I am planning some international trips for the first time since 2000, and I am looking at flights with one to an hour and a half of layover. I know these will be at the other end of the airport, as I am flying from a small airport to a large, international one. (Spokane to Seattle)
I generally like not to be rushed, but I also don't want to wait 5+ hours.
Based on your recent experience, what times seem to make the most sense? I generally aim for 1.5 hours minimum.
I prefer 2 hours minimum in case the first flight is late or its one of those taxi-ing forever situations.
At least 2 hours is my comfort zone. Make sure your travel is on one itinerary and not separate tickets.
Are you asking about SEA specifically or all airports and flights in general?
What time of year, as weather may be a factor
When is your trip? And to where, from SEA? Direct from SEA or with a connection somewhere? Did you look at the on-time record for the flights your considering?
My international comfort zone is around 3 hours, not that I've flown a lot. Time to tinkle and get food. I can't dash through airports if any of my flights are delayed. This trip, my connection is 5 hours outbound and inbound. A tad more than I'd prefer, but all the other connecting flights available were less than 1 1/2 hours which is too tight for me. With 3 days to go, I checking often to see if United changes my flights for the sixth time. They have changed my outbound flights 3 times and inbound twice, since I booked 11 months ago. A few changes didn't matter; the last they made was unmanageable, so I changed it.
I usually try to allow more time on my outgoing flight, 2-3 hours, than on my home bound flight where I’m not as worried about missing a connection. I usually fly through JFK or Newark for international travel.
I am asking in general, as we have not booked our flights yet. We are still in the planning stages and could end up flying through Denver, SLC, or Minneapolis. I mention SEA because it tends to show up because of where we are starting. All of these trips are in November and December.
It is looking like 2 hours minimum is best. I was thinking in this direction, but I wanted to be sure.
I won't know which airports we will use for the November trip until we book. We haven't even decided where we are going yet. That will be determined when I look at the Google flight schedule, and we will base our trip on where we can get cheaper flights. (Honestly, if we could just show up at the airport and get a super-cheap flight anywhere in the world, I would probably do that.)
Two hours is probably a good general idea, but it might vary depending on how long your first flight is. For instance, a Spokane-to-Seattle flight is short -- how late could it really be? But a flight from Spokane to Chicago or an east coast city (if any) would have a better chance of landing late, making a longer layover desirable. It also matters whether the layover will involve going through immigration, which inevitably takes time, whichever direction you're going.
I use SEA and usually try to get all the way to Europe on my first flight so I have more options in case I miss the second. But there's no way to do that from Spokane.
I’m with the 2hr or more group!
I’d also like to invite you to the CdA/Spokane Meet up! We usually get together the 1st Saturday of the month but for Sept we are meeting the 2nd Saturday. So, Sept 10 at 10A at Woops Bakery in downtown CdA at the corner of 4th and Lakeside.
We’ve had a number of folks travel this summer, all leaving out of Spokane so we might be able to help you troubleshoot. Two are flying soon with just 1hr 10minutes or so to transit thru Paris so they are brave, lol!
Pam, Thanks for the invite!
I live 2 hours south of CDA, so I don’t come up often. But I was thinking about a TJ’s trip soon, so maybe I can make it then. :)
Desirable minimum layover times depends on the airport in which I'm connecting. Chicago and Atlanta for example as needing longer layovers. But at least two hours, preferably more. For these reasons: if my connecting flight is on a smaller regional jet, or any flight later in the day, the chances of a delay are much greater. Then if I'm not in the front of the plane, it can take a lot longer to get off, eating up some of that time. The international flight usually starts boarding an hour before flight time, so I dont want to be rushing to that gate as its already boarding.
@ travelerravi5 its best to start a new thread with your question as it will get more attention that way.
Hi Mariam,
I'm leaving out of Spokane next week for Paris and will have a 2 hour 20 minute layover but on the return through Salt Lake, a 4 hour 37 minute layover. I would have preferred leaving out of the Lewiston airport but the connection times in either SEA or SLC were either 33 minutes or over 8 hours. We always fly Delta because our tiny Lewiston airport only had Delta for the longest time.
Are you looking at flights landing or connecting in Amsterdam or Paris? At either one of those for my flights I feel better with at least a 3 hour layover.
