Would appreciate feedback from any travel agents or experienced travelers...

[ChrisN in NY]

My dd (who turns 19 next month) is flying with 3 other 4H'ers and a coach to Madison, WI later this month. She and one of her teammates are flying back separately from the others since they had their choice of when they wanted to return to NY. I don't know about the other kid's flying experience, but dd has flown direct to Orlando and back about 7 yrs ago, and flew to Madison last year with a larger group -- in other words, not much.

 

All the travel arrangements for this trip were made through someone at the state 4H office, who used a AAA travel agent.

 

Their return flight gives them a 40-minute layover in Chicago, where they have to change planes. DH and I feel this is way too short a layover in this situation. Assuming the plane arrives on time, 40 minutes isn't enough (in our opinion) for taxiing to the gate, getting off the plane, finding the new gate and getting on the new plane.

 

So we emailed the state 4H contact. She said that if they these two miss their plane in Chicago, they should call her. She will then call the travel agent to rebook their flight, that this is a better and easier plan than them trying to get another flight at the airport ticket counter. I've never heard of that before; not that we travel a lot, but whenever we've had trouble, we've just gone to the ticket counter.

 

That said, here are my questions:

 

1. Are we unreasonable to think that a 40 minute layover is ridiculously short in Chicago?

 

2. If so, shouldn't the travel agent have known better?

 

3. Is is really better/easier to rebook through the agent than right at the airport? Maybe that's moreso for this situation...let the travel agent fix it rather than stressing the 'kids' out?

 

There was something else I wanted to say, but now I've forgotten it. :confused:

[Dandelion]

 

That said, here are my questions:

 

1. Are we unreasonable to think that a 40 minute layover is ridiculously short in Chicago?

 

2. If so, shouldn't the travel agent have known better?

 

3. Is is really better/easier to rebook through the agent than right at the airport? Maybe that's moreso for this situation...let the travel agent fix it rather than stressing the 'kids' out?

 

There was something else I wanted to say, but now I've forgotten it. :confused:

 

1. That is a short layover for Chicago, but not impossible. I've flown through Chicago several times with quick connections like that, and it's doable. I don't know if all airlines do this, but most that I've flown with check their passengers' connecting information, and if the flight is arriving late, they will tell the crew of the connecting flight to wait a few minutes longer so passengers can make the connection. It's in their best interest to do so (assuming the connecting flight is with the same airline) so that they don't end up overbooked on another flight as a result of passengers missing their original connection. That's been my experience the majority of the time.

 

2. Perhaps the next flight option would have caused your dd to have to wait in Chicago for several hours and the travel agent may have thought this quicker connection was preferable.

 

3. Personally, I would think it would be easier to rebook at their connecting gate. It's as easy as walking up to the counter at the gate and saying "My connection was too tight and I missed my flight. Please put me on the next flight out." They'll rebook you in about 5 min. (unless the next several flights are already full/overbooked, in which case it's probably still easier to work it in person rather than via the agent).

 

HTH!

[elfgivas]

dh flies over 100,000 miles a year. i asked him. his answer: "once she has started the journey, it is the airline's problem to get her to her final destination." so if she misses the connection through no fault of her own, then it is their problem and they need to deal with it at the counter. for most situations, if you rebook through an agent, then it costs additional money. she should make sure when she first checks in that she checks in for both flights, and receives both boarding passes, and checks her luggage all the way through. that way, they are fully committed. (it is the usual way to do things, too)

 

things she can do that will help:

check the on time record for the first flight. hopefully, its good.

let the flight attendant know she has a tight connection and would like to know which gate the next flight is leaving from. we had a 35 minute connection in chicago in march, and the arriving gate and departing gate were only 3 gates apart : ).

 

hope she has a great time!

ann

[Annie]

If she gets in on time, I think it's doable, but I would wear shoes I could run in. The plane from Madison to Chicago isn't likely to be huge, so it shouldn't take that long to deplane. I would still probably see what I could do about getting her a seat assignment near the front of the plane so she's one of the first off.

[FaithManor]

It's definitely doable in Chicago. I've been through Chicago A LOT and the airline agents are absolutely wonderful about making sure that your connecting flight is held.

 

Tell your dd that if they are late getting on the ground or the plane is full so it takes a while to disembark, to mention to the flight attendant when they leave the plane that they are going to need their flight held (just in case some missed that) and a cart. I've done this at several airports and within two shakes of a lambs tail, an airline employee pulls up, he or she throws the carry-ons in, and wisks me off to my next gate. It's a real time saver.

 

It really is the airline's job to get her where she is headed once she gets on that first flight.

