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I have realized that on my booking (American Airlines, through Kayak, on a single ticket) I have a domestic-to-domestic connection with 35 minutes layover at Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL) airport: Qantas 680, scheduled to arrive at 12:25pm AEST -> American 7342, scheduled to leave at 01:00pm AEST.

This looks very little. Is this going to be enough to change flights?

If the answer is "probably no", do you think it's better to contact the airline and get rebooked, or wait to be re-routed in case I miss it? There is a flight by the same company one hour later.

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    @choster Edited for clarity. MEL, domestic-to-domestic. This is the only connection on the first leg of a multiple-flight booking; I am going to continue my trip to the US the day after this leg.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 16:01
  • @choster According to my e-ticket, the carrier for the flight to MEL is Qantas, the carrier for the connecting flight out of MEL is American.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 16:07
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    American Airlines doesn't operate at MEL and it doesn't operate domestic flights in Australia
    – Calchas
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 16:12
  • @Calchas I checked and you are correct, it is an American/Qantas codesharing flight, I presume operated by Qantas.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 16:17

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Actually I believe this is an illegal connection because for Qantas to Qantas in terminal 1 the minimum connect time is supposed to be 40 minutes. I am surprised the booking engine allowed 35 minutes (possibly the AA codeshare confused it).

AA 7342 is a codeshare on QF 434. I tried to force QF 680 connecting to QF 434 at several dates, and although the flight times move about a bit throughout the year, I could never force it below 40 minutes (instead I would get a >24 hour stopover).

It sounds like you booked with American Airlines directly, in which case they have ownership of the booking (until the first flight on the booking is flown) and you would have to discuss changes with them. If kayak sent you to a travel agent then the TA would own the booking and be responsible for fixing it at this stage.

Eventually a ticketing robot might spot this is an illegal connection and try to rebook you automatically without any warning, potentially messing up other parts of your itinerary. Therefore I suggest you contact AA or the agent and ask for the flight to be changed. You may have to emphasize that it is a codeshare on QF which is why it looks like it's allowed.

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  • Sorry for the lack of information. I have edited the question to add the flight numbers. This reveals another oddity which might have led to the booking engine allowing it: the arrival time for the first flight is listed at 12:15 on that independent website, but at 12:25 on my e-ticket. My e-ticket lists a different arrival time also for the second flight (2:25 instead of 2:05). Maybe it is just AA playing tricks with the listed arrival time to make sure they are on time. And yes, I have booked directly on the AA website (sent there by Kayak), not via a third party.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 16:33
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    @FedericoPoloni Okay it could be a synchronization problem between AA and QF. QF are always shifting their domestic timetables around by five minutes here, five minutes there. I have updated my answer with the flight numbers. If you really have 70 minutes it's plenty of time in your circumstances.
    – Calchas
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 16:39
  • I think you got some computation wrong when you arrived to the 70 minutes total: 12:15 to 13:00 is 45 minutes. Anyway, I will get in touch with the airline, many thanks for your great answer.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 16:50
  • @FedericoPoloni Yes sorry misread your comment, thought 2:25 was departure time. 45 minute is tight but technically adequate
    – Calchas
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 16:54

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