We all love it when we arrive a few gates away from our connecting flight. Although it usually seems to happen when we have plenty of time to make our connection. It’s Murphy’s Law, when the connection is tight — airlines seem to love to create the greatest distance between gates.
In many larger airports, there is the option, sometimes almost a requirement to take a shuttle. In Honolulu, for example, the Wiki Wiki Shuttle is a straightforward way to get to the inter-island terminal without going in and out of security. At JFK, there is an intra-terminal train that doesn’t avoid going in and out of security, but does avoid taking your life in your hands trying to walk between most terminals.
Other airports have trains and shuttles which, usually, but not always, can be the fastest way to connect. In DFW Airport, certain gates are actually a faster walk than a train ride.
And as I discovered at Chicago O’Hare, United’s intra-terminal shuttle isn’t always the fastest way to make it to your next connection.
I probably should have known better.
My United Express flight arrived at O’Hare F concourse, Terminal 2. The flight attendant told passengers with connections to C gates to take the shuttle. Since I hadn’t tried it before, and had about 45 minutes to make my connection, I took her advice.
Now, had I looked at the map, I could have reminded myself that it really isn’t a long walk from United’s E and F concourse over to Terminal 1, where B and C are located. And even going through the “neon tunnel of doom” (anyone who connects through O’Hare will know what I mean, it’s an underground tunnel with moving sidewalks, multicolored lights and strange music), I was probably looking at a 10 minute walk.
There was a line at the shuttle gate, but figuring the shuttle was a regular bus, I figured, no problem. Except that after several minutes, and after passengers clearly were coming off the shuttle, the line moved a short distance, and then stopped. Now. I figured, maybe there was a problem.
Since I could now see the front of the line, I asked the bored woman guarding the gate what the situation was. She indicated the shuttle had been full. I asked when the next shuttle was and she shrugged and said “five to ten minutes.”
At this point some of us in line were getting a bit nervous. Including a young man on my flight, about 30 people behind me in line, who decided to give up and walk. I decided to stick it out, and sure enough, the shuttle approached. At this point the line was probably 60 people long, and the bus looked to be big enough to hold 20.
The woman counted us off, people got on the bus, and lo and behold, musical chairs. One too many people for the bus. The driver told the last man out to sit. Since there were no seats, and the man said he and his wife had a very tight connection, he sat on the luggage railing. At this point we were told, someone gets off this bus or we’re not leaving. So a woman who had over an hour got off, and off we went across the tarmac.
The good news, in the end, I barely made my connection. At this point there was no time to buy my favorite sandwich. No word on a couple of my fellow passengers, who got off the bus and ran. But had I walked, I would have had a little exercise and a much faster trip.
In this case, it would have helped if United had simply posted signs saying “Approximate walk time to B concourse – blank minutes” and “Approximate walk time to C concourse – blank minutes.” At the shuttle, a sign saying “Shuttle runs every 5-10 minutes and can hold 20 people” would have been helpful. Armed with information, most travelers are perfectly happy to make a choice.
And certainly the shuttle would be well worth it for anyone with walking issues, or perhaps families with young children where any trek through an airport becomes an epic expedition.
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 inflight magazine or airport map. Actually, even if you’re walking, check the gate information. Airlines have been known to give out wrong information on board, which might mean a flat-out run to the wrong gate. But that’s another post.
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.)
