itchyfeet123

That's what I thought. I can see why that is; the airlines shouldn't be penalizing someone for having limited mobility and thus not walking fast enough. On the other hand, it seems like passengers may be able to force a misconnect to gain a more favorable itinerary, hotel nights, etc.

Interesting. I wonder if that's a real AF policy or just one made up by the person working on the day.

pinniped

Keep in mind that 99.9% of all travelers have no idea what MCT is for a given airport or what that term even means. Airline websites display itineraries but don't often warn passengers if a connection is "tight but allowable" and almost never seamlessly allow pax to custom-build loose connections when tighter ones are available. (An expert user on some airline sites can force them to show up, often by requesting a multi-city itin, and hopefully they'll price correctly.)

In other words, it's not often up to the passenger. Of course the choice is to not travel, but why would you do that if the airline is showing what appears to be a perfectly normal itinerary?

itchyfeet123

Funnily enough, this may not be a hypothetical question for me anymore. I just changed an award ticket so that I can maximize my last day of vacation rather than leaving in the morning. I'm going regional-->long haul-->domestic, and this itinerary requires staying a night at one of the layovers. I'm staying at the second layover city but would prefer to stay at the first (hotels are much more expensive in the first layover city than the second).

My first layover is MCT plus about 3 minutes, and requires rescreening. It would be a bad idea to walk reeeeeallly slowly to the next flight in order to force a misconnect, right?

TravelerMSY

They're not likely to throw the book at you- unless they're fT members and know it was premeditated.

Often1

US carriers are generally pretty liberal about rebooking. But, the problem is the assumption that there is availability on the flight you want. It only takes a couple of sold out flights, one cancellation, a bad storm and so on, and you can be stuck for a good long time waiting for a seat to open up.

The notion that someone risks a couple of days to try to save $100 or so on a hotel is what keeps sensible people away from this.

Tchiowa

In general, if your incoming flight was on time and you miss your connection, it's your problem. The airline can and sometimes will charge you for the flight change.

If your incoming was late, but still within MCT then the airline will probably still consider it your fault.

Status or class of service can make a difference in how they react. I've had one experience in the past couple of year on an international connection where the incoming was late, barely time to make it, and UA held the flight 10 minutes.

Dadaluma83

I just booked a flight that is right on MCT. 40 minutes in DFW for me to catch my connection to Austin. Then connecting in Austin to the BA flight to LHR.

Reason I did it? So I can experience the 787.

Although a 40 minute connection worries me. Even if the flight departs on time, what if we need to spend an extra 5-10 minutes to taxi on arrival? Or the gate is occupied, or it takes a few extra minutes to work the jetbride? etc,

Way too risky, so at checkin I am going to do a same day change for an earlier ELP-DFW flight.

Way too risky and I am familiar with DFW. I can imagine it causes problems for infrequent travelers who book OTA sites where it doesn't make connection times clear.

Plus I never want to be in a position where I miss a flight because of a tight connection, then struggle to rebook because the airline rep gives me grief about booking a tight connection in the first place and finger pointing, or like mentioned elsewhere in this thread, what if your flight arrives on time, but you don't make it to the gate in time for whatever reason? Too much risk.

AllanJ

It is unreasonable for the airline to assume that failure to show up for a connection was the passenger's fault unless there are extenuating circumstances in the airline's favor such as a generously long connection time (way over MCT) or observation of the passenger in gift shops or otherwise intentionally dawdling.

MCT is supposed to limit savvy fliers from booking itineraries with an unnecessarily high probability of misconnecting. Not to use as a guideline to determine which passengers aggrieved by an airline initiated schedule change should be granted a free flight change to regain connection time considered at original booking time.

Hopefully airlines are sensible enough to handle questions of this sort at the gate rather than handle them in the boardroom (following various snail mail communications) let alone in the courtroom.

Tchiowa

I'd say just the opposite. I think the airline could and should assume it's the passenger's fault unless the passenger can show otherwise. In theory the connectiing airline should know about an inbound delay even on another airline as long as both flights are on the same record. But that's "in theory".

Suggestion: Don't book flights anywhere near MCT.

clockmilk

I've traveled with someone who needed wheelchair assist while on a tight connection, and having the wheelchair assistant actually helped us make our connection much faster because the assistant knew the layout of the airport very well, was able to take us directly to our gate, and had a walkie talkie in case she needed to alert the gate that we were coming. So despite having to wait a while for the wheelchair to show up, we easily made up the time.

pinniped

No kidding...DFW is the place where I've had both (a) the longest time spent taxiing and (b) the longest delays waiting for a gate after landing. I've had flights land ontime but we're 30-45 minutes late by the time I'm actually walking off the plane.

This suggestion would imply that the MCT itself be changed.

Badenoch

I've never had a problem getting a rebooked for a missed connection.

My firm policy is to NEVER run through airports. I will walk purposefully, use the toilets if necessary and not stop in the shops or restaurants. If that isn't sufficient to get me to the gate I will take a later flight.

I've seen too many sweaty, gasping passengers who look perilously close to collapse staggering on to the plane just before the door closes or standing woefully at the gate while their flight pushes back. I won't be one of them. There's always another flight.

Often1

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of both the practical and the legal:

1. This is not about whether it is the passenger's fault that he no showed for a connecting flight. It is about the legal obligation of the delivering carrier to rebook when it late delivers a passenger to the connection point [U]and[U] there is a misconnection.

2. MCT is just that. It is the minimum time which the carrier for which the carrier is prepared to accept responsibility. It is not necessarily sensible for the individual's personal circumstances. But, that is something which only the individual can judge. I am personally grateful for short MCT's as I sometimes have time commitments on both ends of a trip. But, I am keenly aware of the risks and the general unpleasantness of it all. On the other hand, when I do not have these time commitments, I do not book connections just because they are "legal".

3. As a practical matter, US carriers are good about rebooking. Not constrained by the EC 261/2004 nanny rules, US carriers are much less doctrinnaire and will generally do their best to rebook even when they have no legal responsibility to do so. However, ... we all know, rebooking is based on availability and while it is fine to be rebooked on the next flight an hour later, when the next availability is 2 days later, this can be expensive for the passenger and unsatisfying.

4. Individuals have a responsibility to know their own limitations. MCT is about average people on average days. The guy with a broken leg is not average. And, unless every passenger keeps every air carrier up-to-date on their day-to-day health conditions, it falls to the passenger to allot to himself the time needed to make a connection. And, it also falls on a passenger to do the research to. I am routinely shocked to find FT posts which follow a theme in which someone has already booked an elderly parent on an international connection and only later even gives some thought to the connection time.

5. None of this holds for many international carriers. Many carriers will not rebook unless a misconnect was their fault. On deeply discounted tickets,that may also mean the loss of value of the ticket.

factory81

I go through ORD all the time, and I think most people who miss their otherwise perfectly fine, but short, connections - is due to ground crew failures.

E.G. no one to bring our plane in, or someone is at our gate still. Which stems from other peoples, such as Chicago's desire to deice at the gate, vs. a central spot.

tentseller

I have also seen sweaty, gasping passengers who look perilously close to collapse arriving at their next departure gate to found out their flight is delayed.