GrayAnderson

This is what I tend to call a "timebomb" ticket. If I had time to kill I might consider using it in an attempt to slam some extra legs/mileage out on the misconnect since there's so much that can go wrong...especially on a peak travel day. I'd loosely note that such is easier if you're not on a low-end coach fare...in general, if the airline fraks up on a paid premium cabin fare, you're not going to be stranded, you're likely to have the run of the place. This goes double if (for example) the misconnect is in DC and Congress is set to be out of session so the hotels are cheap.

Yes, the connection is plausibly doable if things go right and the connection is at the right time of the day. Throw in a wrong turn by an Uber driver, a lousy routing by the app, or the fact that the connection was scheduled for 1500-1800 on a weekday and the ticket "detonates".

Edit: And what I just mentioned was for a domestic ticket. The one time I had to clear immigration at IAD, I think I lost 45 minutes on the immigration front (as a US flyer with all the bells and whistles) due to them sending us over to immigration in one of those "mobile lounges", which basically meant "the whole flight goes over at the same time" (or, more properly, "nobody at the front gets over there before the last coach pax get on).

Edit 2:
-For D/D I can see this as an MCT between those two. It feels occasionally risky (per above) but at least if the inbound flight has reasonable OTP, has its act together on checked luggage, and the airline isn't trying to pull it at the peak of rush hour it seems more likely to happen.
-D/I gets touchy and is going to depend on how the airline is prepared to handle checked baggage (i.e. if they cut baggage check at T-60 or more, that could be an issue, though if they're willing to do a gate check that's another story), and I wouldn't want to risk that on a DCA-IAD transfer on the wrong flight bank based on past experience.
-I/D? I really question the MCT given the potential for immigration to go south. I'd have set it at four hours.
-I/I seems mildly unlikely to happen considering the situation at DCA (most of the "international" flights are, IIRC, to/from Canada and thus functionally domestic in many regards).

IADCAflyer

D/D at 3 hours wouldn't bother me. Now anything can happen if your flight is late, but even if you were 45 minutes late arriving into IAD, you could be out of the terminal in 15 minutes, and then a 45 to 60 minute ride to DCA gets you there an hour before departure.

If traffic is light, as it is right now, IAD-DCA is 35 minutes.

There are two choke points to worry about. First is the Dulles Access Road where it merges with I-66. The stretch from the"merge" to about "Ballston" is frequently bottled up and that bottleneck can cost you 15 minutes (it did just that when I went to get my mom from DCA on Wednesday). The second choke point is the approach to DCA. If you go through Crystal City, Route 1 can be backed up by badly timed lights (I can only imagine what it will be like when Amazon HQ2 is there).

jsieds

Would I choose to do this - no. I don't need that type of stress when there are other routings to avoid an airport transfer.
Could I do this - yes. Carry-on luggage, Global entry, and pre-check make this doable with time to relax in the Admirals Club at DCA.

guv1976

The BA app indicates that the flight is due to arrive IAD at 2:41 pm -- 14 minutes early. Every extra minute to make this connection helps.

coolcoil

As of 2:24 p.m., Google Maps says the ride is 33 minutes (38 minutes for the toll-free).

IADCAflyer

Yup, 15 to 18 minutes early.

IADCAflyer

There won't be any tolls in effect today - or none that you need to worry about.

Aliquot

I dont think the people who bought this are complaining, are they?

People buy MCT connections tmbecause if you are flying an airline with decent on time arrival rates, you will make the MCT the vast majority of the time. I will always take the shortest legal connection except in the very rare case that I get myself into a situation that would cause missing a connection to be catastrophic.

arlflyer

In this case, I'm guessing the person bought the connection because the TA/OTA/whatever saw the airports as coterminal and didn't bat an eye (depending on the interface, it may not have even reflected the change of airports), with the flyer only realizing post hoc what this entailed.

Dave Noble

There was nothing in the post by the traveller that suggested anything other than wanting to know likelihood of having to wait for a taxi

Indeed - I have no desire to spend any more time travelling than I need to. If I can get a legal 45 minute connection ( such as at Doha ) between flights I will happily do so - in unlikely event of misconnection, the airline will fix it. Why guarantee a longer journey than necessary by booking longer connections/routings or even more expensive flights

Antarius

IMO, it depends on where you are. Doha, DFW, HKG, I'm not unduly fussed about a short MCT. LHR, I typically take the second flight after I land; it may be a 4 hour layover but I've had enough issues with a late flight followed by T3-->T5 that it's easier to exceed the MCT. similarly, you couldn't pay me to do a NRT --> HND connection at MCT.

but that's just me.

Dave Noble

If you book the minimum at LHR and then miss it, still end up with the next flight - so don't see a benefit in guaranteeing the longer time at the airport

arlflyer

Who said anything about threads having to remain on topic?


Doing one of these tomorrow (T3-T5, just a bit over MCT) so we'll see whose side I land on. Second flight out to my destination is looking pretty empty and wouldn't mind a bit of lounge time at LHR so right now I'm leaning Dave's way.

hoopics

The traveler checked in on trip advisor, and made it with 45 minutes to spare -- but they had the benefit of an early landing and fast trip at the remaining stages. I'd never try this.

coolcoil

Thanks for letting us know!

I wouldn't ordinarily try this myself. On the other hand, when you're paying out of pocket for multiple people on a family vacation, a significantly cheaper price means a lot. If I were travelling solo on business, and that fare was $150 cheaper than the others, I doubt I would take it. On the other hand, when we travel as a family, I'm paying for six people. I'd think pretty hard before I turned down saving $900.