As a general rule of thumb, airlines don’t hold flights for connecting passengers. Now, it happens sometimes, and it is happening with an increasing frequency, as airlines employ technology that determines the optimal amount of time a flight can be held without impacting operations.
That being said, when flights are held, it’s typically for a matter of minutes. That brings us to a situation that an OMAAT reader has shared with me…
In this post:
Southwest Honolulu to San Jose flight held for over an hour
OMAAT reader Thomas shared an experience with me, about a Southwest flight he took from Hawaii to the mainland, which was delayed by over an hour to wait for connecting passengers. Here’s his version of what happened:
We were scheduled to fly from Hilo via Honolulu to San Jose on November 29. We had a 2 hour layover in HNL and the flight from Hilo to Honolulu was on time and no issues. I saw the incoming plane for our flight to SJC came from PHX and was a few minutes behind schedule so originally our departure time of 2:50pm was pushed out by 4 mins – no big deal.
But then we waited at the gate and the boarding time and departure time passed by with no announcement. Then it was announced the flight was delayed by 20 mins. I went up and asked the reason and they said – they are waiting for some connecting passengers. So I checked online to see what flight that could be but saw all flights from neighboring islands were fine except the one from Lihue to HNL which was apparently on a rolling delay and at that time was already 2 hours late and still hadn’t departed.
So I went back up to the agent and asked if we were waiting for the flight from Kauai which she confirmed to me. Then the agent told me oh don’t worry the flight is already in the air. I told her I can see on flightaware that it hasn’t even left the gate. And of course I was right… So we waited, and waited. After another half hour I went up and I asked them if they realize SJC has an 11:30pm curfew and if they keep delayed we will hit it. She said oh no, that’s not for arriving flights (the second lie that day).
Any way, so another 15 mins later I saw the flight from Lihue had finally departed, by now 3+ hours behind schedule. So I thought, okay, we should be boarding soon. But nope… here is what happened next. They waited until the 10+ folks from that connecting flight were at our gate for boarding so – whoever they were – were able to board before A1-15. So they didn’t just hold a plane for a handful of connecting passengers, they delayed a mainland flight so much to make sure these connecting “passengers” boarded ahead of everyone else.
I can assure you everyone was super frustrated. I have flown Southwest for over 20 years and have never heard or experienced a “connection saver”, and definitely not for a 3 hour late flight for a handful of “passengers” and definitely never so that they could board first.
Curious if anyone else ever had such an experience and of these are just rogue Southwest employees doing whatever they want to make sure their buddies get the extra legroom flights – or is this a new policy that they created?
For context, below is the flight status for the Honolulu (HNL) to San Jose (SJC) flight, which was delayed to wait for connecting passengers.
Meanwhile below is the flight status for the Lihue (LIH) to Honolulu (HNL) flight, which reportedly caused the delay.
What could explain the way this Southwest flight was held?
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a flight being held for over an hour to wait for a small number of connecting passengers, so what could be going on here? I think it is entirely possible that the airline made the operational decision to wait for passengers arriving off that inter-island flight, even though an hour plus seems like a long time to wait:
- Presumably everyone was terminating in San Jose, as Southwest has no redeyes or late night flights departing after 10PM
- With the plane ending its night in San Jose, the airline presumably made the judgment call that not stranding passengers was the better move
Now, on the one hand, I can appreciate that. On the other hand, there’s a point at which you also have to think of the other passengers, who want to make it home (or to their destination) at a semi-reasonable hour.
The second part of this is what I’m more confused about — why would the gate agents wait to start boarding until the passengers on the delayed flight got off, and let them board first? You’d think that they’d just start boarding as soon as they had a sense of when that late flight would arrive, and then those passengers on the late connecting flight would be the last to board.
I can’t imagine that this is actually a case of these people having high boarding priority, or anything, and therefore boarding being held. The only explanation I can come up with is that there was a little more to this story, like the plane actually being held because the pilots from the Lihue flight were supposed to work the San Jose flight, and they waited until they were off the plane to start boarding? That doesn’t fully explain it, of course, but I just don’t have another good explanation.
Perhaps those more familiar with Southwest operations than I am can chime in with other theories, because I do find this to be strange.
