hikouki

Both DL and KE are showing fares for my itinerary with only 42 minutes connecting time between a DL domestic flight to a KE flight bound for ICN. Is this really doable?

I know in Asia, tight connections like these would have grand staff picking up then dropping off the passenger from one gate to the next. Will DL or KE have this service in SEA by any chance?

Mountain Explorer

Would be interesting to know where your domestic flight is coming from. But yes, assuming you arrive on time, this is no problem at all. If you happen to arrive at the South Sattelite, it will only take you 5 mins to reach your KE gate. Otherwise, there is a very frequent train. Will still take you less than 15 mins to reach the KE gate.

That said, there's obviously not much room for error. If a delay in your trip would create a burden, then I would not book this itinerary.

GagaPilot

It all depends how much risk tolerance you have, and what it would mean to you if you missed the connection. It is legal, and if you miss it DL will find a way to get you to your destination. But it could very likely not be until the next day (or later). I had a similar choice to make for an upcoming trip in September. 46 minutes in SEA for my connecting flight to ICN (on DL) or 6 hr 20 min. Ultimately decided on the 6 hr option as I can spend most of the time in the Sky Club. I'm taking a quick 4 day leisure trip to SIN and do not want to risk missing a day by booking an extremely tight connection. Things can always happen on any itinerary but I always like to have some padding. All it takes is a de-ice delay, gate/taxiway congestion, or weather to delay a flight slightly causing a misconnect.

Often1

If DL is willing to sell the connection, the risk of rebooking falls to DL if you are delayed. Thus, there is no risk to the value of your ticket. However, what nobody here can advise on is how important your schedule is. If you are delayed by a day or rerouted on a less advntageous itinerary, what are the consequences for you?

Yes, you can make this connection. But, it is premised on an ontime arrival. Nobody here can predict the weather, air traffic, or maintenance issues.

What is your full routing? That really matters in terms of options. For me, this would be far down the list.

tennessetom

DG206

Everything at SEA is connected airside, so no going though security again. Wouldn't be any different than than with any domestic connection. I assume KE leaves from S Satellite

FC flyer

I wouldn't do it. My flight connections are often late due to fog. Have arrived at SEA several times to a bus gate. I have no tolerance for less that 1.5 hours in SEA.

SJC ORD LDR

What month and what time of day are these flights?

zebranz

Minimum Connect Times

Share ResultsSTANDARD.D/D...D/I...I/D...I/I.
ONLINE 1.10 1.10 1.30 1.30
OFFLINE 1.10 1.10 1.30 1.30
** OR * ARE ALL
DL-KE DI .30 ALL - FLT 5020
DL-KE DI .40
DL-** DI 3.00
**-** DI 3.30 INTER BFI - SEA
**-** DI 3.30 INTER LKE - SEA

---
MCT is 30 or 40 minutes. Just have a "Plan B" in case you are delayed.

_fx

Perfectly doable as everything is connected airside and getting around SEA is easy. That said, there is absolutely zero margin of error for delays or dilly-dallying while transferring.

gernabae

Just a guess here, assuming you're talking about the KE020 1:10PM flight SEA-ICN? A quick look at SEA's schedule shows the only DL flight with a scheduled arrival of 12:28PM is DL2540 from LAX? Even if these aren't the flights, as an example DL2540 shows as being on-time or better 92% of the time using DL's reported stats about the flight. That's not bad at all. Of the last 16 days of that flight's information available on flightaware, only one of those days would the flight's arrival time cause a mis-connect. That's the kind of analysis I would do for your particular schedule of flights, measured against your risk tolerance as indicated by most folks above.

Your next best bets are likely to involve a minimum 12-24 hours of delay in arrival, should you mis-connect.

AntonS

If you are connecting to 1pm KE metal, I would not risk it, because misconnect is likely involve overnight in SEA.

If it's 11am KE 5020 operated by Delta, it's better because you have a number if backup flights, not just KE, but also NH and JL to NRT among others.

The Situation

I would not take this connection if that KE flight is the last flight of the day to ICN. If you on DL metal, DL would likely hold the flight for you if you are on the ground waiting for a gate, but I do not know what KE's policy is. Arrivals in SEA are too often delayed nowadays due to gate congestion and ATC congestion. If its the frequent 10 minute delay that is not counted as a delay, you have an extremely tight connection, but hopefully will make it. Probably 1/3 of flights are now delayed by longer than that now though. Just look to AS's most recent abysmal stats for proof of that.

ethernal

Anything is possible but highly unlikely.

exwannabe

The gate-gate is easy. You are neither transiting security nor any sort of transfer customs. So any sort of escort service (unless the Porsch) would likely slow you down.

The only thing that matters is your risk of a delayed inbound flight. Given that schedules allow for normal traffic delays, maybe 5-10%(?) for a delay. KE will not hold the flight, but they are not going to offload you for not being at the gate at T-30 either. They might depart a few minutes early, so that does add to the risk.

If it was me, I would plan a longer connection. But if somehow I had this, I would expect to make it.