I fly every week. My latest rant is or maybe question is how flights determine to wait up for connecting passengers. Last week I knew I was going to be iffy on connecting, my initial flight left on time, but due to weather - we flew around a storm and lost a lot of time delaying our arrival. It happens. On the landing they announce passengers with tight connections and where those gates are. 7 of us are going to my connecting plane. We get off and do the ugly run through the terminal but we get to the gate to see the doors were just shut. The plane still had 10 minutes before schedule departure so we thought we had a chance. No luck, oh well, overnight stay.

Last night almost the same situation, same airport same flight. I made it to my flight this time. We sit so long I assume there is a mechanical or paperwork issue. The pilot comes on after some time saying “I know you are wondering why we aren’t moving…we are waiting for some passengers on connecting flights. Please be patient with us”. Four people come on the plane. We still don’t leave. A few minutes later a couple comes on from another delayed flight and finally a single passenger comes in from a third delayed flight and we take off.

I don’t understand. In both cases it was the same flight. Why do they wait one time and leave the first time. Feels like I got the worst of each scenario as I was at the gate the week before before the schedule departure and last night we were still at the gate doors open an hour after schedule departure. Both planes were done for the night after the late night flight so additional connections didn’t seem to be a factor. Just curious who makes that call? It can’t be the plane or pilots. Why no consistency.