Originally Posted by
ethernal
I am aware of the saying, and I make my own choices about connection times based on various factors (as just one example, being in 36C on a 739 is very different than being in 2B in terms of buffer since deplaning a 739 takes at least 15 minutes after the door opens).
But for the average consumer, there is an assumption that Delta (or other airlines) will not intentionally sell you a ticket where most of your flights will end in a misconnect. If Delta ends boarding on most flights by T-15, and Delta knows you're on a Basic Economy ticket that will likely result in sitting the back third of the plane, and the plane is a 739, A321, or 753, and you are flying into Atlanta, then you will misconnect probably 75% of the time if you are connecting in Atlanta. The only time you make your flight is if your gate happens to be in the same side of the same concourse or your flight arrives quite early.
I know that's a lot of "ands" but my point is that Delta's current MCT assumes that the boarding door really closes around T-5, not T-15. So I just feel it is disingenuous to sell tickets with a MCT of 35 minutes and then "gotcha" passengers by saying, well, the contract of carriage says you needed to be at the gate T-15 and you weren't, sorry. And by the way, the inbound flight was on time (as defined by A14, so the flight could even be 10 minutes late in this scenario). And because of that, no compensation or accommodations are due for an overnight stay since it is your fault you didn't make it to the gate, not ours.
The average passenger that isn't a flying expert shouldn't get entrapped like that. And that is exactly what Delta is doing by selling tickets to passengers with a 35 minute MCT and then closing the door at T-12 or T-15, especially unnecessarily because flight ops is only measured on on time performance and doesn't deal with the CSAT impact or costs of missed connections.
You seem like you're arguing with me and I'm not sure why if you are. To an extent I don't disagree with your point but I don't book 35 minute connections or anything close to it because to me, regardless of whether door closing is T-5 or T-15, 35 minutes is too risky of a connection for my preferences, and that's from someone who has no mobility issues getting through a large airport.
Originally Posted by
ethernal
At a minimum there should be a huge disclaimer to the passenger saying "are you sure you know what you're doing? we recommend you consider a longer connection." United is better about this than Delta because they tag tight connections.
AA provides a "Please Note Connection Time" advisory for connections at or close to MCT on their website & app. Not sure what the range of being within MCT is to warrant displaying the advisory. For a booking I've been looking at, a 42 minute connecting option at DFW is displaying the warning while a 53 minute connection options at DFW is not.