Originally Posted by
johnslloyd
Southwest is much better at this than other airlines. I've seen them hold a departure for 30 minutes for a single connecting pax, and shorter times in a number of situations. It depends a lot on the consequences for the other pax if the flight goes out late.
Delta, on the other hand, generally won't hold for anybody, not even their most elite Diamond Medallion flyers. I've been burned a couple times by Delta, including once when my connecting flight pushed back 8 minutes before the scheduled departure time, even though they KNEW I was in the airport and was headed for the departure gate. I arrived at the gate 4 minutes before the scheduled departure time and the flight was already gone.
HuH?! Delta almost always hold flights at hub/connecting cities. Once, I was late on an inbound flight and when I made it onboard the outboud flight very late, the FA said "Mr L, we have been waiting for you, glad you've made it..." I was just lowly PLT, not even Diamond. In fact, Delta is the only airline i would consider a short connecting layover especially at SLC, MSP, ATL, and CVG.