Think they'll hold the flight?

sam_gordon

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 26, 2010
DS is flying back from Germany with his soccer team (and another one). They originally had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Atlanta. The flight from Germany left late and now they're down to a 90 minute layover (according to Delta's schedule and Flight Aware). If it was just the connection, I wouldn't worry, but they'll need to clear customs.

There are at least 40 people connecting. The connecting flight is an MD-88, so ~150 passengers?

There are three later flights, but putting 40 people on later flights seems inefficient also.
 
Unfortunately no way to know. I killed myself to make a connection in Denver once, arriving at the gate moments before we were supposed to leave. Then we sat on the plane for at least 20 minutes past departure time. The flight attendant announced that they were holding for a couple passengers on a tight connection. Figures.

At least your son is part of a group so will have guidance on what to do if they miss it.
 
In my experience, no, they won't hold the plane. The connecting flight still has to get the other passengers somewhere on time or it creates a domino effect. Putting 40 people on later flights is less inefficient even though it doesn't seem that way.
 


The connecting flight still has to get the other passengers somewhere on time or it creates a domino effect.
I'm not sure. The airport they're connecting to isn't a hub.

The only thing I feel they have "going for them" is they're such a large group. I've had numerous incidents where flights weren't held for me, but largest group I was with was six (two groups of three).

What sucks about not knowing is the airport is 90 minutes away. We need to leave assuming he's made the flight. I sent a text that he'll hopefully get in Atlanta to let us know when he clears customs.
 
I'm not sure. The airport they're connecting to isn't a hub.

The only thing I feel they have "going for them" is they're such a large group. I've had numerous incidents where flights weren't held for me, but largest group I was with was six (two groups of three).

What sucks about not knowing is the airport is 90 minutes away. We need to leave assuming he's made the flight. I sent a text that he'll hopefully get in Atlanta to let us know when he clears customs.

Even if it isn't a hub, the same plane that lands with them on it takes off with other people on it, same as any other plane at the airport.

Any number of scenarios are possible here, and hopefully he gets the chance to let you know when he clears customs and if they've made the connecting flight or not.
 
For that many people they very well may hold it.

My sister has an FBLA team that often has a lot of kids/parents/teachers go to the national competition and once they were running late for a connection and the flight was held since they made up nearly half of the flight.
 


I'm not sure. The airport they're connecting to isn't a hub.

The only thing I feel they have "going for them" is they're such a large group. I've had numerous incidents where flights weren't held for me, but largest group I was with was six (two groups of three).

What sucks about not knowing is the airport is 90 minutes away. We need to leave assuming he's made the flight. I sent a text that he'll hopefully get in Atlanta to let us know when he clears customs.
Maybe not but clearly they are connecting to somewhere, from somewhere so if they are, someone else is bound to be too.
I have a feeling you aren't going to know anything tell they either make it, or don't.
 
Even if it isn't a hub, the same plane that lands with them on it takes off with other people on it, same as any other plane at the airport.
Good point. I looked it up and I think the plane heads back to ATL after an hour layover.

Again, the only reason I think holding the flight is even possible is because of the number of travelers involved.
 
You'll have to let us know what they end up doing.
Hopefully, they make it without it being held, since that will impact more than just them, no two ways around it, and if they miss it, that is a mess period. And stressful, even if the airline takes care if it all. We recently missed a connecting flight by less than a minute. As in, we could see the door closing to the aircraft as we walked up but didn't matter, we couldn't get on. We got on another flight but it was to a different city. Sent DH on a wild good chase and all worked out in the end but was a stressful way to end a trip when things were outside of our control. I think our delay was started by a sick 1st officer and a delay in getting a replacement
 
If the group is all minors, or largely so, they will probably hold the flight because they won't break up a group like that and make kids fly alone, I don't think. How old are we talking here?
 
If the group is all minors, or largely so, they will probably hold the flight because they won't break up a group like that and make kids fly alone, I don't think. How old are we talking here?
15-17yo + coaches and some parents.

Should be 35 or so players, four(?) coaches & team reps, and I don't know how many parents. I know of at least four parents that went from my son's team, I don't know about the older boys.
 
My daughter recently came home from Europe and their flight from Milan to London was delayed. They came very close to missing their connection to Toronto from London and the plane would not have been held for them (or so they were told). There were 40 kids (ages 14-18) and 10 adults. They raced through the airport and just made it.

