Comments on: Changing terminals — take the shuttle or walk?

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:58:19 +0000

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.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:15:51 +0000

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.

By: The Good Doctor

The Good Doctor — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:24:41 +0000

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).

By: Matthew B

Matthew B — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:19:40 +0000

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.

By: Bruce InCharlotte

Bruce InCharlotte — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:34:34 +0000

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.

By: Ann, CTC

Ann, CTC — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:00:13 +0000

Pfft. Give passengers enough information to make a rational decision? Doesn’t exist in airline-speak.