Angry Traveler: Avoid being a ‘misconnected’ flier

Last month, I was sitting on the floor of the Austin, Texas, airport, waiting for my Southwest flight, which was supposed to depart at 1:45 p.m. At 4 p.m., hoping the plane would arrive in the next 15 minutes and the planets would align, I still had a shot at making my connection in Phoenix.

By jove, it was a miracle. It did arrive and the flight attendants said, that, yes! we would make it to Phoenix in time for that 4:45 p.m. flight. Thank God for the time change.

I hurled myself off the plane and arrived, breathless, at the Phoenix counter at 4:44 p.m., surrounded by other passengers who are supposed to be on the same flight — you know, the one that just left…

What are your tips for ensuring a smooth flight?

without us.

I was now what’s called a misconnect statistic, one of thousands in this new era of air travel.

It’s tempting to ask, with an appropriate whine in my voice, “Why me?”

But the answer will be: Because I did this to myself. Here’s what I should have done:

– Taken an early-morning flight. It’s like seeing your doctor: If you go in the morning, emergencies and other crises are less likely to have snowballed into, pardon the pun, a train wreck.

– Taken a nonstop flight. It wouldn’t have made my flight arrive in Austin any earlier, but I wouldn’t have been sitting around in Phoenix for another hour.

In this new age, we have to work harder and be smarter. No one has our backs. They care only about our bucks.

— Catharine Hamm, Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 12:47 pm by Catharine Hamm and is filed under Angry Traveler, Frequent Flier, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.