 

Faith

[TravelingChris]

Is she flying United? If so, and she does miss her flight, tell her to call the travel agent while she walks/waits in line at the one customer service desk in the airport. We had a problem this July when we were flying and because of mechanical difficulties, didn't make our flight. We had to walk to another terminal and then wait in a very long line. It took over an hour. Now United does have computer kiosks over there too and she can first look up her ticket and see where they re-booked her and if it is acceptable. OUrs wasn't since they re-booked two of us on a flight one day and two of us on a flight another day. Make sure she has access to funds like a prepaid card you can add money. We were given a hotel room and a fifteen dollar meal voucher per person. We still had to get breakfast the next morning.

 

The point about calling the travel agent is that they can rebook her onto a competing airlines flight that day. My husband who travels all the time sometimes uses the airline's suggestion and sometimes the travel agents. It really depends.

[Ferdie]

Is her connection early in the day? You just want to make sure she is not booked on one of the last flights of the day. My friend is a flight attendant and she said that she sees children stranded when they miss their connection that is the last flight. The airlines will put them up in a hotel for the night, but they are still alone in a strange city.

 

I would make sure there are plenty of flights to your city after her connection just in case.

[JessReplanted]

It is possible - I've done it with 3 kids in tow! Just make sure she knows that as soon as she lands her #1 priority needs to be finding the gate. She should get off the plane, find her flight on the nearest arrival/departure display, and immediately head to her gate. We always find the gate first, make sure it is correct, and only then if we have extra time do we stop for bathroom breaks or snacks.

[eternalknot]

I'm a flight attendant, and frequently fly through Chicago. The taxiing to the gate is built into the scheduled flying time, so you're looking at 40 minutes to deplane, walk to the connecting gate, and board the second flight. It's do-able, but tight. Sometimes people misread their boarding passes and mistake boarding time for departure time (~30 minutes prior to departure). I hate that they allow these tight connections because about 20 minutes before landing, people start freaking out that they're going to miss their connections. It's a legal connecting time, but I agree -- for the casual traveller, it's short.

 

It usually takes 15 minutes to deplane. Definitely sit as close to the front of the plane as possible. My airline reads connecting gates about 10 minutes before landing, or as we taxi in to the gate; our inflight magazine has a diagram of the airport that we point out for people unfamiliar with the layout (including inter-terminal buses or trams). You could print out an airport diagram ahead of time, too, for the kids to study. Lots of people rip them out of the magazine. Have them pay attention to the connecting gates when they are read AND to check the nearest board in the terminal for up-to-date gate information. Gates change often, particularly in Chicago; we get a number of misconnecting passengers who go by the gate assignment printed on their boarding passes, which doesn't always remain accurate.

 

People ask me all the time to request passengers allow those with tight connections to deplane first. Most people ignore the request, and honestly -- most people flying into ORD are going to be connecting, so it won't necessarily help to ask. People also ask me to notify someone to hold their flight; I have no way to do that from the airplane -- I don't know the phone number to your departing gate, and there isn't always a phone on the jetbridge even if I did. I'm also not allowed off of the airplane until all passengers have deplaned. If I'm working the boarding door, I can let the gate agent know when we arrive at the gate ... but really, that's it and it probably won't help any because 80% of their connecting passengers will have the same sad tale.

 

The agent working the outbound flight knows when and where his passengers landed. My airline penalizes agents who don't close the door 3 minutes before scheduled departure, unless the agent can pin the delay on another workgroup (late arriving crew, maintenance issue, etc.); unfortunately, the agent may want to wait for inbound passengers but can't risk disciplinary action - especially if there is a later flight the passengers can take. IME the airline cares more about on-time departures (particularly at busy airports like ORD) than it does buying off a passenger on an oversold flight downline.

 

The carts are usually reserved for wheelchair or elite passengers; it's hard enough flagging one down for them, much less for someone just running behind. My airline doesn't routinely hold planes for late-connecting passengers, UNLESS it's the last flight of the night or an international flight.

 

Don't leave security and go to the ticket counter -- I second the idea to stand in line with the gate agent to rebook AND at the same time, be on the phone with the 4H coordinator's AAA guy.

 

Given your city pairs, I don't think you're using my airline but it's a major airline and I'd reckon it follows industry standards. I think getting familiar with the airport layout ahead of time will go a long way in helping with a tight connection -- knowing immediately after deplaning which direction to turn to, where to find the inter-terminal train, etc. Our terminals at ORD aren't a straight line, they're a web with weird cross-connecting corridors; it's tricky enough as a regular to know where to head to, and I'd definitely want to have a general idea if I were a more casual traveller.

 

Sounds like an adventure, for sure! Hope the kids have fun!

[Murmer]

Just another thought if she has a cell phone you can text her information while she is on the plane and she can get it as soon as they land as long as she keeps her cell phone available (but off) during the flight. You might even be able to get her the gate number and if it is on time as soon as she gets in...that would relieve a little of the stress in where to look to find the gate number.

