Flight stop over time?

[alisonbestford]

We will be flying to Orlando in October and have been looking at flight prices
As one of the weeks is over October Half Term (bloody kids! ) we're probably going to have to have at least one stop over to keep the cost down.
Can anyone advise how long is "long enough" please?
I'm thinking we'd prefer to just use the one airline but what if we changed?
Do we have to get the luggage back and go through check in again?
Thanks for any help

 

[chmurf]

Can anyone advise how long is "long enough" please?

to be on the safe side, especially if it's your first time indirect or through a US airport
if your connection is at a US airport, allow at least 2 hours. Allow 2h30mins for a larger safety margin, and 3hrs if you want to be safe.
Some airports like JFK could require more time, so aim for 3hrs at JFK, MIA, ORD for example

return journey should be ok with 1 hour or more.
with less time you might make your connection, but your luggage might not.

I'm thinking we'd prefer to just use the one airline but what if we changed?

if you book on the same ticket, you're good.
for example Virgin to the US, then Delta to MCO, on the same ticket is ok, you're covered in case you miss your connection, they'll put you on the next available plane

if you make 2 separate bookings (same airline or different airline) then il you miss your connection, you will need to buy a new ticket.

so book only on the same itinerary/ticket (book a London-Orlando ticket, not a London-SomewhereintheUS + a somewhereintheUS-Orlando) (enter london as a departure city, and orlando as an arrival city and you'll get continuous itineraries, be advised that there are 2 international airports in Orlando, MCO is the one with the Magical Express and is quite close to WDW, SFB (sanford) is a long drive away from WDW and does not offer magical express)

Do we have to get the luggage back and go through check in again?

yes on the outbound flight for a US or a CA stopover
procedure is as follow
plane lands, you disembark, go through US immigration, collect bags, go through US customs, drop bags off at the connecting flights counter just outside of customs (takes 2 minutes), go through security, go to your next boarding gate

on the way in, you don't need to collect bags, they're checked trough to the UK (if you're on a single ticket/itinerary, if you're not you collect and recheck and this takes loads of time)

 

[wayneg]

I like to have 2+ hours going out, 1+ hours on return.

Going out you collect luggage, go thru customs/security and drop again, all very easy.

Coming home it goes straight thru to final destination.

Just buy your flights together and it doesn't matter if its same airline or not, there are lots of codeshare flights now so could be on different carriers but as long as you buy as a thru ticket everything is good.

 

[alisonbestford]

Thank you both.
It's not our first flight to Orlando but will be our first that is indirect.
We are aiming to fly into Orlando (either airport) and out of Fort Lauderdale, Miami or West Palm Beach after spending the second week down near the Everglades.
Luckily the "kids" will be almost 17 so I hope not to be chasing them around the airport

 

[dixonsontour]

Yes I agree 2 hours on way out.

We've booked via sky scanner. On the way out we are flying with virgin and on the way back Delta/Virgin via Atlanta. We will just check in once for flight back.

 

[Fommt2]

I was looking at flights a few days ago via CLT (which I think is Charlotte?) and it gave us a connecting time of 1 hour and 23 mins. Seems a bit silly to me as there is only a very small chance of making that time.
We are(probably) flying in-direct for the first time next year and I want a stop over of 2.5 hours at least to be sure.

 

[wayneg]

I was looking at flights a few days ago via CLT (which I think is Charlotte?) and it gave us a connecting time of 1 hour and 23 mins. Seems a bit silly to me as there is only a very small chance of making that time.
We are(probably) flying in-direct for the first time next year and I want a stop over of 2.5 hours at least to be sure.

If flight gets in ontime or early with no issues at immigration its possible, I would say around a 50/50 chance. Depending on other options and price being offered I would consider 1hr 23 at Charlotte but I would also check on any later flights they could transfer me to if we did happen to miss it.
After doing 30+ indirect though I really don't stress about making the connection, they will get me there sooner or later, my flight in August is only 2hr 20 mins in JFK, probably the worst airport in the world to connect and will possibly miss the connection to Miami but we are flying business class so will snack & drink in the lounge til the get us on another flight.

 

[chmurf]

When we went through CLT (Charlotte is correct) we would probably have made it with 1h23 minutes (running through the airport)
assuming it's an AA->AA (AA = US Airways now, same company) it *should* be doable.
would I risk it ? NO

we went for a 3h45min layover in CLT and were delayed on departure and sat on the tarmac for over 1h at CDG. and landed at CLT over 1 hour late.

so we were glad we chose the long layover over the short one (which was 1h45mins)
we were sat at the departure gate in under 90 minutes, with time to eat at burger king, but due to the plane being late, a 1h30 layover would have been way too short.

