thanks so much for your quick reply and advice. The plane got there on time fine but took time getting off clearing customs I say but meaning immigration/border patrol, that sort of thing. He went through as fast as he possibly could but still wasn't enough time as they denied him boarding after the person ahead wasn't. Shouldn't BA have some responsibility for giving an itinerary with this potential, especially at ORD?! I would think they should be well aware that delays can and do happen quite frequently when coming through and shouldn't make the connection too short to begin with(?)and while yes, on paper one would think its enough time to connect, it is my personal opinion that reality is often much different, as in this case and my own experience. I personally hate the stress of running to a connection and now try to make longer layovers and while they aren't convenient either, to me, it still beats the risk of this happening. It even still happens when I have 3-4 hours or more. In fact, just my last time flying international, on my return I was delayed 3 hours leaving PHX (to get to my long haul out of SFO) but the gate agents even told me to wait and see what happens with takeoff and to just try to run as there was nothing to reroute me to without having to really be put out of the way and take almost another 24 hours to get there. I was extremely fortunate in that when we did finally get to SFO, my long haul was simultaneously calling me over the loud speaker and a rep actually came out into the terminal in an attempt to find me! (for a United flight) After finding me (I was literally in the area just between the domestic and international terminals) they actually escorted me onboard from there and we literally took off mere moments later, making me realize even 3 hours connection time just isn't even enough anymore. In the other direction there have been several times that I have had to run to my connection and just a couple of months ago, I came dangerously close to missing the connection to Phx (in SFO) but somehow managed to talk my way into them reopening the boarding door (I saw it close as I was almost there.) But anyway, I think they shouldn't make connections so "tight" when international because how could they possibly know how long it might take to get through customs/immigration/border control or whatever its called especially in the lovely airports like ORD (sarcasm)