British Airways tries to fix its Heathrow problems by increasing Minimum Connection Times

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• Paul Crimea says:

  23 Jun23 June 08:25

  Not really fixing the problem though. It is simply changing the metric and lowering the quality of the product it offers to airlines and passengers. Connection time makes a big difference especially when choosing business class flights for work. I avoided LHR for years and connected via continental Euopean hubs because airlines weren’t even trying to offer an acceptable start to end journey time via LHR. 99 times out of 100 flying via FRA was a much shorter flight. I use LHR a lot now due to change in work, and it is an unmitigated disaster.

  • Rob says:

    23 Jun23 June 20:55

    It’s NOT ‘at a big airport’ – we are talking about T5 to T5 connections only, and T5 is similar in scale to Zurich (40 mins) or Munich (30 mins). Those 40/30 minute numbers also include moving bags between terminals if needed.

• John says:

  23 Jun23 June 08:28

  I hope BA also review their flight scheduling, which seems wildly optimistic.
  Case in point – today’s BA flight out of Antalya is scheduled for 2245. The inbound plane is set to arrive at 2200, *if* it’s on time. 45 minutes to turnaround a non-LCC flight seems optimistic. In fact, it’s already showing delayed by 5 minutes before the incoming flight even leaves. Any additional delay in LGW will have a huge knock on affect.
  I think the BA service to Antalya is currently a wet lease, so maybe it’ll have less of a knock on impact, but I saw similarly optimistic scheduling for my LCY flight to Palma a few weeks ago. A delay from EDI to LCY meant the LCY to PMI flight was delayed enough that it ran into additional delays (weather) it could have avoided by being in time, which I’m sure then had a knock on impact for wherever the plane was going next.
  Maybe passengers wouldn’t need so much connection time, if their planes weren’t all delayed because of the domino effect of a single delay to the plane earlier in the day/week?

• Liz says:

  23 Jun23 June 08:50

  Since last year we have done 3 USA road trips and all 3 trips have been disrupted. We always build in 2.5-3 hr between domestic and long haul connection. Last year returning from Seattle incoming flight delayed – no seats back to EDI so taxied across to London City – 6 days for bags to arrive with wheels ripped off. 2nd trip domestic leg down changed to London City so had to build in alot more time to get across London then on the way back our flight was changed by 24 hrs because of the Queen’s funeral – not BA’s fault but another disruption to us. Last month we sat for 4 hrs on the plane going out – flight ended up cancelled – rerouted to a different USA airport with a very tight and stressful connection in Charlotte – some people on our flight didn’t make the connection – got there 24 hrs later. Return flight 2 hrs delayed leaving Boston so we already knew we wouldn’t get our connection – at least we got a connection from LHR but had to wait another 5 hrs – bags finally arrived 48 hrs later and damaged yet again. So many different claims submitted – still waiting to hear back! Got another trip to Canada planned in Aug. Never had these problems before. So much stress!

  • NorthernLass says:

    23 Jun23 June 08:59

    In-laws were delayed by 2 hours departing BDA, missed their connection and had to wait till from 8am to 9 pm for the next available seats to MAN!

  • Andy says:

    23 Jun23 June 09:04

    Thank you for your loyalty.

    • David says:

      23 Jun23 June 13:10

      @Andy 😀

  • Andrew. says:

    23 Jun23 June 09:07

    Forget BA and fly transatlantic direct from Edinburgh.

    Much easier to connect in Newark, JFK, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington DC, Toronto or Calgary than hoof it down to London.

  • Harry T says:

    23 Jun23 June 09:16

    Sorry to hear this. I have also found BA very unreliable recently. Conversely, AA were much more punctual flying to JFK and the on board experience was also superior (business). On the way back from JFK, BA made us miss our onward connection because they were so late into LHR. I am glad that my next flight to the USA this year is with AY.

• Josh says:

  23 Jun23 June 08:53

  As most of my flights originate at Heathrow, I utterly detest connecting through Heathrow on a BA flight. The MCT puts huge pressure on a passenger to transit successfully through a slow and unpleasant security check despite touching down from domestic destinations. 75 mins at least reduces the pressure but frankly I’m now giving up and taking the train to London where possible. BA have given up providing any kind of premium service even to business class passengers outside of London.

