09 Jun 10 Tips on Flight Connections and Protecting Your Passengers
It’s never a good situation when you miss a flight when connecting somewhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re leaving or heading back home, delays in flights that cause misconnection are nothing we want to face. From a travel professional perspective, there are things you can do to protect your clients:
- Check the itinerary to ensure the legal minimum connecting time is met.
- Check to ensure there is no change of airports, such as getting to Heathrow LHR and getting a connection in LGW London Gatwick to move forward with an intra-Europe flight.
- Ensure that connections are purchased in the same ticket to allow baggage transfer.
- Use your own knowledge about the connecting airport, or do some research regarding distance between terminals and how easy it is to go from one to the other. Consider your passengers’ age and any physical limitations. For example, it’s not the same to go from terminal A to F if a passenger is young and athletic versus if a passenger is a mother with two, small children or if the passenger needs wheelchair assistance.
- If possible avoid tight connections, giving extra time to guarantee the connection will occur.
- Have alternate flights handy in case the connection is lost, which will shorten your time when dealing with the airline with a last-minute request.
- Let your passengers know that most times the airline will be able (if willing) to protect them on the next available flight, but the next flight could be the following day.
- Nobody is under control of delays due to weather conditions. When the season is known to be tough, suggest to book longer connection times.
- Prior to any trip, ensure you review details carefully and ensure involuntary schedule changes have not interfered in your original booking and connecting times.
- Contact your passenger to refine details and wish them a good trip!
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