Express Connect - new Joint Business service for pax with tight connections
 

Express Connect seems to be a new service to speed passengers with short connections past the usual barriers and get them on their way, deployed by AA, BA and IB as part of making their Joint Business more seamless (at least within the ConUS, though maybe MAD will initiate it for IB and BA in the future?

As mentioned in the article titled Standing Its ground in the 22 Dec 2010 Chicago Tribune. The article, a small but germane part quoted here and some editorial highlighting, illustrates how it works:

"On a recent Wednesday, Steve Wilson stood on a train platform outside O'Hare's international terminal, his head pounding from jetlag, worry and spending nearly nine hours in a cramped economy seat on a flight from Brussels.

With just 70 minutes to navigate serpentine immigration lines and catch his flight home to Wichita, Kan., Wilson had been surprised and relieved when an American agent directed him to a special express lane as he exited the plane.

Now 20 minutes later, Wilson about to take the short shuttle to American's domestic terminal, still clutching the florescent yellow Express Connect ticket American hands out to passengers racing for domestic flights.

"I'll feel a lot of relief if the train ever gets here," Wilson said. It did, and minutes later another American worker intercepted him as he dashed into Terminal 3, escorting him to the front of a long security line.

Since the initiative's June launch, American and alliance partners British Airways and Iberia have helped a total of 26,800 international travelers make connections they likely would have otherwise missed at O'Hare.

The program is such a hit that American has rolled it out in Miami, New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, London Heathrow and Madrid, and plans to bring it next to Los Angeles International Airport, officials said.

The initiative is emblematic of everything Horton hopes to gain: Service that delights passengers, helps American operate on time and forges a tighter tie-up with American's Oneworld partners than United has gained with Star or Delta with SkyTeam, the other two global alliances.

"If we take what we have … and really turn up our game for the customer alongside those joint business agreements, I think we're good," Horton said.

Such a familiar picture in the first paragraph! Has any member seen or taken advantage of the Express Connect? (I am amazed nobody has started a thread or even made a post about this, so started this.)

Looks cool. Has anyone here used it?

I, too, was amazed. I didn't want to start a thread only to find that it existed in the forum already (though, my search didn't yield any results). I knew a great FTer would come along to fix the situation. ;)

What happens exactly at the airport? Someone meets all the connecting pax and escorts them through? I have an int'l flight coming up so we'll see..

Asante sana, Bwana! for the kind words. It was your post in the "slow and steady approach" thread that alerted me; I did a search ("express connect") even seeking individual posts, and - nada! I'm doing some "seagull moderation" from Hawai'i, where I am "stuck" (nice way to get stuck!), and thought it was time - and I am curious as well.

Let's hope some great FTers will share their experience (or lack thereof) with us. I am encouraged by the numbers so far (26,800 international travelers... at O'Hare" - awesome!)

I saw this being done in 2009 when I transit in ORD by AA.

Can any passenger get this assistance? Or does it only apply to premium passengers?

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9700/5.0.0.330 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

If I'm reading this correctly, this service is for non-premium pax with tight connections, so we wouldn't gain any advantage we don't already have as elites/premium pax. I guess it is good for the kettles though. Am I missing something?

Hard to say, but even as premium pax, I don't recall being "meeted and greeted", being handed a coloured card that marks me for expedited service. To date, that has generally depended on my knowledge and actions - not Amrerican's, in most cases, and certainly not with any consistency.

In clAAsic AA style, they claim to have a service that served tens of thousands and could gain lots of passenger kudos, one that serves to delineate AA from the competition, but have nothing about it on their website or news releases. :p UNbelievable! (Unfortunately, quite believable.)

It would be nice if it was applied consistently for premium passengers as well as regular passengers. I have had only a few tight ORD connections in the past couple years (as I normally terminate in ORD), but have not once received this service from an agent or use of an express card.

How long until they start charging for this service? 3...2...1...

I think the guy sitting next to me on a recent LHR-ORD flight in business had a slip of paper that said this. Didn't talk to him though so no idea where he was going from ORD and when.

I recall reading a slightly different thread where pax with short connection times had been met on the jetway and shuttled across the tarmac to their next flight not having to go into the terminal but that must be a different program as I don't recall cards being handed out. In any event neither services were offered at DFW when I mis-connected by scant minutes on Oct 28,2010.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9650/5.0.0.975 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

The other thread re: passengers deplaning on the jetbridge and being shuttled to their next flight seemed to be for domestic connections. This "Express Connect" seems to be focused on international-domestic connections where the immigration/customs/security gauntlet is required.

