While the concept of low pressure- (LP-) or vacuum outlet-gas chromatography (GC) has already been introduced in the early 1960s by Giddings [1], it should take until the early 2000s until this concept was realized in practice [2]. Vacuum outlet GC is based on the use of a short, wide bore (typically 10-15 m long, 0.53 mm ID) capillary column operated under vacuum conditions, typically achieved by the coupling to a mass spectrometer as a detector. To keep the flow at an acceptable rate for the mass spectrometer, it is restricted by a short piece of a narrow inner diameter capillary column which at the same time may act as a guard column [3]. Under these conditions, the vacuum extends almost throughout the entire analytical column, and, as a consequence of the reduced density and viscosity of the mobile phase, mass transfer is significantly enhanced. This allows for a much faster chromatography than under normal pressure conditions, although at the price of reduced separation efficiency due to the short columns used. This latter disadvantage is mostly compensated by the use of the MS as a selective detector [4]. Among the claimed advantages of this technique are listed higher sample throughput, lower detection limits, less analyte degradation, reduced peak tailing, increased sample capacity, and greater ruggedness. So far, most applications of this technique are for semi-volatile analytes that can sufficiently well be focused at the head of a relatively thin film column (0.25 µm film thickness) under LP conditions. At larger film thickness (> 1.5 µm), it was argued that the speed gain that the LP-GC technique offers was lost and at the same time chromatographic resolution sacrified. We were able to demonstrate in theory and practice that the LP-GC/MS technique is also suitable for the fast analysis of volatile organic compounds, provided that stationary phase film thickness is matched. This means that thicker film GC columns (e.g., 3 µm) are to be used which is contradictory to the current understanding of LP-GC/MS. Analytical figures of merit under these conditions are reported and critically discussed. References: 1. J.C. Giddings, Anal. Chem., 34 (1962) 314-319. 2. M. van Deursen, H. G. Janssen, J. Beens, P. Lipman, R. Reinierkens, G. Rutten, C. Cramers, J. Microcol. Sep., 12 (2000) 613‐622. 3. J. de Zeeuw, J. Peene, H.-G.Janssen, X. Lou, J. High Resol. Chromatogr., 23 (2000) 677-680. 4. Y. Sapozhnikova, S.J. Lehotay, Anal. Chim. Acta 899 (2015) 13-22.