Ask yourself these seven questions to determine if a layover between two flights is too short.
When putting together a multi-leg trip, you should pay attention to layover time; that is, the interval of time you have to get from one flight to another. Are fifty minutes at New York JFK, Madrid, or Amsterdam enough?
In many cases, a fifty-minute layover would be tight—but not always. Here are seven questions to ask yourself when booking a domestic or international flight with a connection that should help you decide if you’re cutting it too close.
1. What’s the posted minimum connection time (MCT) for the airport?
Every airport has an MCT, and an airline won’t book you on a layover if it falls below that threshold. MCTs can vary within an airport and depend on several factors, such as which terminal you’re flying into and out of, whether you’re flying domestic or international, and the time of day you’re flying. For example, the MCT at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) is 40 minutes for domestic flights and 50 minutes for international flights.
While the MCT may be less than you are personally comfortable with (depending on the other factors below), it can be a good starting point to know if your layover is too short.
2. How flexible are my plans?
If you miss your connection and arrive at your destination several hours (or even a day or two) late, what are the consequences? Say you’re traveling to attend a wedding, work event, graduation, or the birth of a child. You may not want to book a connecting flight with a short layover, as it could result in you missing altogether the event that is the reason you’re traveling.
No one wants to miss a flight, but if you’re traveling for leisure, you may have a higher tolerance for the risk of a delay, especially on longer trips where it wouldn’t cut too much into your vacation time.
3. Do I need to go through immigration, additional security, or recheck bags?
If you’re connecting in the US, you may feel more inclined to take the risk on a shorter layover, as you won’t need any extra time to account for customs or immigration.
If you have an international connection, though, you’ll need extra time to navigate immigration, customs, and any other security clearances. Flying back into the United States, you’ll need to go through customs and immigration at your first point of entry; this means you’ll need to pick up your checked luggage and recheck it, adding time to your layover. Immigration, security, and luggage lines can be unpredictable, so you should build time into your layover for this, especially if your plans aren’t flexible.
4. Is my journey booked on one itinerary or separate ones?
If you’ve taken advantage of the Greek Islands Trick—a travel hack where you book the cheapest possible flight to a nearby city and pair it with a separate regional flight to get to your final destination—it’s crucial you don’t miss your connecting flight, especially if it is a different airline than the one you started your trip on. Flights on different itineraries mean you usually have no recourse with the second airline if you miss your connection because the flight on the first airline was delayed.
For example, say you want to go to Santorini, but flights from JFK to Santorini are way too expensive. Instead, you book a cheaper flight from JFK to Athens on a major airline, then take an ultra-cheap regional flight from Athens to Santorini—the Greek Islands Trick. If you miss that second flight, neither airline has an obligation to accommodate you. You’d likely just need to absorb the cost and find another way to get to Santorini from Athens.
That said, if the second flight—Athens-Santorini, in this case—is a reliably cheap one or one that can be easily rebooked, you may be more willing to risk a short layover. In this example, there are about a dozen other low-cost flights—plus a quick, cheap ferry ride—that would work in a pinch.
5. Am I confident the airline could rebook me in an emergency?
If both flights are on one itinerary and you miss your connection, large network carriers would most probably be able to rebook you on another of their flights or a flight with one of their partners, especially if you’re transiting through one of their hubs. You might think twice about booking a short layover if you’re transiting through an outstation or somewhere the airline has a relatively weak presence because chances are you’d have a difficult time finding an alternative flight.
You’ll also want to think about how many replacement flights are available through your airline and at the airport that you’re transiting through. If there are six flights per day between your origin and your destination, you’d have options if you missed your connection; if there is only one flight per week between your origin and destination, which is sometimes the case between small or very distant airports, you probably wouldn’t want to risk it.
6. Does the first leg of my flight have a history of being on time?
While flight records aren’t foolproof, they are a decent indicator of how the airline—and your flight, in particular—has tracked in the past. Tools like FlightAware allow you to look at the on-time performance of your connecting flights to see how punctual they’ve been over time. Weather and time of year can greatly affect whether your flight will leave or arrive on time. For example, if you’re traveling through Denver or Chicago in winter when severe storms can delay take-offs and landings, you should add more time to your layover.
7. Will the airport layout affect whether I can make my connection?
Whereas fifteen minutes to get from one gate to another may be enough in one airport, it might be too short in another. It all depends on whether your first flight arrives on time, your second flight departs on time, and how many steps it takes to get from one gate to another.If you’re connecting from one flight to another within the same concourse, you can likely make short layovers work (but don’t plan on stopping to use the restroom or buy a snack). But in a larger, busier airport where you have to re-clear security as a transit passenger—or even take a bus or train to another building—you’ll need a lot more time. Knowing which terminals your flights will likely depart from and arrive in can help you map out your journey.
So, how much time do you need?
Is the minimum connection time posted by the airport too short for comfort?
Add time.
Are your plans inflexible?
Add time.
Are your flights booked on separate itineraries?
Add time.
Will you need to go through immigration, recheck luggage, go back through security, or transit around a large airport?
Add time for each.
Does your first flight have a history of being delayed, or could inclement weather affect the schedule?
Add time.
Are frequent replacement flights available and at a reasonable cost?
If not, add time.
Twist’s Take: Answering these seven questions when booking connecting flights will help you figure out if your layover is too short.