I was on a tight connection DFW-MAD-AMS in J. Was met at the gate in MAD with an express connect envelope with my onward boarding card and clear directions to my next gate. Kudos.

Now that you mention it....yes I have seen this, but it didn't pertain to me.

On a ZRH-JFK flight last month upon arrival, there was an agent right after the bridge announcing "MIA connections?" She handed something to these passengers and I didn't pay attention to the whole process, as I thought it was a one-off thing.

I have seen this in action a few times and one time I benefited from it as I use ORD as a intl connection from DUB a lot. As noted before, this is for Intl-domestic connections from T5-T3 in ORD (in my example) and applied to Biz and Economy passengers on tight connections.

I was on a tight connect from a delayed DUB-ORD flight (surprise) with an onward connect to AUS this fall. On deplaning, they had ground staff there with prepared Express Connect cards (with a null boarding pass if i recall correctly). Grab your EC card and off you go to immigration/customs - no escort from ground staff.

I had no checked bags and Global Entry so I was through ORD immigration/customs in less than 5 minutes and on to T3 for connection. ;) Not sure if EC would give you any priority at US immigration.

On arrival in T3, I was heading for EXP security line, but the first security line agent did notice the card and put me in the shortest line. I was through security a little quicker than EXP line.

On my experience, the program was well executed at start/finish to get me to my connecting flight. As a Global Entry and EXP, I didnt get through much faster, but a nice touch. If you have checked bags, no AA status and/or security lines are long in ORD T3 then this program should make a big difference to those travelers with tight connections who are usually the most stressed out trying to get to their next flight.

I'm in the Global Entry program (a service I paid for + my "background" was checked to make me a trusted flyer.) How did AA make a special arrangement with CBP to allow a special line for pax with short connection times? (Why would CBP do this at all?)

In my experience noted above, I did not use the EC card to expedite immigration as I had Global Entry. I dont think the other EC passengers got immigration priority, but I wasnt paying attention that closely. To your point, I doubt EC gives any priority at US immigration as they run their own show as we all know too well.

Agreed!
Also, a devaluation of Concierge Key?

I also have Global Entry, but I was handed an Express Connect card on a recent tight connection at LHR, which help tremendously for security. So the program does have its benefits even for the elite or premium passenger with Global Entry.

Peace.

This is working well at JFK.
I arrived this week from MAD with a scheduled 75 min connection to BOS. Inbound from MAD was about 10 mins late and I was met on the jetbridge by an AA agent wearing distinctive blue and orange jacket and given a fluorescent orange ticket sleeve with a duplicate boarding pass for my onward flight. Agent said there were three others on the MAD flight and he would meet us in Customs.
Nothing special at Immigration, but fortunately short wait, and agent re-appeared in the Customs hall as we waited for luggage. And waited. Took 32 mins for first bag to arrive and a few mins more for mine whereupon agent hustled me + one other (2 others still waiting for bags) to the front of the Customs line, to the front of the baggage re-check line, rushed us to the lift and radioed his pal upstairs at security to look for us.
Another agent in orange/blue jacket at a dedicated line at security rushed us through, even grabbing our x-ray trays and pushing them to the front of the backed-up scanner line, and we ran for gate 31 and got on the flight a couple of mins before they shut the door. Unfortunately the other two whose bags came off a little later did not make it.
If it weren't for Express Connect, I would not have made it.
Unfortunately my suitcase didn't make the BOS flight, but it showed up on my front porch about 90 miles from BOS sometime before 5am the next morning.
Kudos to AA.
I don't know why AA have not mentioned this or promoted it in any way. While waiting for luggage and chatting to the agent, he said it is currently in operation at JFK only at T8 with AA/IB but is expected to include transfers to/from other OW airlines at other terminals in the future. He said that the biggest problem with it, is the wait for luggage. I suppose if they want to do something about that, they could tag the bags with a "short connection" label, like BA do with LHR transfers, and load/unload them with the premium bags?

Happy travels.

"Express Connect/Transit" (something like that) at ORD yesterday from LHR
 

I did a search and could not come up with anything.

After landing yesterday I saw a first on AA. There were agents waiting on the air bridge handing out bright orange 'Express Connection/transit' slips to certain passengers.

Is this a new service? Can you jump the line at Immigration?

AA offers some really tight connections on my routes through ORD and although I would love to take them; I've always been rather scared to in case I miss-connect.

Info about this service is in this thread from late last year.

It can be quite useful when you have a tight connection.

Happy Travels.