Bottom line
A Southwest Airlines flight from Honolulu to San Jose was delayed by over an hour, reportedly to wait for connecting passengers. While it’s not unusual to wait some amount of time for connecting passengers, over an hour is a long time to wait.
That being said, I imagine the operations team at the airline just made the judgment call that this would lead to the best overall outcome, given that the plane was ending its night in San Jose. What I find strange in all of this is that they reportedly didn’t start boarding the flight until those on the late inbound flight got off the aircraft, and they got to board early.
What do you make of Southwest holding the flight for this long, and have you heard of a flight being held for this amount of time?
Who the hell cares? Get over it.
so unlike most other airlines (and soon SWA), A1-15 folks do not pay for specific seat which will remain available to them no matter how late they board - but for opportunity to board early and select seat. In this case the opportunity would not be there if boarding started early as OP suggested. How does SWA handle people who paid for early boarding but do not get it?
Besides what others have said, it could have also been crew positioning. Not allowing some crew to get to SJC might have caused even more problems, especially with the holiday week and bad weather through the midwest. Minor disturbances can have a cascading effect. Just ask SW themselves years ago with the holiday snafu.
A couple of years ago I was on an AF flight CDG-LAX and my incoming flight from VIE had been delayed almost 2 hours due to deicing. Got to the gate right at departure time only to find out that AF was holding the plane to wait for 20 or so more passengers who had also been delayed.
AF held also held a CDG-LAX flight one time when my daughter was flying home.
Same thing, but worse, happened to me. ATL-RSW, June 2022. Southwest waited for another airplane delayed by rain. We sat ON THE AIRPLANE 2 hours 58 minutes before it departed (two minutes short of having to refund our fares). By waiting, our flight was then delayed by rain. If they’d left on time, none of this would’ve happened. Then to get off the ground in the to save them money, they sent us up in...
Same thing, but worse, happened to me. ATL-RSW, June 2022. Southwest waited for another airplane delayed by rain. We sat ON THE AIRPLANE 2 hours 58 minutes before it departed (two minutes short of having to refund our fares). By waiting, our flight was then delayed by rain. If they’d left on time, none of this would’ve happened. Then to get off the ground in the to save them money, they sent us up in the worst weather with all engines roaring and the plane struggling to go straight up! I had arrived several hours early at the ATL airport, so add that to the awful discomfort. Once in the air, they served NOTHING, not even water. Family waiting was sooo inconvenienced. It was a horrible experience. Plus, I got sick from the passenger with a bad cold sitting next to me for the 2 hr 58 min plus the time of the flight. It sounds like SWA hasn’t changed its way.
Holy airball of an article lol
It happened to us, ironically in Honolulu. The rest of this post is antidotal and lacks specifics. So be warned, you don't need to read the remainder of this post:
January 2024, we were waiting on the plane, at the gate in Honolulu for our flight to Sydney. This flight was to take off sometime around the 3:00PM hour. Same scenario, the information given to us was that we would wait at the gate for...
It happened to us, ironically in Honolulu. The rest of this post is antidotal and lacks specifics. So be warned, you don't need to read the remainder of this post:
January 2024, we were waiting on the plane, at the gate in Honolulu for our flight to Sydney. This flight was to take off sometime around the 3:00PM hour. Same scenario, the information given to us was that we would wait at the gate for a connecting flight that was running late. It was at least an hour and maybe an hour and a half before the latecomers boarded our plane. Got to Sydney very late in the evening the next day (International Date Line of course). All was good; all was forgotten... until I read this post.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Oh BTW, the airline was Hawaiian Airlines pre Alaska ownership
So many reasons to hold this flight - Sunday being a busy travel day, the 737-MAX being exempt from the SJC curfew, limited hotel availability in HNL on a holiday week…
It just made more sense to hold. Not rocket surgery.
Agreed completely! It would be "NUTS" to not hold it.
Russ
Yep - exactly that. I have been on both ends of this (waiting for a connecting flight and having a flight wait for me) and I can safely say that the frustration of waiting for an hour is far lower than the frustration of missing a flight and being stranded for an extra day, so I think the airline did the right thing.
I found that airline don't particularly enjoy having to find and...
Yep - exactly that. I have been on both ends of this (waiting for a connecting flight and having a flight wait for me) and I can safely say that the frustration of waiting for an hour is far lower than the frustration of missing a flight and being stranded for an extra day, so I think the airline did the right thing.
