39 minute connection in Lima?
Dec 30, 2013, 6:23 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: DUB / DXB
Programs: EK Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 2,471
39 minute connection in Lima?
I have booked a flight with TACA from GIG-LIM-MIA and i have just noticed that the connection in LIM is only 39 minutes. (arrive 09:25am and depart at 10:04am)
Is this enough time? I am in business class and will have 1 checked bag.
Is this enough time? I am in business class and will have 1 checked bag.
Dec 30, 2013, 7:29 am
#2
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: ZRH/SFO
Programs: A3*G - AZ CFP- HH DIA
Posts: 3,666
It's within the minimum connection time:
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.3 - Reference: Minimum Connection Time [MCT]: LIM/TA-TA]
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.3 - Reference: Minimum Connection Time [MCT]: LIM/TA-TA]
Code:
DD DI ID II
STANDARD: LIM 030 090 090 060
TA-TA ONLINE LIM --- 050 090 030
--------------------------------------------------------------
[DD] Domestic To Domestic [DI] Domestic To Intl
[ID] Intl To Domestic [II] Intl To Intl
[TR] Terminal [A/L] Airline
[DEP] Departure Airport [ARR] Arrival Airport
[EQP W] Wide-Body Aircraft [EQP N] Narrow-Body Aircraft
[SUP] Suppressed/Undefined [EFF] Effective Date
Jan 2, 2014, 4:10 pm
#3
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Atlántida, Canelones, Uruguay (MVD) and rarely GNV
Programs: AV LifeMiles, CM ConnectMiles, BA Exec Club. Former:ex-ASGold, ex-UA1K, ex-COPlat, ex-NWGold.
Posts: 2,673
"It's within the minimum connection time" is rarely the type of answer requested when this type of question is answered anywhere on Flyertalk. Typically the question should be read as "Do I have a reasonable chance of making this connection?"
Airlines nowadays often have "legal" connections that are, by definition, within the MCT, or the flights wouldn't be available for sale, yet which are far too short for comfort.
Especially 39 minutes in an airport that does have in-transit security checks. Granted LIM international transit security is relatively efficient, there is no shoe or liquid carnival, but there is a belt carnival, a delay by a survey-taker who demands to know what flight you are coming from (not which one you are going to, in order to expedite your security check), and then relatively common gate changes. LIM isn't huge, but it isn't small. I wouldn't plan on having time for a restroom stop. Or anything else.
It being within the MCT means that Avianca has an obligation to put you on the next available flight, at no charge, if/when you miss your connection. It does not mean "you will not miss your connection."
Having transited Lima a bunch of times on Taca (now Avianca), I wouldn't book that connection. Not unless you're reasonably comfortable with a relatively high probability of not making it, or your bag not making it but you do. If the fare was so outrageously better than longer connections, then sure, maybe worth the risk.
Airlines nowadays often have "legal" connections that are, by definition, within the MCT, or the flights wouldn't be available for sale, yet which are far too short for comfort.
Especially 39 minutes in an airport that does have in-transit security checks. Granted LIM international transit security is relatively efficient, there is no shoe or liquid carnival, but there is a belt carnival, a delay by a survey-taker who demands to know what flight you are coming from (not which one you are going to, in order to expedite your security check), and then relatively common gate changes. LIM isn't huge, but it isn't small. I wouldn't plan on having time for a restroom stop. Or anything else.
It being within the MCT means that Avianca has an obligation to put you on the next available flight, at no charge, if/when you miss your connection. It does not mean "you will not miss your connection."
Having transited Lima a bunch of times on Taca (now Avianca), I wouldn't book that connection. Not unless you're reasonably comfortable with a relatively high probability of not making it, or your bag not making it but you do. If the fare was so outrageously better than longer connections, then sure, maybe worth the risk.
Jan 3, 2014, 8:13 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: DUB / DXB
Programs: EK Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 2,471
So in the end i made it... but heres what happened
GIG-LIM flight arrived 20 mins early but then had to wait for a gate (incidentally it happened to be next to the GIG-MIA plane), so we actually got off the plane at exactly the scheduled time.
You have to go downstairs and through a security check, and there was a massive queue (at least 30 mins to get through) however i was very lucky in that a family with someone in a wheelchair went in front of me and in the confusion i ended up going right to the front of the line along with them, so i ended up making it to the gate for the LIM-MIA flight, but would definately not have made it if not for the family in front of me.
LIM-MIA flight was delayed by 1 hour, so i actually ended up sitting with loads of time to spare.
However, had all things gone as they were meant to i dont think there is any way i would have made this connection. Security would have taken more than 30 mins to get through even if the first flight had arrived on time
My advice, allow at least 1 hour connection in LIM
GIG-LIM flight arrived 20 mins early but then had to wait for a gate (incidentally it happened to be next to the GIG-MIA plane), so we actually got off the plane at exactly the scheduled time.
