If you’re traveling long-haul, then your journey may be split in two, or even more. This means you’ll be having to stop over at a layover airport to catch a connecting flight to your destination.
If this is the case for your next plane journey, there’s a few things you need to know about flight layovers.
What Will Happen?
You’ll disembark your first flight as usual, but instead of heading to arrivals, you’ll head to the departure terminals once again. Sometimes this may be in a different terminal so you’ll be required to hop on a shuttle bus to take you there.
What Should I Do?
Some airlines may require you to collect your baggage and check-in again. But for others, your baggage will be automatically transferred to your next flight for you. It is important that you check the itinerary of your flight package to be sure whether the airlines have partnered up for the connecting flight. If they are, then not to worry, you can just head straight to your next departure gate. If the flight isn’t directly connected, then we’re afraid you’ll have to do the whole check-in process again. Annoying, we know!
Extra Tips
Always revise the map of the layover airport prior to your journey so you feel prepared and know exactly what way to go.
Make sure you have at least 3 hours layover time to ensure you are at no risk of missing the connecting flight. This 3 hours will cover any slight delays that some flight paths commonly encounter.
Some layover times can be over 10 hours, so try and plan what you can spend the time doing. You may want to book a hotel room to catch up on sleep if it is an exceptionally long wait.
Flight layovers don’t need to be hard with these tips!