We all love it when we arrive a few gates away from our connecting flight. Although it usually seems to happen when we have plenty of time to make our connection. It’s Murphy’s Law, when the connection is tight — airlines seem to love to create the greatest distance between gates.
In many larger airports, there is the option, sometimes almost a requirement to take a shuttle. In Honolulu, for example, the Wiki Wiki Shuttle is a straightforward way to get to the inter-island terminal without going in and out of security. At JFK, there is an intra-terminal train that doesn’t avoid going in and out of security, but does avoid taking your life in your hands trying to walk between most terminals.
Other airports have trains and shuttles which, usually, but not always, can be the fastest way to connect. In DFW Airport, certain gates are actually a faster walk than a train ride.
And as I discovered at Chicago O’Hare, United’s intra-terminal shuttle isn’t always the fastest way to make it to your next connection.
I probably should have known better.
My United Express flight arrived at O’Hare F concourse, Terminal 2. The flight attendant told passengers with connections to C gates to take the shuttle. Since I hadn’t tried it before, and had about 45 minutes to make my connection, I took her advice.
Now, had I looked at the map, I could have reminded myself that it really isn’t a long walk from United’s E and F concourse over to Terminal 1, where B and C are located. And even going through the “neon tunnel of doom” (anyone who connects through O’Hare will know what I mean, it’s an underground tunnel with moving sidewalks, multicolored lights and strange music), I was probably looking at a 10 minute walk.
There was a line at the shuttle gate, but figuring the shuttle was a regular bus, I figured, no problem. Except that after several minutes, and after passengers clearly were coming off the shuttle, the line moved a short distance, and then stopped. Now. I figured, maybe there was a problem.
Since I could now see the front of the line, I asked the bored woman guarding the gate what the situation was. She indicated the shuttle had been full. I asked when the next shuttle was and she shrugged and said “five to ten minutes.”
At this point some of us in line were getting a bit nervous. Including a young man on my flight, about 30 people behind me in line, who decided to give up and walk. I decided to stick it out, and sure enough, the shuttle approached. At this point the line was probably 60 people long, and the bus looked to be big enough to hold 20.
The woman counted us off, people got on the bus, and lo and behold, musical chairs. One too many people for the bus. The driver told the last man out to sit. Since there were no seats, and the man said he and his wife had a very tight connection, he sat on the luggage railing. At this point we were told, someone gets off this bus or we’re not leaving. So a woman who had over an hour got off, and off we went across the tarmac.
The good news, in the end, I barely made my connection. At this point there was no time to buy my favorite sandwich. No word on a couple of my fellow passengers, who got off the bus and ran. But had I walked, I would have had a little exercise and a much faster trip.
In this case, it would have helped if United had simply posted signs saying “Approximate walk time to B concourse – blank minutes” and “Approximate walk time to C concourse – blank minutes.” At the shuttle, a sign saying “Shuttle runs every 5-10 minutes and can hold 20 people” would have been helpful. Armed with information, most travelers are perfectly happy to make a choice.
And certainly the shuttle would be well worth it for anyone with walking issues, or perhaps families with young children where any trek through an airport becomes an epic expedition.
But the advice I would give anyone, even a seasoned traveler, if you’re changing planes, before you hop on a shuttle or train, check the inflight magazine or airport map. Actually, even if you’re walking, check the gate information. Airlines have been known to give out wrong information on board, which might mean a flat-out run to the wrong gate. But that’s another post.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Pfft. Give passengers enough information to make a rational decision? Doesn’t exist in airline-speak.
Atlanta’s inter-terminal trans are excellent and run often. The problem with Atlanta is when you come in at the far end of one terminal and depart from the far end of another terminal, as happened to me recently. The problem was compounded by my arrival on a regional jet, which does not have a jetbridge and deplanes at ground level. To get into the terminal, there was a staircase (slippery with rain) and a single escalator, that was going DOWN. After this, the long hike through a crowded terminal to get to the escalators to the tram. We made our 50 minute connection, which was already in the process of final boarding when we arrived.
Atlanta is great if you need exercise, but not so good if you have trouble walking a half mile at a fast pace to make the next flight.
When I know I have a connection on an upcoming flight, I spend some time researching the best way to transfer from arriving gate to departing gate. Flights habitually arrive and depart from the same gates or at least the same general area. Airport websites usually display terminal and gate information for flights, so you should check what your flights usually do, if your arriving flight usually arrives at Terminal 2, pier C, and your departing flight usually leaves from Terminal 1, pier, its reasonable to predict that they will do so on your day of travel, but don’t absolutely count on it. The airport’s website usually gives information about transferring between gates as well. If my travel agent offers me an itinerary that has a transfer time of less than sixty minutes for a domestic flight, or 120 minutes for an international, I ask for another option, in my experience that’s not enough time, especially if the first flight is delayed by even a few minutes.
I’ve occasionally missed connections due to the late arrival of my inbound flight, but because that was the airline’s problem, I’ve not been charged for being accommodated on a later flight. I’ve wondered though, how much time do the airlines allow before they decide that you were too slow changing gates and have to pay for another ticket?
I usually avoid shuttles like the plague if there is a walking option. I generally find that shuttles are used by the terminally lazy who can’t be bothered walking (as opposed to those who really need it). Sometimes there is no option but to take a shuttle bus (i.e. if your transferring between Sydney’s International Terminal and either of the domestic terminals), a train is always preferable to a bus, because they’re usually automated and frequent.
Tell me about it! I have the same dilemma whenever I fly through DFW and have to change terminals (thank you, American Airlines!). If you have to go from Terminal C to Terminal D (which, by the way, are not adjacent to each other), is it faster to take the AirTram past terminals E and F, past A and B, or is it quicker to just to hoof it across the width of the airport complex? Do you have time to grab a meal on the way? Where? No helpful information is provided to the airport passenger (e.g., 15 mins by tram vs. 10 mins by foot).
Your initial statement about Honolulu having only the Wiki Wiki Shuttle option without going outside of security is false. There is another “simple” option which I prefer over the Wiki Wiki Shuttle where I also don’t have to go “in and out of security”. It’s an easy 10-15 minute walk under a covered breezeway between the overseas & inter-island terminals at HNL. You don’t go outside the secured area & the walk is much more pleasant than the very hot, overcrowed Wiki Wiki Shuttle. It takes about the same time either way & both ways you don’t have to go outside of security to be rechecked again.
But the advice I would give anyone, even a seasoned traveler, if you’re changing planes, before you hop on a shuttle or train, check the airport magazine or airport map.
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The “other” Frank (F/A) says: Dont you mean INFLIGHT magazine? Also, you can use your PDA to access flight information on connections.
And, Matthew, I admire your travel skills, you plan out your alternatives. Great advice. Especially, the connection times between flights. 30 minutes is simply NOT enough, heck, if you’re in the back of a FULL flight and you arrive a few minutes late, well, kiss it…………………………….good bye. Airlines feel that being ON TIME is more important then holding connecting flights. After all these years, I still stress for connecting passengers, hoping, in my mind, that they make it. Some flight attendants are numb to it, but I still get affected by their stressful situation. I move people up near the exist door to get off first. Make announcements to please allow connections off first…etc…etc. In reality, airlines arent making money when the aircraft are sitting at the gates, so they’ve reduced the ground time and YOUR connection time to a minimum. RUN…RUN…RUN.