I found that airline don't particularly enjoy having to find and pay for hotel rooms for passengers that miss their flights, especially in more expensive locations (looking at you Hawaii). If an hour's delay is not likely to turn into a rolling delay - I think they acted reasonably.
Knowing that the gate agents are not always terribly well informed and are not always familiar with the exact curfew rules at different airports - I think accusing the agent of lying is a little harsh. They probably weren't enjoying it, and given how little they could do, I'd just let them do their job.
It's crazy that gate agents think they can get away with lying when anyone can prove them wrong by accessing FlightRadar24 or FlightAware. Saying the plane is already airborne is a clear lie that can be easily disproven.
Former Southwest pilot here. Connection holds are a thing.
If you’re the last flight out to a certain destination, the company would rather delay the flight to prevent misconnects than pay for hotels. During my first few weeks flying for them, I had a flight delayed 7 hours because we had delayed connecting passengers. It was really bad.
This isn’t some kind of special treatment, although in their contract for pilots they will...
Former Southwest pilot here. Connection holds are a thing.
If you’re the last flight out to a certain destination, the company would rather delay the flight to prevent misconnects than pay for hotels. During my first few weeks flying for them, I had a flight delayed 7 hours because we had delayed connecting passengers. It was really bad.
This isn’t some kind of special treatment, although in their contract for pilots they will hold deadheads back home to base to make sure a delayed pilot gets to go home that night.
Had two connection savers on a recent 4-flight all-United trip. The first was due to weather - SFO morning fog caused a bunch of arrival delays, United held departing flight to NRT by close to an hour. The second one was due to maintenance delay of the NRT-GUM flight. United held the GUM-ROR flight to wait for about 15 connecting passengers.
In both cases, the ONLY notification from United was via a text message. No...
Had two connection savers on a recent 4-flight all-United trip. The first was due to weather - SFO morning fog caused a bunch of arrival delays, United held departing flight to NRT by close to an hour. The second one was due to maintenance delay of the NRT-GUM flight. United held the GUM-ROR flight to wait for about 15 connecting passengers.
In both cases, the ONLY notification from United was via a text message. No email, nothing in the United app, flight status for the departing flight shown as "on time".
We were coming off the famed United "Island Hopper" a few years ago and were running at least 2 hours late getting into GUM. They held the "Manila Hopper" connecting plane (GUM-ROR-MNL) for us and several other passengers. A lot of times it's MUCH cheaper for an airline to wait then to have to pay for hotels and meals.
Many years ago I was scheduled to fly from PVD to MID the day after the Memorial Day holiday. I got to PVD two hours early thinking it would be enough as PVD just isn't that big. However, the TSA line was out the door and into the parking lot. PVD didn't allow "line jumping" soi just resigned myself to getting the next flight after the one I would surely miss. By the time I...
Many years ago I was scheduled to fly from PVD to MID the day after the Memorial Day holiday. I got to PVD two hours early thinking it would be enough as PVD just isn't that big. However, the TSA line was out the door and into the parking lot. PVD didn't allow "line jumping" soi just resigned myself to getting the next flight after the one I would surely miss. By the time I cleared TSA I was so late I didn't even run to the gate. I was sure the plane had left. But as I got there, the gate was still open and I was able to board my scheduled flight. I was apparently the last to board as they shut the door behind me. As I buckled in an announcemtent came from the pilot. He said that they were aware of the long lines and were certain that the last boarders would have waited for those who had come earlier if they had been made late by circumstances beyond their control. Thus began my "luv" affair with SWA. There after whenever I have a choice, I fly the LUV airlines/
I had a WN flight from LAS to SAN that was held 50 minutes for connecting passengers a few years ago. (Which is almost equal to the duration of the flight). It was the last flight of the night so it makes sense.
in other irregular operations news, looks like B6 is getting bit hard by the A320 issue; they have cancelled 16% of their flights today after a much smaller number of cancellations yesterday.
while accusations of me being someone else below are, as usual, false, the circumstances surrounding this flight seem strange.
the good news is that there aren't that many days left before WN operates w/ assigned seating so at least part of...
in other irregular operations news, looks like B6 is getting bit hard by the A320 issue; they have cancelled 16% of their flights today after a much smaller number of cancellations yesterday.
while accusations of me being someone else below are, as usual, false, the circumstances surrounding this flight seem strange.
the good news is that there aren't that many days left before WN operates w/ assigned seating so at least part of this delay will be eliminated if they do something like this again.
and if the point was to let these connecting passengers board first, they could have just blocked several rows on the plane and boarded everyone else. It wouldn't have looked any worse than what they did.
