5 Tips for Dealing With a Missed Flight Connection

You can work around a missed connection—and may even benefit.
5 Tips for Dealing With a Missed Flight Connection
A missed connection will probably mean a longer layover, but depending on where you are, you may be able to make the most of it. Prostock-studio/Shutterstock
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As we made our final descent into Vancouver, British Columbia, the mood on the plane was tense. At least two dozen passengers on this flight—myself included—had an all-but-impossible connection to make. Upon taxiing to the gate, a flight attendant made an announcement, asking everyone who wasn’t on the connecting flight to please remain seated.

Of course, nobody did. Once I waded my way to the front of the plane, I broke into a full-out run, moving faster on foot than any time I could remember in the previous couple of decades. I arrived at the gate ahead of anyone else but, alas, there was no prize. Huffing and puffing, I couldn’t quite believe my eyes. Outside the plate glass window, that huge Air New Zealand wide-bodied jet was pushing back from the gate, bound for a long transpacific flight. Gone. Next stop, Auckland.

Tim Johnson
Tim Johnson
Author
Toronto-based writer Tim Johnson is always traveling in search of the next great story. Having visited 140 countries across all seven continents, he’s tracked lions on foot in Botswana, dug for dinosaur bones in Mongolia, and walked among a half-million penguins on South Georgia Island. He contributes to some of North America’s largest publications, including CNN Travel, Bloomberg, and The Globe and Mail.