You have to go downstairs and through a security check, and there was a massive queue (at least 30 mins to get through) however i was very lucky in that a family with someone in a wheelchair went in front of me and in the confusion i ended up going right to the front of the line along with them, so i ended up making it to the gate for the LIM-MIA flight, but would definately not have made it if not for the family in front of me.
LIM-MIA flight was delayed by 1 hour, so i actually ended up sitting with loads of time to spare.
However, had all things gone as they were meant to i dont think there is any way i would have made this connection. Security would have taken more than 30 mins to get through even if the first flight had arrived on time
My advice, allow at least 1 hour connection in LIM
Apr 14, 2014, 10:21 am
#5
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Rio de Janeiro
Programs: AA / AV
Posts: 647
I have this same flight as the OP booked for next May; reading through the tread, I understand that the OP only made it with help of some extraordinary circumstances . . .
Could anyone else, having gone through such a tight connection, comment on what happened / how it was handled? (any help from Avianca, handling of delayed baggage, re-routing, . . .)
Thanks in advance.
Could anyone else, having gone through such a tight connection, comment on what happened / how it was handled? (any help from Avianca, handling of delayed baggage, re-routing, . . .)
Thanks in advance.
May 15, 2014, 4:00 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Rio de Janeiro
Programs: AA / AV
Posts: 647
Let me report at my own question:
Even if I had no confidence looking at it, the 39min connection time at LIM is eminently doable.
Even leaving GIG 20min late, as we have done, we arrived at LIM with time to connect: I was at the gate while boarding to the flight LIM-MIA had just begun, and it took a little more than half an hour until the doors of the aircraft were closed; so we had at least that much as an additional buffer.
Beware, anyway, of some potential obstacles for a passenger with mobility problems or who could not walk fast: there is a long walk from the arriving gates to the security screening point, including stairs down to it and then up to the boarding gates area (I'm sure there are lifts somewhere, but I haven't seen them myself).
Even leaving GIG 20min late, as we have done, we arrived at LIM with time to connect: I was at the gate while boarding to the flight LIM-MIA had just begun, and it took a little more than half an hour until the doors of the aircraft were closed; so we had at least that much as an additional buffer.
Beware, anyway, of some potential obstacles for a passenger with mobility problems or who could not walk fast: there is a long walk from the arriving gates to the security screening point, including stairs down to it and then up to the boarding gates area (I'm sure there are lifts somewhere, but I haven't seen them myself).
May 15, 2014, 4:55 pm
#7
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: TLV
Posts: 522
Even if I had no confidence looking at it, the 39min connection time at LIM is eminently doable.
Even leaving GIG 20min late, as we have done, we arrived at LIM with time to connect: I was at the gate while boarding to the flight LIM-MIA had just begun, and it took a little more than half an hour until the doors of the aircraft were closed; so we had at least that much as an additional buffer.
Beware, anyway, of some potential obstacles for a passenger with mobility problems or who could not walk fast: there is a long walk from the arriving gates to the security screening point, including stairs down to it and then up to the boarding gates area (I'm sure there are lifts somewhere, but I haven't seen them myself).
Even leaving GIG 20min late, as we have done, we arrived at LIM with time to connect: I was at the gate while boarding to the flight LIM-MIA had just begun, and it took a little more than half an hour until the doors of the aircraft were closed; so we had at least that much as an additional buffer.
Beware, anyway, of some potential obstacles for a passenger with mobility problems or who could not walk fast: there is a long walk from the arriving gates to the security screening point, including stairs down to it and then up to the boarding gates area (I'm sure there are lifts somewhere, but I haven't seen them myself).
May 30, 2014, 2:24 am
#9
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: The Internet
Programs: Alaska Mileage Plan
Posts: 714
They check your ticket and have you on a connection list at the downstairs security check. If your connection is too tight they escort you to the front. Also they hold flights until connecting passengers are on board OR their luggage is removed. It is a small airport, you are checked at every stage. So I think you should be ok regardless.
Sep 29, 2017, 11:16 pm
#11
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: DTW
Programs: TK E+, WY, Radisson R
Posts: 2,360
Bump, looking at SCL-LIM-MIA, 1 hour and 15 min (between 8:45 and 10 am), is this a reasonably safe connection? I know it's above the MCT. Another much safer and less stressful option would be SCL-BOG-MIA with 2.5 hours in BOG but I would prefer getting to MIA sooner, is it worth the risk going through LIM?
I went through LIM last year and my seatmate was connecting, there's a queue for transit downstairs, just need to know how long the queue would take.
I went through LIM last year and my seatmate was connecting, there's a queue for transit downstairs, just need to know how long the queue would take.
Oct 2, 2017, 1:47 pm
#12
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: SJO
Programs: Avianca LifeMiles. Hilton (G), Meliá (G), Radisson (G). National Car (EE), Hertz (PC), Avis (PC)
Posts: 188
Avianca is very comprehensive with their "connections". I've been on a couple flights were the departure was delayed in order to wait connecting passengers. Once of them in SAL, were we waited for about half hour PAX from a delayed flight from South America.