I can remember that decades ago, flights between major airports in the United States were nonstop flights. Back in those days, connecting flights were used to connect regional airports with major hub airports. Nonstop flights only made sense to the airline accountants if they flew with a high load factor.
What is Minimum Connection Time?
However, if I had originally booked a flight with a longer connection in MSP, I wouldn’t have had to worry about making any changes. I live in Chicago and fortunately have O’Hare International Airport (ORD) as my main airport, so I have a ton of options for non-stop flights. However, I love traveling to Southeast Asia, and there are no non-stops from ORD to anything south of Hong Kong (HKG).
Tracked aircraft utilization
There usually isn’t any difference between the times listed on these two lines. Conversely, let me also say that there are some situations where “gambling” with a short connection isn’t necessarily a bad idea. For example, Europe has generous government mandated compensation for passengers who arrive at their destination late. So if you have a very short connection and are just a little bit late, you could potentially be looking at up to €600 in compensation, given how much later the next available flight may get you to your destination. However, for the most part, airlines aren’t terribly invested as to whether or not you make your connection, so you really have to advocate for yourself. Well, because they already have your money, and their only obligation is to get you to your destination on the next available flight.
- A potential missed connection can also have longer commercial consequences than just the inconvenience of one traveler.
- But if you’re connecting from a domestic flight onto an international flight, or vice versa, you’ll require at least two hours to factor in the journey on the inter-terminal monorail.
- When you go to book an airline ticket, you might notice that some itineraries have really short connections, while other itineraries have really long connections.
- Some airports, such as London’s Heathrow Airport, make all connecting passengers on international flights go through security screening between flights.
Airline planning & operations
This extends to a passenger’s luggage, if checked bags do not make the connecting flight the airline is held responsible and is expected to arrange courier delivery of the missing luggage to the owner. Do it yourself connections is where you create your own schedule of one-way flights to get to point A, Point B, Point C to your ultimate destination. The temptation here is to circumvent the minimum connection requirement by booking one-way flights on separate itineraries. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to reduce your airport wait time by short-changing connection times.
I was really nervous about this flight schedule because I didn’t want to miss my first class award seat on British Airways or have my checked bags not make the connection. Summer thunderstorms, winter snows and unexpected weather events can ground flights or trap airplanes in a long de-icing line. If you are traveling during the summer, winter or hurricane season, add extra time at your layover airport to cover possible weather delays. Airlines must follow these MCTs when issuing a ticket, and they’re usually pretty strict about these rules. Airlines can face penalties if passengers end up missing a flight because a connection was booked under the minimum time. DI or ID connections usually require more time due to passport control, customs, and potential terminal changes at larger airports.
They pass the recommended minimums along to the International Air Transport Association and the airline reservation systems. The times are built into the reservation systems, ensuring each reservation is „legal.“ If, for some reason, you feel you can’t make a connection within the allotted time, contact your airline before your departure, say experts. It can sometimes make arrangements to speed up the transfer by giving you a seat assignment closer to the front of the cabin or rebooking you on a different flight.
Minimum connection time is a set amount of time required for a passenger to complete a successful connection between two flights at a transfer hub. MCT is sometimes known as legal connection time or minimum layover time, and it is a value set used by distributors and airlines to generate feasible itineraries. Recently, British Airways increased its minimum connection time, or MCT, at London Heathrow by 15 minutes. This means passengers transiting within the same terminal will have a minimum connection time of 75 minutes, among the longest in the world, while transiting between terminals requires 90 minutes, which remains unchanged.
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What about those flights were the load factor was less than a high load factor? Now airlines can take passengers from different origins and load them onto a flight to a common destination. Airlines sometimes adjust their minimum connection times on a flight-by-flight basis. Times can change if a terminal is under construction or an airport train closes for repairs.
I offered to book them a hotel, but my wife didn’t want to be far away from the gates because they were on standby for the next flight to Toronto. Due to bad advice from a friendly Air Canada agent in Vancouver, we lost a day of our family trip. Had we booked a longer connection, there’s a good chance my family would have made the connection to YYZ. Your airline will arrange wheelchair assistance for you if you ask for it, but you may need to wait for a wheelchair attendant to arrive at your check-in counter or transfer gate. Every airport around the world has a set of rules for how much time is needed to transit through that airport on the same ticket. It’s basically a measure of how easily navigable the airport is for connecting passengers.
There are typically two types of minimum connection times for domestic travel and domestic to international travel. These minimum connection times could be as low as 40 minutes for domestic and an hour for transfer to an international carrier. These minimums are airline-specific so consult your airline’s definition of minimum or legal connection times.
- In reality, flight 930 begins boarding 61 minutes after flight 2148 is scheduled to land.
- To display a specific exception by a carrier, sometimes it is necessary to add an MCT exception at the status standard time.
- If you want to avoid the stresses of standby and the possibility of sleeping in an airport, it may be better to spend a little extra money or points for a nonstop flight, or give yourself more time to connect.
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What Is an Exception to an Exception?
There are a few situations where booking flights with just the minimum connection time between might not be the best option. Likewise, every airline has its own rules on maximum connection times as well. For example, a standard connection on Delta can’t be more than four hours. That is plenty of time to avoid a missed connection, plus some buffer time to enjoy your travel experience. My flight yesterday is shown below and it shows a connection time of one hour and 41 minutes.
Air navigation & air traffic flow
But on the day he flew to Raleigh, his airline couldn’t have predicted a 25-minute takeoff delay. IATA administers the two-letter airline code and once it is assigned, OAG advises IATA of ports and equipment codes used by the carrier in its schedule. OAG adds an ICAO code where applicable as well as maintaining ICAO codes for airlines that do not have an IATA code to enable their schedules to be distributed. Once the new MCT is established, this becomes the default value for that airport and is used by the entire industry. 10xTravel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
Airlines with extensive networks can often provide the fastest MCTs, making their connections more appealing. Many people operate under the assumption that if you book an itinerary that meets the minimum connection time, then you’ll definitely make your connection if your flight is on-time. When any airline makes a schedule change, that schedule change must be picked up by the codeshare airline, sometimes via a direct notification from their partner airline or via OAG.
This can go a long way in saving precious minimum connecting time minutes you may need in case of a delay. Reviewing MCTs regularly will ensure that connections are not affected by changes to the schedule. If you are an existing MCT supplier, using the new features may reduce the amount of MCTs you need to maintain making it easier for you to file with ease and regularity. Their travel day would then include a 14 hour flight from Australia, a 3 hour layover at LAX and a 5 hour layover at PHX. I love to travel, and it’s not just because I like to experience new places and new cultures. While I could find a deal for a nonstop flight for one on the way to a work trip, options were more limited for my family to meet me when the event ended to kick off a family vacation.
The airline systems only allow flights to be booked that meet the minimum connection time requirements. This sounds like a simple process, but anyone who has sprinted through an airport might be forgiven for believing that the system does not help the majority of travelers. If you are planning a trip that involves connecting flights, you may wish to choose a connecting flight that is different from the one your airline’s computerized reservation system recommends.