To book a flight with a 45 minute connection?

[coffeeforone]

Looking at long haul flight options from London and one of them has a 45 minute connection in Warsaw. What do you think are the chances we will make this connection? Would the airline wait for us?

We are travelling with a toddler and a baby, so not sure if it's worth the risk of being stranded overnight. The next overnight flight is 24 hours later. The flight is much cheaper than some of the other options but not sure if it's worth the stress?

Ps I've seen really cheap direct flights to Delhi from regional airports in the U.K., my friend paid £300 last year, that's return!

It's a bit tight I think.
I once had to do this at Washington Dulles when my internal flight was late landing. They did an announcement to request everyone remain seated so myself and another passenger could get off the plane and literally run through the airport to make the flight to London. It was just me and some random businessman, who thankfully seemed to know where he was going, just sprinting through a terminal clinging onto our hand luggage. When we boarded everyone was sat waiting for us and giving us looks :/

That was back in 2001. With the extra checks and things in place now, we probably would not have made it.

Aragog we've done short connections in Dubai and they were always fine. One time the pilot announced we were waiting for one passenger who was on his way, he hadn't bargained on how long it would take from the gate to the plane ie a fair bus ride. On that occasion the flight did wait for a passenger.

Not on subject really but I’m now pleased KLM had best flights to Bahrain with a Reif Amsterdam transfer.

Will your luggage be checked through to your final destination?

It’s the absolute limit, timing wise. But the airline wouldn’t be allowed to do it if it was outside of the permitted limits. The second plane may wait for you - this has certainly been the case for us previously.

It will be very stressful. We did an hour layover last week and even though the first flight landed on time, by the time we’d waited for the doors on the first flight to open, walked through the terminal to the next gate (the furthest away it could’ve been) and then got a bloody bus to the aircraft, we had about 2 minutes to spare and I was highly anxious.

I do have a family of chilled dawdlers though, so that didn’t help.

You can get a priority service, someone will meet you and walk through to the next gate. Also you probably won't be alone taking this connection flight. Also they should wait for you as your baggage will be on the next flight and you are registered (just make sure you've got a connected flight rather than 2 separate flights).

We do it with klm all the time..it's the only choice for us to get to our destination (husbands family live in Denmark so we do the klm through Amsterdam twice a year and his family also do it twice a year) so far we have had no issues.. Fingers crossed it stays that way

Standard connections on the same airline DO wait for people. Especially on super long haul flights. For example LHR to DXB then DXB to AKL is a very standard connection. We had a 45 minute transfer, the plane was 25 mins late and they radioed through to check the AKL flight would wait. Given 90%of the passengers were on the LHR flight they waited and made up the time in the air. It's a 17 hour flight so that's doable and most sensible rather than flying with an empty plane. I doubt it would happen for a 2 hr hop though.

took an age to disembark because we were at the back of the plane

I was on a delayed flight into Heathrow not long ago, when the captain announced we had a load of passengers who were very tight on connections to long haul flights, and gave out the gate numbers so they could run for it.

He asked if everyone could let them off first, which I thought was nice (and sensible). Sadly the second we landed 95% of the plane did the usual stand up and wait thing, pretty much blocking the whole plane.

One of the connecting travellers was near me and looked very distressed at being blocked in by people who had all the time in the world to get off.

BuzzShitbagBobbly

We told the attendant that we had a tight connection and he was very lighthearted about it. They could have easily let us off first but he just stood behind us like, "eek, I hope you catch your flight!" while I grew more and more distressed

If you are booking a ticket on the airline website and it is showing up a valid connection time then I would book it. They wouldn't offer it otherwise and they will guarantee you accommodation, expenses and the next flight if you miss it.

it's only cutting it fine if you book separate tickets.

Also make sure you have travel insurance just in case :)

No chance. I fly frequently and don't remember the last flight that actually took off on time citing 'air traffic control restrictions over (insert random country on flight path)'
45 minutes is tight anyway especially in a large airport with lots of gates but with toddler and baby it's a nope. The flight will not wait, your luggage is unlikely to make it in a busy airport either

Ask for a seat at the front of the plane to enable you to get off quicker! Call them once you have booked and they might pre allocate you seats.

I did this last year with DH, 4yo and 2yo. We made the flight but our luggage didn't :( Not uncommon apparently.

I’m travelling a lot at the moment, several flights in the last 6 weeks, none of them have been on time. Not long delays, ten or fifteen mins here and there. But on such a tight schedule as yours it would make the difference.

I wouldn't risk it, not in an airport I didn't know well. My bags haven't made it onto a connecting flight twice when I had a short (but longer than 45 mins) connecting flight. Would you need to clear immigration in Warsaw too (I usually connect in London so not sure how it works outside UK)?

I’ve been on planes that have waited for people so it’s not an outlandish idea. Presumably sometimes it’s feasible.

We had a connecting flight through Vienna on a similarly short turnaround with Austrian Airlines. To be honest we hadn’t noticed the transfer time when booking and it was only when we checked in our luggage that I spotted it and freaked a bit (had a toddler with us) and the check in assistant said she was always surprised that they did that connection. And I stressed about it the whole way, despite being reassured by the flight crew.

But it was great. When we landed, an airline person appeared at the front of the plane and called for everyone travelling onwards on our flight. We were taken off to a golf buggy type thing, whizzed across the tarmac, which stopped at passport control. They escorted us in to be checked and then back out, off out again and straight to our waiting plane. We were the last people to get on. Our luggage also made it, and I have no idea how but presumably they labelled it cleverly.

Never had an experience like it since.

I wouldn't risk it. Say the aircraft pulls onto it's gate on time, it still takes a minute or two to get the doors open. Then you have to get off, and if you are booked on the same airline the whole way and have checked all the way through to your destination, make your way to the flight connection desk, pick up the information about your onward flight (gate location and how to get there, etc,) and make it to your next gate. This might be close by, but equally it could be a tram, train, monorail or bus transfer to another satellite terminal or even just a very long walk. If you are not there by 'gate close' time, usually 10-15 minutes before the scheduled departure time, they will start to look for your bags. However, even if everything has been running to time so far it is unlikely your bags will have made it through to the onward flight. There simply isn't the capacity to get bags off one flight, across an airport, and onto another flight in less than 35 minutes.

If you are on a different carrier you will probably have to clear customs and immigration, collect your bags and check back in and renegotiate security again. There really is not enough time to do this. The minute one thing doesn't go according to plan you will start to pick up knock on delays and have no chance at all.

I'm a very experienced traveller and know many of the world's major airports and the way they work well enough to be confident of a speedy passage through an airport, but I wouldn't do it alone. I especially wouldn't do it with a toddler and baby.

As for flights waiting, I don't know if this was people's experience from some years ago, but I am not permitted to wait for individual passengers, or even groups of passengers (I'm a long haul pilot.) The complexities of slots to take off, land and cross different country's airspace, parking stand allocations, ground staff availability, and more mean that flights run on a very tight schedule. A couple of minutes delay in one place may mean they miss their slot and fall far behind schedule. General airline policy is to attempt to stick to the schedule at all costs - punctuality is most airline's second priority after safety.