SJC has a noise based curfew which only effects certain aircraft. The Max-8 is exempt from the curfew. So the agent was mostly right as the curfew did not affect this flight.
The major reason for holding a flight this long was a basic financial decision. It is a holiday weekend. There may not be enough seats for a day or two that they would need to possibly cover hotel cost. If it was...
SJC has a noise based curfew which only effects certain aircraft. The Max-8 is exempt from the curfew. So the agent was mostly right as the curfew did not affect this flight.
The major reason for holding a flight this long was a basic financial decision. It is a holiday weekend. There may not be enough seats for a day or two that they would need to possibly cover hotel cost. If it was a group finding 10 seats on the same itinerary proved a bigger hassle than just waiting.
A minor reason and probably while they held off boarding could be for a compassionate reason. A family going to a funeral and they bought business select tixs so they could sit together which would be why they held boarding... you are already waiting.. let them sit together..
An hour inconvenience so that everyone could make it to SJC, as this was the last flight of the night, should not come with so much righteous anger ... healthy curiosity is ok .. wanting to know how and why decision are made I think is natural ... but this seems extreme..
One day it could be you needing just a bit of LUV...
Hi, I am the person who submitted this story. Yes, first world problems. We made it into San Jose 1.5 hours behind schedule and we were home well after midnight. Of course a 1+ hour delay is no big deal. Nonetheless it is strange to hold an almost entire plane with 170 people for a dozen or so connecting passengers for over an hour? Never experienced this on any flight - 10-20 mins maybe. Also...
Hi, I am the person who submitted this story. Yes, first world problems. We made it into San Jose 1.5 hours behind schedule and we were home well after midnight. Of course a 1+ hour delay is no big deal. Nonetheless it is strange to hold an almost entire plane with 170 people for a dozen or so connecting passengers for over an hour? Never experienced this on any flight - 10-20 mins maybe. Also no have anyone board and wait until the "connecting folks" arrive and get to board ahead of everyone smells like something is off. Which makes me think that these weren't just "normal passengers". Boarding the plane takes about 30 mins - they could have at least boarded everyone else and then have the late folks get on board quickly. So someone at Southwest made sure that these special folks got their extra legroom seats at the expense of 170 other people getting home well after midnight. At the very least, this is really strange ...
Thomas Jefferson, not strange at all. A basic and simple Operational decision.
While SJC technically has a curfew, it is not a “hard” curfew like you see in ASE or SNA, where nothing arrives after a certain time. SJC curfew is just a matter of the airline reporting the late arrival after curfew, but the flight can still land.
So the agent was not lying.
I have experienced a 50 minute delay for connecting passengers on the last flight of the night so that part isn't unusual. The boarding part is strange as we were already boarded while waiting for the connecting pax.
The comments addressing the hold because it was the last flight of the day make sense. But to let no one board because the late arrivers were A1-15 and may have spent more for their tickets? Just cordon off enough good seats for them & allow the others to commence boarding before they arrive.
US Domestic Flight OTP 2023-2025 YTD: 61.8%
US Domestic Flight Avg Delay 2023-2025: 73 minutes
Total non-issue.
Not unheard of for flights in Europe to wait 2+ hours for passengers connecting between Asia and North America.
Russ McArthur = Tim Dunn (?)
A mere one hour delay is news ?
Maybe the delayed passengers were SW VIPs or board members and their families returning from holiday and someone made a call to hold plane regardless of how late they were?
SJC’s curfew only applies to certain plane types - the Max-8 is not one of them. Also, WN frequently violates it and pays the fine.
Southwest may have had no good alternatives for those passengers. It's the weekend after Thanksgiving. All their flights may have been booked. Hotels in HNL could be very slim too. Southwest wanted to ensure they could get home this weekend. Or they basically offer a "guaranteed connection" service when people use their interisland hops. I see nothing wrong with what SW did (except poor communication); it's just a business/operational decision.
OP should also realize...
