What happens if you miss a connecting (domestic) flight (with the same airline)? Will they honor your ticket on the next flight out and/or is there a service fee for this? OR…are you totally out of luck and you’ve forfeited your ticket?
Also, is there some good rule of thumb about how much time to leave between arrival and departure times to avoid missing a connecting flight? Is 30 minutes cutting it too close in a large airport, such as Atlanta, but same airline? (Consider that one flight is a commuter flight where the gates are separate from the gates for the major flights.)
Returning from a trip from New Orleans on Continental, I missed my connection in Dallas. (Weather in Chicago had delayed the arrival of my flight into New Orleans.) Passengers were told that they would get passage on the next available flights. The guy in front of me in line was very angry, and he shouted at the agent. He was told nothing could be done and that he’d just have to wait until there was a seat available. I followed with a ‘Can you help me?’ attitude. ‘Gosh, I really need to get back to L.A. Is there anything you can do?’ I got a seat in First Class on the next flight out.
Perhaps I should start a “ask the guy who flies 100,000 miles a year” thread.
Anyway, unfortunately the answer to your questions are the same: “depends on the airline.” However, in my experience, airlines will generally do their best to a) make sure you have adequate time between connecting fights (and 30 minutes is usually very tight), and b) be helpful if you do miss the connector. Of course, if you’re connecting between flights of unaffiliated airlines, you’re taking on all of the risk. In my frequent flights between Toronto and Tokyo, I have the option of direct or connected flights. Despite losing the opportunity to get out and walk around a third fo the way through the flight (not being up on my wing walking), I prefer to take the direct route and avoid all of the hassles of connecting.
The airlines are supposed to work the reasonable connecting times when you buy a ticket. If you miss it, it would usually be due to their mistake (such as a late originating flight) and they will rebook you on another connecting flight at no charge. I have had that happen many times.
If you just screw around at the airport and miss a connecting flight on your own then I can’t say for certain what will happen. Usually they will still book you on a new flight at no charge.
Speaking of Atlanta in particular, which I am familiar with, I would say 30 minutes is cutting it way too close, especially if you are coming from a different terminal. Hartsfield-Jackson is a sprawling place, and it could easily take you 20 minutes or more to just get between gates in different concourses, particularly if you don’t know the place and have to figure out where you are going. Even a minor delay could cause you to miss a connection.
I would recommend at least an hour between flights at a large airport, especially when they are on different concourses, and more than that arriving later than planned would cause you serious problems or during busy times of year.
Whenever I have missed a connection it has been due to delays on earlier legs because of weather or other factors. The airlines have always just put me on the next available flight.
I agree with all the answers above… some airlines are even cool if you miss a flight.
Last time I was in Vegas, I misread my departure flight… it said 11:20, but I thought it was 1:20… anyhoo, after drinking and gambling until checkout, I took a cab to the airport, only to find out my flight was already taxiing in the runway.
I explain this to the agent and she set me up on standby for no charge. Now in this case it was because I was a bonehead… if it’s the airline’s fault due to delays, etc, I can’t imagine any airline charging you for their mistake.
I’ll be slightly under 100k miles this year but not by much. I avoid connecting flights when I can but my company’s travel service is biased toward them. I advise following Johnny L.A.'s example of staying civil. It is astonishing what a little courtesy can do when you are dealing with somone who h as seen his thousandth rude passenger of the day. I missed a connecting flight at Continental’s Houston hub due to my not verifying the gate before I walked to the o ther concourse. I ended up at the right one, frustratingly right next to the gate I came in on, after the gate closed but they quickly got me on the next flight.
Thanks all for sharing your experiences. Related to my OP, here’s a puzzle for you:
I just went back to Delta’s website to check for other options. Now, the itinerary I thought looked tight (i.e. 30 mins to connect) is gone. Suudenly, it doesn’t come up as an option! Hmm, does that mean the website just got updated and they realized this shouldn’t have been an option? Or, could the website be smart enough to know the connecting flight got booked?
Related to this, Continental won’t show a direct flight to Memphis. But , when checking on Continental flights to Nashville, it DOES show a direct flight to Memphis…and then Memphis back to Nashville!
