[81attendees] The perennial air connection/ hub airport discussion (was: Re: are we getting complacent? Good job!)

[John C Klensin <[e-mail]>]

--On Wednesday, August 03, 2011 20:49 -0700 "Murray S.
Kucherawy" <[e-mail]> wrote:

>...
>> plus transit time /in/ ORD. Changing planes typically adds at
>> least 2-3 hours to the total trip time, counting landing and
>> takeoff and in-airport transfer.
> 
> I do about six conferences a year and I can't remember the
> last time I was given a layover anywhere close to that long.
> Mine are typically anywhere from 50 to 90 minutes, assuming no
> delays or missed connections.  Sometimes I actually wish they
> were longer.

Yes.

With the understanding that I share what I understand to be
Ole's and Fred's position that the particular focus on plane
changes has become a bit silly, I've found that "normal"
intra-line airline schedules for transfers at ORD are often made
at a dead run -- sometimes much less than 50-90 minutes.   I've
often had to insist on earlier flights out to provide what I
consider a reasonable margin of safety against missing a
connection if the inbound flight is delayed but, at that point,
I'm to blame for the longer layover, not the airline or airport.

The situation changes if I'm inbound on an international flight
and have to go through customs and immigration at ORD (or
anywhere else) and then have to pro forma recheck luggage, but
that is a rather different problem.  All things being equal, I
prefer to not have to check in for another flight and get back
on a plane after a long international flight and dealing with
bureaucrats, but, given considerations others have discussed, I
accept the periodic inevitability of that.

I think it is reasonable to be _much_ more concerned about
intermodal changes.   Not only are, e.g., plane-> train changes
often time-consuming but, because there is rarely any schedule
coordination between carriers, it is hard to sort tickets out
remotely for some countries (but not others), and the change
often involves dragging luggage around (not merely collecting it
and redepositing it some meters away).  Note that is an
objection to the transfer process (especially when exhausted
after a long trip), not to trains (which are usually great in
countries in which they actually work -- opinions about which
countries those are differ somewhat).

   john