The other group with them (another 50 people) had their flight home cancelled so that was fun for the chaperones to rebook 50 people, making sure there was a chaperone on each flight (took over 6 hours to rebook 9 flights to get the whole group home).
 
Hard to tell. I have had Southwest hold a flight for me before as we ran across the airport to make it. We had missed our previous connection due to an airline issue and they were waiting for us. However, this was the last flight of the day so the plane wasn't going onto another destination.
 
We were flying home one time - I think from Fort Lauderdale and they did hold up our flight a short time as there was a youth mission group and their original flight was late and they announced on the plane that they were waiting for passengers that were working their way thru customs to get on the connecting flight. If I recall right, we sat on the plane about an extra 30 minutes at least. Hope it all worked out for you!
 
Years ago, when the Disney Magic did it's first trans-Atlantic cruise, our flight home had a fuel issue and we had to make an unscheduled stop to refuel in Boston before continuing on to Philadelphia. We had a connection to return to MCO with about 60 other cruisers who had booked their airfare through Disney. Basically, we ran off the plane, through customs, rebooking the luggage and security, and full speed run through the terminal to the plane. The first wave, made it before they closed the door. But they weren't planning on waiting for the rest of the 60 people. And this was the last flight of the night too. If people didn't make the plane, they would be stuck in Philly overnight. But basically, nobody from the first wave, fully sat down, we told the rest of the passengers what was going on and delayed long enough that the rest of the people started showing up in quick succession, so they continued boarding. But I don't really think they were too happy with having to stick around, and given some of the current issues with plane travel/flight crews/people getting removed from planes, I'm not sure what would happen if passengers delayed now.

So no, don't expect them to hold the plane, even if it's a large group.
 
Here's the next question... what's a realistic estimate for deplaning, getting through customs, then making the connection in ATL? Looks like they'll have a little less than 90 minutes. I've changed concourses in ATL in 5 minutes before, but everything was just right (just me, gates close to central area, plane train pulled up just as I got down the steps, etc).

Again, because of the distance to the airport where we're picking him up, we have to leave before the connecting flight even starts boarding, so we won't know he didn't make it until we're on the road. There are three more flights, roughly 2 hours between each.
 
Sometimes they will hold it.

What we have done in the past is talk to the flight attendants on the first flight and bring up the tight connection. If they are helpful, great. If not helpful, upon landing I call the airline during the deplaning process and let them know we are at the airport and will get to the gate ASAP. One trip we were racing through LAX (literally running!) and got escorted through customs (yes, even as a family of 4) so we could skip the line there and be rushed to our gate.

Advise his chaperones to talk to as many airline staff as possible. Some people are not helpful but sometimes you can luck out and get someone who is.

90 mins should be doable if they move quick but moving 40 kids tends to be slow. And the big question is how long the customs line takes. If they get a helpful airline staff willing to escort them through customs, that should speed things up considerably.
 
Sometimes they will hold it.

What we have done in the past is talk to the flight attendants on the first flight and bring up the tight connection. If they are helpful, great. If not helpful, upon landing I call the airline during the deplaning process and let them know we are at the airport and will get to the gate ASAP. One trip we were racing through LAX (literally running!) and got escorted through customs (yes, even as a family of 4) so we could skip the line there and be rushed to our gate.

Advise his chaperones to talk to as many airline staff as possible. Some people are not helpful but sometimes you can luck out and get someone who is.

90 mins should be doable if they move quick but moving 40 kids tends to be slow. And the big question is how long the customs line takes. If they get a helpful airline staff willing to escort them through customs, that should speed things up considerably.
They are in the air right now, an hour from landing. Because of the time difference, they were already in the air by the time I got up this morning. I'm hoping the chaperones (or the group that organized the travel) know what to do.

Best case... they somehow make the originally schedule flight (whether it's by holding it or getting quickly through customs.
Worst case... they miss the flight and start sending the kids piece meal on other flights. DS doesn't arrive today and has to spend the night at the atlanta airport. :P
 
I have not had Delta hold flights for us even when we were in the airport running to the gate from the first delayed Delta flight.

Southwest has held flights many times for connecting passengers when I have flown them.

Hope they make it!
 

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