  • Chabuddy Geezy says:

    23 Jun23 June 10:42

    Is this connecting domestically on Loganair? After my domestic connection on BA I did not have to reclear security.

  • Hardpack says:

    23 Jun23 June 12:28

    I’ve never had to have a security check at T5 on BA arriving from domestic

  • jjoohhnn says:

    23 Jun23 June 14:07

    But the connection that you book is up to you.. if you chose one that was less than 75 minutes before, that was your choice, and all BA are doing is removing your ability to choose that now. You could equally have booked a longer connection time before and the same going forward..

    • Mike says:

      23 Jun23 June 14:21

      “if you choose”, as someone who hates tight connections I would try to avoid anything less that a couple of hours but that doesn’t stop BA changing the flight times, so my my last BA flight stopover was reduced from 4 hours and plenty of Concord Room time to just over 2 hours. So you can book longer connections, true, doesn’t mean you’ll get them.

• NorthernLass says:

  23 Jun23 June 08:57

  We usually fly down to LHR from MAN the night before, as the chances of delays/cancellations are ridiculously high and missing a long-haul connection would completely derail a trip. LHR hotels are better and cheaper than MAN as well.
  Family returning from BDA last week reported that it took 3 hours from landing at T3 to clearing security at T5 so clearly the increase to 90 mins may not be enough!

• Harry T says:

  23 Jun23 June 09:08

  75 mins isn’t long enough. BA are always late leaving anywhere these days and then there is usually a delay on arrival where they haven’t turned the gates lights on/no one at the gate expected an aircraft/there’s something blocking access to the gate/insert other lane excuse here. Their operation is really a logistical shambles at present.

• TGLoyalty says:

  23 Jun23 June 09:46

  NGL I’d never book a 60 min connection anyway!

  • Rob says:

    23 Jun23 June 10:09

    Of course you would. You land in Heathrow after a red eye from the US, knackered after 3 hours ‘sleep’, just wanting to get home to your family, and your choices are a) a 60 minute connection to Newcastle or b) a 5 hour connection to Newcastle. Which are you going to book?

    • GeoffreyB says:

      23 Jun23 June 10:14

      What if he doesn’t live in Newcastle?

      • Rob says:

        23 Jun23 June 10:21

        It’s well worth a visit!

        • Richard Peters says:

          23 Jun23 June 10:32

          NCL deffo worth a visit and yes I’d sooner a 60 minute dash and be home rather than languishing in T5 for hours (lounge or no lounge)

      • TGLoyalty says:

        23 Jun23 June 10:51

        I dont 🙂 therefore supports why I never would. I have connected exEU and if its less than 90 mins I’d rather sit around – I’ve been delayed far too much and on too many buses to know it doesn’t work.

        re the NCL example as the chances of making the 60 min are next to nil or headache I’d rather go with full knowledge it’ll be 5 hours anyway

        • anuj says:

          23 Jun23 June 15:02

          But surely you may as well try the 60min connection, if you miss it they’ll just put you on the 5 hour connection anyway

        • TGLoyalty says:

          24 Jun24 June 20:05

          IF there’s space … genuinely with my years of experience I understand the sanity of knowing I can stroll about and take my time is invaluable. Might even have some interesting convos in the lounge etc

        • Derek Scott says:

          1 Jul1 July 07:47

          Would be quicker to change to EDI (much more frequency) and get a train to NCL from Waverley that’s less than 2 hrs!

    • Harry T says:

      23 Jun23 June 10:52

      Rob is being realistic about the options these days. The domestic schedule has been hacked to bits, so your only usual choices are to take your chances with a “tight” connection or wait around in T5 for many hours. The tight connections wouldn’t be an issue if BA could run a service properly.

• dougzz99 says:

  23 Jun23 June 09:48

  Almost all the punctuality problems are BAs fantasy schedule. They simply can’t support the operation they want to run, they lack airframes, crew, and ground staff. That A380 that had issues yesterday/day before will create havoc for them as they simply over-schedule and under resource.

  • Harry T says:

    23 Jun23 June 10:00

    Bang on!

  • Richie says:

    23 Jun23 June 11:55

    The A380 scheduling is better than it was, they’ve done a bit of de-risking.

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