Airline Scheduling: Airline Practices in Establishing and Maintaining Connecting Times

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed airline procedures to determine: (1) how they established, publicized, and enforced connecting times between flights; (2) whether current scheduled connecting times were too short; (3) if there were carrier policies regarding holding outgoing flights when incoming connecting flights were late and keeping spare aircraft in reserve to replace those that developed mechanical problems; and (4) if there were any unusual circumstances that would increase the likelihood of missing connections at the three airports reviewed.