short connection on Southwest in Chicago

[Sea Hag]

I don't know how I managed to do this, but I've got a trip coming up on Monday where I have 35 minutes in Chicago to connect to a flight going to Columbus, OH. I normally would never book it that tight.

 

I don't like this much, and I'm thinking I screwed up big time. How bad do you all think this is?

[PennyAgain]

With the weather as bad as it is right now in Chicago, no way to even make a guess.

[wcook]

Southwest seems to be very good at managing these short connections. It's one of the areas in which they excel. In particular, it's very common for them to schedule such short connections at MDM and BWI.

 

While such connections are never ideal, I'd be more comfortable with a Southwest connection at Midway than just about any other combination. Now if we were talking United at O'hare... forgetaboutit.

[Sea Hag]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I just hope for the best. If worse comes to worst and I miss the connection, I can always just stay there and begin life anew in Chicago. :)

[Bowie MeMe]

If you were to call Southwest and get lucky you might be able to change your flight if other seats are available. SWA does not charge change fees or perhaps could cancel the flight with credit going to your SWA account and purchasing a new ticket. Will cost you more but see what you can do on-line. In the last month we had to cancel and rebook a flight to Vegas the next week due to illness and a relative had to cancel a flight to Cleveland last minute (24 hours) and she got credit for flight for 1 year.

[footballfu45]

I don't know about MDW, but I was able to make a 35 min connection at O'Hare in May. On my first flight I had a seat near the front of the plane so I was one of the first people off, and my next gate wasn't that far away. With Southwest, the only thing that may happen is that you might show up after boarding starts, and without assigned seats you might not get an ideal spot.

[tmitchell82]

MDW is much smaller the ORD. It also does not get the delays from weather that ORD does. With the snow yesterday, ORD was behind by over an hour for some time while MDW was less than 30 minutes. 35 minutes is not too bad at MDW. The walk between gates is not that far even for the biggest difference (think compared to going from C - D in Atlanta...:eek:)

[6rugrats]

OP - you may find this webpage useful:

 

http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp

 

There does not appear to be a problem with delays at MDW today; hopefully, that is an indicator of how it will be tomorrow.

[parody]

How bad do you all think this is?

 

For some words of comfort: if the weather is bad such that your plane is delayed x minutes arriving, most likely the plane that you want to connect to is also delayed x minutes--thus preserving your (relative) 35 minute connect time.

[Sea Hag]

Thanks, everybody. And thanks Rugrats for the link. : )

[Bowie MeMe]

Good Luck and let us know if you made it. Run Fast!