Thirty minutes is very tight, because all it takes is for your first flight to be stuck on the tarmac for an extra ten or fifteen minutes before takeoff, and you might miss your connection.
I don’t fly that often, but when i do it’s usually on United. Also, because i don’t have much money and need to find cheap fares, i usually have to make a connection in Chicago or Denver. I try to organize it so that my connection time is about an hour. That’s long enough to account for short delays in the first leg, and to allow for changing gates at the connecting airport, but it’s not so long that you’re hanging around for ages between flights.
Since i arrived in the US, i’ve done this over a dozen times, and i’ve never yet missed a connection.
This is purely anecdotal, but I’m fairly certain that it’s semi-common practice. I once was flying on Frontier (excellent airline, BTW), Philly -> Albuquerque with a stop in Denver. I had about an hour in Denver, but my flight left Philadelphia about an hour late. We made up some time in the air, though. Since the delay was (partly) the airlines fault and partly weather, they ended up holding my connecting flight for me. This was very good for me, as it was the last flight of the night, which was probably another factor.
Now, granted, it was a mostly-empty late-night commuter hop to a minor airport, so obviously, the chances of an airline holding, say, a fully-loaded 747 from Chicago to LA is probably a bit less. But I think that if an airline’s lateness (be it avoidable or not) is responsible for missing a connection, they’ll at least put you on the next flight.
That’s why (I’ve been told) you should always A) try to avoid connections between different airlines, and B) always book through the airline, and not a 3rd party.
I hung around the wrong terminal once at Tokyo Narita airport because I confused ANA with Japan Airlines. Missed my connecting flight out by half an hour. They guided me all the way through the short-stay visa process and helped book me a hotel for the night and off I went the next morning with no extra charge other than having to pay for my own hotel stay.
I ran across this guy’s blog, though, where Orbitz sold him a ticket with a pretty funky itinerary in regards to the connecting flight.
I don’t know your origin, but assuming it is Nashville, going to Memphis, what you are probably seeing is a Northwest flight, a codeshare with Continental. That is, you buy the ticket with Continental, but it is on Northwest metal.
Northwest shows several direct, non-stop flights between Memphis and Nashville, none of the other majors do.
But again, this is assuming you are talking about flights between these two cities.
I missed my connection flight due to a delay on the first flight and there were no more flights for the day heading towards my destination The airline (I can’t remember which one it was, it was ten years ago) paid for a hotel for me and gave me a voucher to buy food at the hotel as well and put me on the first flight out in the morning.
Like everyone’s said, most airlines will do their best to help you out if you miss a flight, for whatever reason. I, unfortunately, have gotten pretty good at missing flights lately (for stupid reasons) and always get there, it just may take a little longer. They will usually either get you on the next flight. or if that flight is full, send you over to their partner airline’s counter and they’ll usually be able to accomodate you.
And 30 minutes is not long enough, particularly in Atlanta. I once had a flight that went through Atlanta and had a 40 minute layover. But, not only was the incoming flight late, we had to wait on the tarmac in Atlanta for another plane to free up the gate. I finally deplaned with 20 minutes before the next flight was scheduled to leave (and realize that they generally close the airplane doors 15 minutes before takeoff) and my connecting flight was two terminals away. I had to literally sprint to the gate and only made it because they held the plane (very small plane and last flight to my destination for the say).
I usually try to have at least an hour between flights so I don’t have to rush. If I know it’s a smaller terminal, like mot of Southwest’s hubs, 45 minutes is OK.
I was once travelling through New Zealand and the flight I was on was running late, I had a connecting flight to catch with the same airline and it became apparent that we wouldn’t land in time for the connection.
I hailed a flight attendant and said, “excuse me, but I have a connecting flight leaving Wellington at 10:30, do you know if we’ll be landing in time to catch it?” To which she replied, “Don’t worry sir, those two gentleman seated three rows in front of you are the pilots for your connecting flight, it’s not going anywhere until we land!” :).
I’ll concur that one hour between flights is a comfortable amount.