Interesting. I searched {"express" "connect"} (terms from your title) and found the thread listed above. Not sure how you missed that. What search terms did you use? Perhaps you need to clear your cookies/cache as search doesn't seem to be working properly for you.

Cheers.

Not sure if this is the same program, but my parents and brother benefited from a similar service at LHR T5 on a BA-BA connection.

They were flying IAH-LHR-DXB (WT+ cabin) with an 85 minute connection. The IAH-LHR flight was an hour late departing, and about 45 minutes late arriving. As soon as they got to the gate at LHR, they were met by BA ground staff who escorted them (and some other pax connecting to the same flight) through conformance and security, directly to the gate for the next flight.

This was about two months ago.

Had a great experience with this service a couple of months ago. A late departure from LHR left me with a 45 min connection in JFK, including clearing international passenger immigration, customs, and a bag recheck. Met on the jetway I was personally escorted to the front of the immigration line, handed over as soon as my bag arrived to be rushed through customs, bag recheck, security screen, and then run with an escort to the Eagle gates (not a short jog). All in from arrival gate to departure gate in 25 mins, which would have been impossible without this service. That it is offered to everyone who has a short connection due to late arrival of a plane (regardless of class of travel/status) is a significant benefit of travelling with a OW carrier through the airports where it is offered.

I just returned from a trip BRU-LHR on BA, LHR-JFK-SEA on AA and was surprised to be offered connection assistance on all legs. A BA rep met me in LHR on my way to the T-5 to T-3 connection bus and she accompanied to the bus to ensure I got on my way quickly. I had a 90 minute connection so I wasn't particularly worried. Still, it was a nice gesture even though I did get stuck in a slow security line in T-3 I made the transfer easily.

Upon arrival at JFK, was met near the jet bridge by an AA employee and handed an orange Express Connection ticket sleeve and boarding pass for my domestic JFK-SEA leg. There was a special Express Connection line in Immigration that was quite a bit shorter than the regular line. I used Global Entry and saved even more time. At T8 security was directed to the Express Connection line. I didn't see the P.A. line so I don't know if this saved any time or not, but it was definitely shorter than the normal security line. Nice program that did save some time but more importantly, I think, took the worry out of the connection process as both my BA and AA int'l flights ran a little late. ^

I wasn't aware of this assistance program and wonder why it's not mentioned more often.

I have had this after delayed flights from the UK.

I was even directed to use the airline crew customs inspection line.

It makes immigration so fast and stress free, that I think I'd rather have a delayed flight. :)

Experienced this system twice now in less than a week. Landed at DFW to connect to LHR. Agent waiting there for me. He escorted me to my gate, then went on his way.
--------------------------------
Coming back from LHR, landed at DFW. I had less than an hour to make my connection. Agent had Express Connection Tickets lined up. We were to take ours then go. Skipped to the front of immigration. Got down to baggage claim in no time flat. HERE'S WHERE IT GETS TRICKY: Priority Baggage needs to be honored at a higher percentage for this system to really take off where elites are concerned. Waited about 15 minutes for my bag. Dropped the bags off at recheck. Skipped to the front of Security, No X-Ray.

I still had to run to make my flight, but I did make it. If it weren't for this program, I would have missed my flight. so major thumbs up.

....just need to sort those bags :D

Express Connection - helped at LAX
 

Our NRT-lax-dfw-MSY was a bit late getting to LAX - when exiting the plane, all passengers were advised "if you're going to (about 5 cities mentioned), grab your boarding passes on the ledge there".

Found one for me, one for SO. The orange envelope had boarding passes for next flights. Think it gave head of line privileges for LAX immigration, tho we had Global Entry.

Had to go thru security again to make our AA connecting flight to DFW - used the "priority lane" but things were going slowly, when a TSA (?) line gate-keeper spotted our Express Connection envelopes and escorted us to a much shorter line.

My point in posting is to alert folks to the existence of this service (a Oneworld perk?) so if you get off a plane sleepy and see a bunch of orange envelopes, check if your name is there. If you have one of these, make sure it is easy for others to see that you have it, our was somewhat covered by coats needed in Japan, but a burden in LAX.

We were in C (thanks to SWU's), not sure if this was only for elites, only for C or whatever, but it worked and helped.

We've had this at LHR for tight connections. Orange envelopes and streamlining.

And, just to be a little pedantic about your post, because the differences can matter in come conversations:

You were in J, not C. C is the upgrade bucket for SWU, but the cabin is J on AA. This can cause confusion in some contexts if stated improperly :)

Cheers.