Originally Posted by
AUDirt
My larger point is that, on the whole, an effective connection time of 26 minutes is not enough and US Air should know this. The reservation was generated by a computer. That computer should not be allowed to set up itineraries that will require conditions to be 100% perfect to be kept. And even if I had done my best Ussain Bolt imitation and somehow made the flight, there's no way my bag would have.
Stop and think for a moment. I haven't checked the schedules but I'm going to guess that this connection is available just about daily. If on a daily basis the BOS-MEM pax on this routing missed the CLT-MEM flight, US would probably change something so it didn't keep happening. The anecdotal evidence that it doesn't happen daily is the lack of posts here on FT about BOS-MEM pax missing their 36 min connection. So that means the majority of the time, this connection works just fine. I would bet there are some XXX-CLT-MEM that also have about the same 36 min connection and yet we are still not hearing the "I missed my 36 min CLT-MEM connection" on a daily basis. And there's really no way you can emphatically know that your bag wouldn't have made it.
Originally Posted by
AUDirt
Moreover, if USAir's going to attempt to run things on a razor thin margin like that, I personally think the airline ought to do more to help customers when things go a ever-so-slightly haywire. The airline knew my flight in Boston was (a little) late taking off. The airline knew when my plane landed in CLT. They could have held the plane for 10 minutes and accommodated all four of us, but instead they chose to favor their on-time departure stats.
Unless you have inside info, you don't know why they chose to leave on time. The pax on the plane probably appreciated leaving on time if they had appointments to get to.
Originally Posted by
AUDirt
To me, the situation breaks down like this: the airline is making a conscious choice to run on a very (very) tight timetable and when things go off-kilter they favor their departure statistics over their passengers. Is that cause for me to fly another airline? Yup.
It is absolutely your prerogative to fly whomever you choose. Just know the same thing happens on most (all?) airlines. I don't fly as much as many around here and I've had it happen on NW, DL, UA, US. It's a chance you take when booking a 35 min connection vs. a 3 hour connection. I routinely book the shortest connection because 99% of the time I make it and the 1% I don't I lose less time than booking the 3 hour connection each time.
I'm not implying this is your fault. It's not anyone's fault really. It just one of those things that happens when you travel. What was the reason for the delay on the BOS-CLT leg anyway?