May 30, 2007
A massive new problem: delayed luggage on connecting flights
Because most airports are today understaffed, luggage doesn't always make it to a plane on time. Passengers taking connecting flights where only an hour-or-so separates the arrival of one flight and the takeoff of a connecting flight, have far less of a chance than before that luggage will be transferred in time from one plane to another.
I learned that lesson on a recent flight from New York to Minneapolis for the purpose of catching an onward flight to Billings, Montana. Though I had earlier ascertained that I would arrive in Minneapolis a full two hours before departure of the Billings flight, I learned on the day of departure that my flight to Minneapolis had been cancelled and replaced by a flight departing an hour later, resulting in only an hour for the connection. Arriving in Billings on the last flight of the day, I then learned that my luggage hadn't made the connection.
Next morning, in Billings, I had to cool my heels until 1pm until a flight arrived with my missing luggage. It was obvious that the airport in Minneapolis, as crowded and pressured as it has become, simply didn't have the necessary personnel to transfer luggage quickly from one flight to another. The painful lesson, based on similar reports I have had from others: in today's America, you take an inordinate risk when you check luggage on connecting flights when only an hour or less is available for the transfer of luggage.
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I learned that lesson on a recent flight from New York to Minneapolis for the purpose of catching an onward flight to Billings, Montana. Though I had earlier ascertained that I would arrive in Minneapolis a full two hours before departure of the Billings flight, I learned on the day of departure that my flight to Minneapolis had been cancelled and replaced by a flight departing an hour later, resulting in only an hour for the connection. Arriving in Billings on the last flight of the day, I then learned that my luggage hadn't made the connection.
Next morning, in Billings, I had to cool my heels until 1pm until a flight arrived with my missing luggage. It was obvious that the airport in Minneapolis, as crowded and pressured as it has become, simply didn't have the necessary personnel to transfer luggage quickly from one flight to another. The painful lesson, based on similar reports I have had from others: in today's America, you take an inordinate risk when you check luggage on connecting flights when only an hour or less is available for the transfer of luggage.
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Labels: airports
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
