IHG
Posts: 950
I know there are other options but keeping my flight with Emirates as much as I can means I remain silver. If I started using other carriers I would lose this. I won't fly via NBO due to problems colleagues have had when flights go technical.
Aug 21, 2016, 5:36 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Programs: Hilton Gold, Priority Club Blue, SPG Gold, Sofitel Gold, FB Ivory, BA Blue
Posts: 8,479
I fly from Lusaka to Manchester a couple of times year. The timetable is awful becuase the inbound from LUN (which starts in Harare) is scheduled to arrive at 6.40am which means the morning Manchester flight is outside the MCT and so you end up with a 7 hrs 55 mins transit. This morning we landed just before 6.05am and so we would have had ample time to make the connection to the 7.35am. If the Lusaka flight was scheduled to come in a bit earlier it would turn a 27 hour door to door journey into less than 20 which with overnight in economy is a much better proposition. As it is a slack schedule makes for a much longer journey.
Aug 21, 2016, 1:14 pm
#8
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: CPT,AMS
Posts: 4,412
If you fly this route several times a year, and you can save 8-10 hours for each r/t, wouldn't it make more sense to switch to either a SkyTeam or *A carrier(s) and gain status with them?
Aug 21, 2016, 3:33 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Programs: Emirates Silver, BA, Flying Blue, Virgin, IHG
Posts: 950
Aug 21, 2016, 3:37 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Programs: Emirates Silver, BA, Flying Blue, Virgin, IHG
Posts: 950
I feel your pain. I've spent a lot of time at both DXB and DOH. I'll have the same connection arriving from Zim next month. They might have beeen able to help, at the transfer desk, but any checked luggage would still arrive on the later flight. I'll probably get freshened up and just get some work done in the lounge. Anyway, console yourself; it's DXB, not NBO.