Boarding for flights start roughly 40 minutes before scheduled departure, and doors close 20 to 15 minutes before scheduled departure, so your 1h23 minutes layover means you only have 1h to do the obstacle course ...

 

[irenep]

I would agree with PPs and definitely have at least 2 hours going there - especially if there is a change of terminal involved (eg JFK BA>AA) as collecting the baggage and getting through security again can take quite some time.

The only time we book separate tickets is if we plan a stop off of a few days such as staying in NY on the way there. Otherwise a through ticket is the best bet as even though you will probably be on a different carrier in the US, the through ticket means that any delays or missed connections will be taken care of and there is no need to worry.

We have been lucky a couple of times in the past when we booked indirect with BA as when the connecting flight times changed a call to BA saw us put on the direct flight instead (with no extra charge) .......but I would never count on that - it was just a nice bonus

 

[Kath2003]

Have thankfully never missed a connection, but come close a couple of times. Chicago O'Hare - 90 minutes - literally ran; wouldn't have made it but the flight was delayed. The other time we had concerns was at Boston - we were at the front of the line when the immigration computers all went down, for 45 minutes.

Usually airlines won't rebook your flight if the connection times are "legal", so even if you think it's not quite enough time, they can state that it meets connection time requirements (remember though that they do have to get you to your destination - so if you miss it, they do have to take care of that!). For example, our flight times changed giving us a 50 minute international-domestic connection - not going to happen. So we were rebooked, now we have what I think is a tight connection (because I know how slow the airport we are connecting through is...), but it meets their connection time requirements so I'm stuck with it

There's also not a lot to be said for estimating wait times. My parents flew via Toronto and it took them almost an hour to clear US immigration and 90 minutes to get to their new gate. I took the same flight a few days later, strolled through immigration with no wait, went back through security and was at my new gate in under half an hour from leaving the plane.

We have 3 hours this year at JFK including a terminal change. I'm not convinced we will make it... But, we don't have bags to check or kids in tow, so we stand a better chance than most!

 

[wayneg]

We have 3 hours this year at JFK including a terminal change. I'm not convinced we will make it... But, we don't have bags to check or kids in tow, so we stand a better chance than most!

We don't have a terminal change so fingers crossed 2hr 20 will be enough. Will be first off plane and hope luggage gets priority.

 

[Kath2003]

We don't have a terminal change so fingers crossed 2hr 20 will be enough. Will be first off plane and hope luggage gets priority.

Ours was 3:20 when we agreed to it and I was much happier
Oh well.

 

[pandv_2000]

Oh dear I just read this and now I'm starting to panic. We have a 2hr 15 min layover in August with AA which I'm assuming doesn't involve a terminal change. When I booked I though that's plenty as we've gone through other airports before but now I'm worried about our connection

 

[Kath2003]

Oh dear I just read this and now I'm starting to panic. We have a 2hr 15 min layover in August with AA which I'm assuming doesn't involve a terminal change. When I booked I though that's plenty as we've gone through other airports before but now I'm worried about our connection

Which airport? I'd accept that connection anywhere other than JFK...

 

[pandv_2000]

Haha yes I forgot to mention that it's jfk! I just checked and there is one later flight that day 1 hour later. What happens if we miss our connection and the next flight is fully booked?

 

[Kath2003]

Haha yes I forgot to mention that it's jfk! I just checked and there is one later flight that day 1 hour later. What happens if we miss our connection and the next flight is fully booked?

The airline will get you on the next available flight. Remember that AA has codeshares with US Airways and there are 3 major airports in NYC, so you have options. If it's the same terminal, you should be okay. We need longer as we have to change terminal.

Worst comes to the worst, NYC is a great city!

 

[pandv_2000]

Thanks that's reassuring to know. I wouldn't care so much but we originally wanted a few nights in New York but it doubled the flight cost so we decided to have a full week in universal instead

 

[alisonbestford]

Does 2 hrs 4 mins to change flights in Chicago sound okay on the way out?
1 hour 35 mins on way home from Houston?
Both flights and connection s with United airways?
Thanks in advance

 

[wayneg]

Does 2 hrs 4 mins to change flights in Chicago sound okay on the way out?
1 hour 35 mins on way home from Houston?
Both flights and connection s with United airways?
Thanks in advance

Perfect times.

 

[alisonbestford]

Thanks Wayneg
Just looked up what you'd all told me before