A 60-minute layover might look perfectly feasible on a flight booking screen, but inside a massive international hub airport, 60 minutes can be a recipe for a missed flight, abandoned luggage, and a night stranded at an airport hotel.
The Fiction of Minimum Connecting Time (MCT)
Airlines publish Minimum Connecting Times (MCT) for every hub airport. An airline system might legally permit a 45-minute connection at Chicago O'Hare (ORD), London Heathrow (LHR), or Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). However, published MCTs assume absolute best-case scenarios: - The inbound flight lands exactly on time with zero runway holding delays. - A gate is immediately open with a ground crew ready to attach the jetbridge. - The arrival and departure gates are in the same terminal concourse. - You have zero security re-screening or immigration queues.
Realities at Mega-Hubs
At airports like Heathrow, changing from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 requires deplaning, taking an airside shuttle bus across active runways, re-clearing security, and traversing sprawling concourses—a process that routinely takes 75 to 90 minutes.