Southwest may have had no good alternatives for those passengers. It's the weekend after Thanksgiving. All their flights may have been booked. Hotels in HNL could be very slim too. Southwest wanted to ensure they could get home this weekend. Or they basically offer a "guaranteed connection" service when people use their interisland hops. I see nothing wrong with what SW did (except poor communication); it's just a business/operational decision.
OP should also realize picking the airline with less redundancy (also can result in strange outcomes.
This is also just a 1.5 hour delay? Complete nonstory
Confused - a one-ish hour delay of a flight now earns a OMAT blog post? Low material day?
Yep, we are scraping the bottom of the barrel for content. But apparently it is good for clicks, as it has brought out one particular rage flyer.
I’d say the part that would upset me the most as a passenger on that flight would be the lack of communication and the outright lies told by the agent. If they conveyed to passengers that they were waiting for connecting passengers who would otherwise be stranded, followed by the “it may be you we hold for next time”, I’d be annoyed but informed if not totally understanding. But trying to lie about a flight’s...
I’d say the part that would upset me the most as a passenger on that flight would be the lack of communication and the outright lies told by the agent. If they conveyed to passengers that they were waiting for connecting passengers who would otherwise be stranded, followed by the “it may be you we hold for next time”, I’d be annoyed but informed if not totally understanding. But trying to lie about a flight’s progress in 2025 when apps like FlightAware and FlightRadar24 are widely available is just plain dumb (especially with AvGeeks feeding ADS-B data in exchange for unfiltered access). The FLIFO is no longer secret, people. What used to cost a pile of money in the 90s/2000s (systems like SABRE or AMADEUS) is dirt cheap today.
Irreverent behavior!! Would somebody think of the people?!
Dick,
How are your testicals?
This story is an absolute disgrace and a slap in the face to every single person who has ever remained loyal to Southwest.
For the benefit of ten (let me repeat: TEN) inconsequential passengers from a flight that was over three hours late through no act of God, Southwest chose to hold an entire 737 MAX full of 170+ paying customers for more than 80 minutes, then added the ultimate insult by allowing those same...
This story is an absolute disgrace and a slap in the face to every single person who has ever remained loyal to Southwest.
For the benefit of ten (let me repeat: TEN) inconsequential passengers from a flight that was over three hours late through no act of God, Southwest chose to hold an entire 737 MAX full of 170+ paying customers for more than 80 minutes, then added the ultimate insult by allowing those same ten latecomers to board ahead of A1–15, ahead of A-List Preferred, ahead of families, ahead of everyone who actually played by the rules. Ten people. Ten utterly inconsequential individuals were elevated above the other 97% of the manifest. Their convenience was sacred; everyone else’s time, money, and earned boarding position was declared worthless. Gate agents lied twice in the process (claiming the Kauai flight was airborne when it hadn’t moved, then falsely asserting SJC’s curfew doesn’t apply to arrivals). Lies on top of contempt on top of theft of boarding rights that loyal customers paid good money to secure.
This wasn’t “protecting connections.” This was blatant favoritism, whether for revenue passengers with upgraded boarding, non-revs, employees, or someone’s buddies, and Southwest executed it with breathtaking arrogance. They sacrificed the comfort, schedules, and dignity of an entire aircraft to coddle a microscopic minority that had no realistic chance of making the flight in the first place.
Are you saying those 10 "inconsequential" people weren't playing by the rules? What did they do wrong?
Sarcasm?
No, I am not being sarcastic. Not even slightly.
I have flown Southwest for over twenty years, held A-List and A-List Preferred for most of that time, and have well over a million lifetime miles with them. I have defended them on FlyerTalk, Reddit, Twitter, and in real-life arguments more times than I can count. What happened on WN3201 on November 29th is the single most egregious, tone-deaf, loyalty-destroying operational decision I have ever seen...
No, I am not being sarcastic. Not even slightly.
I have flown Southwest for over twenty years, held A-List and A-List Preferred for most of that time, and have well over a million lifetime miles with them. I have defended them on FlyerTalk, Reddit, Twitter, and in real-life arguments more times than I can count. What happened on WN3201 on November 29th is the single most egregious, tone-deaf, loyalty-destroying operational decision I have ever seen from any U.S. carrier in decades of following this industry. Holding a mainland flight for more than eighty minutes and then letting ten catastrophically late passengers cut in front of legitimately earned A1–A15 boarding positions is not hyperbole; it is a factual description of what occurred.
