How long a layover?

I personally would go with the 5-hr layover. I would much rather sit around the airport too long than run through the airport to try to catch a flight... or worse... to miss the flight and to be at the mercy of the airline to get you on another flight to Ireland.

I would opt for the 5 hour layover. Your flight could be delayed or the time of departure could be changed.
My rule of thumb is no less than 3 hours between flights, especially if you are not flying on one ticket (same airline or a code-share situation... and even then it's not worth the anxiety to me.)
Have a wonderful trip!

I normally would recommend a layover longer than two hours for a cross-country flight or one to a European hub. But your flight to Chicago or Atlanta would be pretty short, I assume, so how late could it be? Of course you'd want to check your bags through to Ireland, meaning you'd be flying on one ticket and one airline or partner airlines. I'd choose Chicago or Atlanta based on the availability of a single ticket and checked-through baggage. It's true, those are very big airports, but how long would it take to get yourself between gates, even terminals, airside?

Given Sept is hurricane season, a short layover in Atlanta is , umm...... suboptimal.

Certainly would not do the shorter connection time on separate tickets.

I'd go with the longer layover for my outbound...I don't want to risk my vacation. But I don't mind shorter layovers on return. The consequences are less for me.

Longer layover. Especially when discussing ORD and ATL. Flights get delayed. I was once on a 45 minute flight from RDU-IAD that was delayed three hours due to problems down the line.

If flying domestically, where there are probably more flights that day, I wouldn't worry as much. But internationally, I'd play it safe.

Iceland Air is running a big sale right now, book before 25 July. Prices are really good and that short layover in Iceland is normal.

Thanks to all. Tough call. To clarify, we can fly nonstop to Shannon only if we first DRIVE to Chi and fly to Shannon. If we fly WITH layovers from our home airport, CVG (Cincinatti), the layovers are either JFK or Philadelphia. The only nonstop flight to all of Europe in this part of the country is to Paris but we’d still have a connecting flight to Shannon from there. Don’t know if that is “better”.

My husband just flew through Philadelphia on way back from Scotland and almost missed connecting flight. Remember have to go through passport control and get luggage and recheck it upon returning to US.

He had 2.5 hours layover but plane was 30 minutes late. He wanted to carry on his bag but had to check it. He had global entry.

He is getting new luggage (smaller) for Christmas!

On my last trip to Europe I booked a shorter connection, but for my upcoming trip I booked a longer connection. Last trip there was a weather delay at the departing airport and a ground stop at the connecting airport. I had to run from gate to gate and made my flight to Europe by 10 minutes, and that was only because boarding was slightly delayed. Because it was a weather delay, the 30+ people who missed their connection were rebooked, but on flights departing 2 days later. Sitting in an airport for a couple of extra hours is boring, but the longer layover is well worth it imo to reduce the possibility of missing your connection. It's better to lose a couple of hours than to risk losing a couple of days.

Hi Sheila,

lol, I guess it is unanimous and I will give my vote too - longer layover. I know it can be a bit boring to wait around so long. I would rather be safe than sorry as the saying goes.

For my International travel, I allow at least a 3-hour layover. Time does go by - Freshen up, check your details of traveling, eat something, people watch.

Ha ha, just as an aside, if you decide to go into an airport restaurant or similar, make sure you keep a watchful eye on the time or set your phone alarm to be at the gate.

One time, two guys "did not hear their name being paged five times!" - they were in a bar at the airport. They were very lucky the gate agent allowed them on. This was at BWI though.

At Logan, three people from the same flight were paged for over 10 minutes. No one showed. No one knows what happened - they either caught a different flight and bagged out on that one or they were all "asleep."

Is it possible for you to spend one night in Chicago and take an earlier flight the next day?

I say that because I love Chicago food, and it's easy to get to/from the airport via train.

We lived in Chicago for 15 years. O'Hare is tough under any circumstance and weird things do happen. We allowed a 4 hour layover in LA going to Brisbane and our flight was cancelled out of Chicago. Missed out LA flight and spent Thanksgiving at LAX. Another time we were late out of Chicago, the pilot and crew timed out and it was a mess - we missed our connection. 4 hours was not enough. We now go either early in the morning and hang out in the connecting airport or we allow 6 hours.

Final update: I ended up booking the flight from Cinci to Philly to Shannon with the 5 hr layover each way. We are so limited in terms of nonstop flights from here to Europe, unfortunately. Very frustrating. I liked driving approx five hours to Chicago last year (same amount of time but no fear of missed connection) but it is tough on the return.

Have you considered getting a room in Chicago on the return and leaving for home fresh on the morning after? We are returning from France landing in Miami at about 6pm. We are approx. 3.5 hours from Miami and have hotel reservations for the return night in Miami. No way we want to drive 3.5 hours after an 8.5 hour flight. I couldn't imagine driving 5 hours after a long flight.

Problem with making sure you have extra time to make your connecting flight is that the airlines always change the departure times on me after I book my flights to Europe. I had a flight from Orange County, CA to Chicago with a 4 hour layover before flying to Barcelona. Airline changed the schedule and now I have just a 2 hour, 25 minute layover. Hopefully since I’m leaving from CA the fight won’t be delayed due to weather in Oct.

I guess I am a risk taker. I could with the 1.5- 2 hour layover on the way to Shannon. I fly a lot and to me that's more than enough time.

For a return you need 3 hours due to immigration.