Last month, I wrote about minimum connecting times, and how they can be, well, a little optimistic.
But today, in our Galileo reservations system, a service used by about a third of travel agents, I just might have found the most ludicrous, over-optimistic, potentially-disastrous, suggested connection, ever. Although, if any readers have found a worse one, I would love to hear about it in comments.
The itinerary in question, from Burlington, Vermont to Paris, France. A client wanted to arrive early in the morning to Paris. And the system shows a connection from JetBlue to Air France via JFK on September 20. Here’s the format display, at the risk of being overly jargony.
The letters and numbers simply refer to fare classes and available seats. But I had to read the times three times to believe it.
B6 633 Y4 S4 E4 K4 H4 Q4 B4 L0 V0 R0 BTVJFK 155P 315P
AF 23 P2 F1 A0 J9 C9 D6 I3 Z2 E1 O1 JFK CDG 430P 600A
In short, the suggested flights have the traveler arriving at 315p, and departing at 430p -r exactly one hour and fifteen minutes in JFK to make the connection. And these connection is supposed to work with carry-on or checked baggage.
For starters, JetBlue does not transfer bags to other carriers, so anyone checking luggage who was attempting this feat would need to claim the bags before heading over to Air France.
Even for travelers with carry-on bags, it does take a few minutes to get off the plane and into the terminal. At least. That doesn’t even consider the possibility of being at the back of the plane, or simply behind a slow moving traveling family.
Then there’s the little matter of switching terminals. JetBlue arrives into Terminal 5 at JFK, Air France leaves from Terminal 1. For those not familiar with JFK, that is as far away as it sounds. And involves going in and out of security. You could try to walk, or take the AirTrain.
But the train station is outside security, and is a short walk both from Terminal 5 and from Terminal 1. It runs every five minute, and takes two minutes between each station, so that means about eight minutes between the JetBlue and Air France terminals, once you are on the train.
And the mandatory advance check-in time for Air France. One hour.
Usain Bolt with carry-on bags would probably miss this connection. Not to mention mere mortals.
photo by wallyg/flickr/creative commons
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