[Giraffe]

Keep her carry-on light, sit to the front of the plane in an aisle seat, and she just might make the connection. If not, I agree with everyone else - it's the airlines responsibility to get her to her destination if she misses the connection because of too tight a layover.

 

Good luck!

[ChrisN in NY]

Thanks for all the tips and info!

 

The group is flying American all the way. Their trip TO Madison is through Detroit, where they have an hour layover. Oh well.

 

We'll go over stuff with dd, but hopefully, they'll make their connection just fine. ;)

[eternalknot]

 

The group is flying American all the way. Their trip TO Madison is through Detroit, where they have an hour layover. Oh well.

 

 

Here's the AA map for Chicago. She'll probably arrive into concourse L and most likely depart from concourse G (going by your profile location of upstate NY). So while gates may change, at least she'll know which concourse to head for!

 

www.flighttracker.com is a great resource for both of you, especially if you take another poster's advice to text her the most recent gate information. I use the app on my iPhone, and my kids use the website at home to track my flights.

 

ETA -- American Connection and some American Eagle planes have extra small overhead bin storage; so small, even normal carryons won't fit (they'll be collected at the aircraft door at boarding and returned at the aircraft door upon deplaning). This takes time to unload and find your bag around other people who are trying to find theirs, too. If possible, have her bring a small purse or squishy messenger bag that she can squeeze her itinerary, book, ipod, or basic flight stuff into and check everything else so she's not wasting time at the aircraft door waiting to retrieve a carryon that's too large to fit into the overhead bin. They're not the standard sized overhead bins found on larger airplanes -- they'll accommodate a laptop bag with a bit of room on top to spare, but most backpacks filled halfway up wouldn't squish into the bin (though it would fit under the seat in front of her). Rollerboards definitely won't fit into the bins. Fortunately her planes only hold 44-50 people, so deplaning won't otherwise take too terribly long. She'll definitely make her connection if she can bypass the checked carryons at the aircraft door, and likely still will even if she doesn't.

Edited September 14, 2010 by eternalknot

[Starr]

Do not bring a carry on suitcase. They might make her gate check it at the gate and that will hold her up. Be sure she does not leave the security area of the airport! It will be safer and everything she needs is there. Have her tuck some cash in another place from her purse in case her purse is stolen. If she really gets in a mess any agent at any gate will get her help.

[ChrisN in NY]

Thank you eternalknot and Starr. Your posts are VERY helpful, too!

[ChrisN in NY]

Here's the AA map for Chicago. She'll probably arrive into concourse L and most likely depart from concourse G (going by your profile location of upstate NY). So while gates may change, at least she'll know which concourse to head for!

 

www.flighttracker.com is a great resource for both of you, especially if you take another poster's advice to text her the most recent gate information. I use the app on my iPhone, and my kids use the website at home to track my flights.

 

 

This is SO helpful! I checked the details for today's flights, and found that the flight from Madison left 5 min early and arrived in Chicago 10 min early. It would be nice for dd if hat happens later this month!

 

You are right about concourse G for her departure.

 

They're flying in/out of Syracuse, since it's the most centrally located for everyone.

 

On the plus side, we live close enough to SYR that I don't have to leave the house until after dd's flight is in the air. So if she ends up on a later flight, it's not too big of a deal. Oh, wait, it might be... how are my other girls going to get to their piano lessons?? AACK! I'm not thinking that far ahead yet! :willy_nilly:

 

Never a dull moment!

[PinkInTheBlue]

My experience has been that airplanes won't hold for me. My plane was late arriving in Atlanta and I had a tight connection time. Even though we got off and immediately asked the gate person at that gate to notify the other gate we were running and on our way, they didn't bother to offer and help or anything. They just repeated "we don't do that" or "I can't do that". Connections aren't guaranteed either.

 

Our flight was going to leave Atlanta at about 2pm. The next flight was around 10pm that night. Other than that the offers from the airline was basically an attitude of "Don't know how you are getting home, don't care." The ended up flying us to another city and trying to get a shuttle to take us by vehicle 2 hours away from there. Once we got to the new airport, it turns out the airline hasn't paid their shuttle bills with the local shuttle companies and nobody would take us. Again, the airline's attitude was "don't know, don't care". It took aggression and luck that a taxi service was willing to take us on the $200+ trip hoping the airline paid them.

 

It was not a situation I'd want any child in unless they were VERY confident and able.

 

I'll never book a tight connection again. I'd recommend doing whatever can be done ASAP rather than "on the fly". But that's just my experience. :)

[ChrisN in NY]

It was not a situation I'd want any child in unless they were VERY confident and able.:)

 

Well she's almost 19, so not really a child. She IS confident and able, though. But this is a good reason, imo, for her to go through the travel agent if the two of them miss their plane.

 

Thanks for your input!