MSP: walk vs. tram?
 

I was transiting MSP for the first time in several years back on Sunday the 16th, and caught most of a Twins game between flights. Thanks to a crash on the Hiawatha line, I almost missed my onward flight; although I'm proud to say I made it from the Lindbergh Station to gate F12 in 20 minutes (a mad sprint through the G and F gates). Yesterday, I was flying NW and noticed the tram that runs the length of the C-D gates.

The question is, going from the Hiawatha carry-on security checkpoint to F12, would I have been better off taking the tram to the C/D border and then strolling past the main check-in area to the F gates instead of running through G and F? The in-flight mag made it look like I would have saved some time that way, but the MSP website terminal map makes it look like six of one and a half dozen of the other. Thoughts?

Depending on how long the lines were, you might have been better off taking the underground tram from the top of the Hiawatha Station exit to the main terminal, go up two levels, clear security, then just run to F.

But using the skyway security checkpoint, you probably are better of running down G and F. At least on G you have moving sidewalks which make you feel like you're running at super-human speed. :D

I don't think it makes much difference at all...the nice thing about the G route is you get to see more planes I think, and it sometimes seems a little less crowded. I'd be inclined to go that way to F myself...then again, I do laps around the whole thing (A and B included), so my opinion doesn't matter much.

How do you all feel about a 32 min connection at MSP???

Perfectly do-able if you know the airport fairly well (i.e. been through there on connections at least 3-4 times). Although, coming in on the A/B concourse and connecting to F is a bit rough.

Trust me, if you ever need to go from A/B to F in a hurry, wait for the tram. Short of all-out sprinting the entire length of the beginning of A to the beginning of C, the tram will be faster. It'd be about a 3/4 mile sprint for those keeping track, and that's just to get to the main terminal/Northstar Crossing area.

Exactly.

There are some distant gate connections at MSP where even using the tram, a 20 minute period between arriving at the gate on one flight and making it before doors shut for the scheduled onward flight is not sufficient. At 32 minutes, i'm quite a bit more confident. With only 20 minutes or less between actual gate arrival time and the next flight, I will find myself in trouble from time to time, unless there's a cart to ferry directly to the onward gate.

MSP is the easiest airport I've encountered for trams. The only problem there is the lack of parking on weekends.

If you're interested in off-site parking, IMHO, the "Park 'n' Fly" brand of off-site parking is the fastest to pick you up/drop you off after trying several of the other ones, and their rates are competitive. It's located just to the east of the Embassy Suites off 34th avenue.