?? For those who fly a lot

[clarabelle]

I am booking flights for next summers vacation.
I am an infrequent flyer.
How long of a layover? I don't want to miss my connection -but i don't want to sit in an airport all day either.
Some flights have as little as 45 minutes and some as much as 4 hours.
We are flying from Atlanta GA to Jackson Hole WY with a connection in Salt Lake City.
Thanks!!!!

 

[legalsea]

45 minutes used to be considered sufficient, but no more. Having your plane run late is now the norm, not the exception. I always allow at least an hour for connecting with my next flight; more if luggage has to be transferred.

 

[ElizK]

I'm an airline employee, though I rarely go anywhere that requires a connection.

There are minimum requirements for connections that vary by airport, so if the computer shows that connection, then it is "legal". That being said, I'd prefer at least an hour to an hour and a half. SLC is not a large, busy airport, but delays still happen.

 

[clarabelle]

Thanks Legalsea -that is kind of what I was thinking

 

[clarabelle]

Thanks Elizk!!

 

[ICF]

It would say an hour or so....

If you were flying in winter out of or into a place like Chicago / NYC I would allow longer times but I try to keep it around an hour and I haven't had any probelms before.

 

[MontanaZoo]

I am booking flights for next summers vacation.
I am an infrequent flyer.
How long of a layover? I don't want to miss my connection -but i don't want to sit in an airport all day either.
Some flights have as little as 45 minutes and some as much as 4 hours.
We are flying from Atlanta GA to Jackson Hole WY with a connection in Salt Lake City.
Thanks!!!!

I'd go with the 45 minutes to an hour. I'm thinking the Jackson Hole plane will be small and I believe SLC is the airport that you have to walk out on the covered tarmac thing to get to the smaller planes? Used to have to do that when I flew into Bozeman, MT. Anyway, if that's SLC, your plane can be way way down the line on the tarmac.

 

[clarabelle]

Thanks everyone!!!
If I book now -is there a good chance they will change the flights around by June?

 

[DrCavin]

Thanks everyone!!!
If I book now -is there a good chance they will change the flights around by June?

Almost certain...

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Let's see...Atlanta and Salt Lake...sounds like Delta to me....YES your flight times can and WILL change sometime in the next 9 months!

 

[clarabelle]

Yes Piglet it is Delta -there is not much other choice
We are going on an Adventures by Disney Trip

 

[friendofgusgus]

I used to be a trave agent and book all my DH's business travel now and I never send him anywhere without a 1 hour minimum between flights, regardless of airports. It has saved his morning meeting many times!

Since you are going to an ABD trip, I would advise you to leave at least an hour - probably closer to 90 minutes between flights. I am basing this on 2 assumptions:

1 - that you will be checking luggage, which means the airline also needs time to switch your bags in addition to you getting yourself to a new gate, and

2 - that you are leaving from your arrival airport's destination soon, so you will not be easy to transport late luggage to if it misses your flight.

I know it's annoying to wait for the next plane, but it's really better to be safe than sorry these days. With airlines cutting flights left and right, you don't want to have to standby on a crowded, later flight if your flights "misconnect." (The first one arrives after the second one departs.)

The airline will owe you nothing but a seat on the next flight where one is available, even if that is days away.

How to put all of this into action: if you are booking through an airline's web site and there is a note on the flight combination that says "note connection time" it's either very long or very short and could be a problem.

HTH!

 

[Amlee]

If you were connecting in Hellanta, I would say nothing less than an hour. But Salt Lake isn't that big of an airport. So I'd say 45 minutes is good. But nothing under that.

Let's see...Atlanta and Salt Lake...sounds like Delta to me....YES your flight times can and WILL change sometime in the next 9 months!

I agree! Let me add to this, WITH OUT NOTICE! I would start out once a month keeping a check on your flight. The closer you get, move to every other week, then once a week, and then once a day.

Because Delta is big on going OOPS! we have a problem! Problem, you say? Yeah you have a misconnect. A what? A misconnect! An that would be? On we have you arriving at your connecting airport at 6pm, but the plane your suppose to leave on left at 3pm.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

last summer I had a layover in Phoenix, and one in Denver... both were 45-55 minutes... we were RUNNNNING through the terminals to catch our other flights... don't do less than 1 hr!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[clarabelle]

OK thanks everyone
I am taking notes
We are flying in a day early -Partly because we are so afraid of missing the start of our trip and partly because DH wants to go mountain biking