If you think calling ten passengers “inconsequential” is harsh, do the math: 170+ people × >80 minutes = more than 226 collective hours sacrificed so that roughly 3% of the manifest could keep seats they had no right to. That is the textbook definition of treating the overwhelming majority as inconsequential.
Are you actually for real? Over a one hour or so delay? Get a grip.
Thomas,
Yes, I’m 100% serious. Very serious.
You’re waving this off as “just an hour or so” like it’s nothing. Let’s recap exactly what happened:
- 80+ minute hold for ten passengers whose inbound flight was three hours and twenty minutes late.
- Then, in a move that defies all logic and fairness, those same ten were allowed to board ahead of A1–15 and instantly stole seats from every single person who checked in...
Thomas,
Yes, I’m 100% serious. Very serious.
You’re waving this off as “just an hour or so” like it’s nothing. Let’s recap exactly what happened:
- 80+ minute hold for ten passengers whose inbound flight was three hours and twenty minutes late.
- Then, in a move that defies all logic and fairness, those same ten were allowed to board ahead of A1–15 and instantly stole seats from every single person who checked in on time, paid for EarlyBird, or earned elite status.
That’s not a “delay.” That’s Southwest telling 97% of its paying customers that their time, money, and loyalty are completely meaningless the second a handful of latecomers appear.
If that doesn’t infuriate you, if you’re fine watching your boarding position vanish so some chronically tardy passengers can waltz on and grab the exit rows, then honestly, Thomas, have your testicles descended yet? Because only someone completely lacking a spine would shrug this off as “get a grip” territory.
The rest of us still have standards. This was contemptible, and minimizing it just makes you look pathetic.
Thank you for your concern around my testicles. You must value 80 minutes and a seat assignment a lot more than the rest of us to have this much rage. I’m sure the folks you waited for appreciated not having to spend the night in HNL and arriving with their testicles to boot.
Good lord man. Get a grip (as other commenters have noted) and get over yourself. Flight delays happen for all kinds of reasons. Your reaction makes me wonder if you really fly that much. And if you really do, and if you're so demanding and entitled, fly private.
Keep defending this garbage, champ.
When your testicles finally descend, I hope it happens while you’re on the toilet so they drop straight into the bowl. Ploopity plopity.
Or you can agree that holding a mainland flight 80+ minutes and then letting ten passengers who were three hours late cut ahead of A1–15 is completely unacceptable.
An hour and 20min late? Poor guy. Couldn’t board first? Tragic.
A similar event happened to us 8 years ago on Southwest. We all boarded, and then the captain announced that we are going to wait 40 minutes for connecting passengers. But he also said that in the future it might be us for whom a Southwest flight might get held. So actually, we all just accepted it, there was no complaining.
And then 3 months later a flight was indeed held for us for 20 minutes when our inbound plane arrived late.
Very common occurence
All I can say as advice is, don't ask or expect gate agents to know or do anything, or have any connection to any decision making authority, or hold them to that standard. Think of them as garbled loudspeakers connected to the computer system that occasionally get some actual live info from the crew. Trying to reason or dispute with them has no purpose and will just make you frustrated.
The people with the...
All I can say as advice is, don't ask or expect gate agents to know or do anything, or have any connection to any decision making authority, or hold them to that standard. Think of them as garbled loudspeakers connected to the computer system that occasionally get some actual live info from the crew. Trying to reason or dispute with them has no purpose and will just make you frustrated.
The people with the authority and making any kind of decisions about departure times, hold times, aircraft issues, substitutions, etc. are the operational dispatchers or zone controllers, who are sitting thousands of miles away from wherever you are.
All you can do is vote with your feet.
Have seen this before. The 15 or so passengers were part of a group ticket/buy. SW will let that entire group board first, usually to the middle of the plane so they aren’t split apart. Have seen this with schools, and church groups. So they probably held for the SJ termination reason but allows them to board to keep the group together.
This is just a business decision. If there is an inbound with many connecting passengers onboard, it may make financial sense to hold the flight as opposed to needing to deal with the passengers who arrive and need hotels, compensation, and so on. Nothing strange here at all. CASE CLOSED.
The airline can do whatever they want. End of story.