Back to basics: A guide to connecting flights
Recently, I was speaking to a friend about their flights on a long haul destinations and how expensive it was to fly direct with Virgin Atlantic or British Airways. Then the conversation began about connecting flights, which come out cheaper, but my friend had a lot of questions about it which reminded me a lot of my first experience of flying in this way.
Connecting flights…a bit foreign for many Brits
This is a vast oversimplification but there are few factors why British and European travellers are less au faix with connecting flights. First is the the prevalence of point-to-point, direct, non-stop flights within Europe. Want to travel from Manchester to Paphos? Check. Stansted to Nuremburg? Ryanair has you covered. Generally, there’s not much need to connect to get around Europe for Europeans - and you can even find some connections between North America and random European cities. Low cost carriers, such as Easyjet and Ryanair, are largely behind the trend towards direct flights with legacy carriers like British Airways and Lufthansa following suit. After all, most people would rather just get somewhere faster and from somewhere closer to home than having to route via a third country taking extra.
Sometimes they can make sense
Connecting flights will usually come into their own for long haul travel. Want to get from London to Manila? Currently there are no direct flights, but a plethora of one-stop options on the Middle East 4 (ME4: Emirates, Qatar, Etihad, Turkish), Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines amongst others. The benefits can include:
more flight options with departing times throughout the day
better flight experiences
and often at cheaper prices than going direct
You’re probably looking at this sceptically, but let me answer some of those questions in this article.
What types of connections are there?
There are two types of connecting flight - protected and unprotected. The good news is that the vast majority are protected, where all your flights are on one ticket, or unprotected, where they are on separate tickets. This is an important difference because a protected ticket ensures your baggage will make it to the final destinations and you have more legal protection if you suffer delays. If you’re booking directly through an airline for a connecting flight, it will be protected if you’ve set the origin and destination points correctly, but you will need to check carefully if you’re booking with a third party site. Google Flights and Skyscanner will generally point this out, like in the example below.
For the sake of simplicity, this article is only talking about protected connections.
What if I miss my connecting flight?
Firstly, don’t stress about your connection time. All airlines have what is known as an MCT or Minimum Connection Time for you to get from one flight to the other based on the complexity of connection, inter-terminal links and security queues etc. This varies from airport to airport but can be anywhere from 30 mins for places like Helsinki to 2+ hours in some other airports. You do not need to worry about this, the airline are the ones taking liability for your connection. If your connection time is 45 mins and your incoming flight is 60 mins late, the airline will need to put you onto the next available flight and, if necessary, put you into accommodation (particularly if the next flight is not until the following day).
Do I need to pick up my luggage at the connecting airport and check-in again?
No. Your bags will be tagged and boarding passes issued to the final destination on your ticket.
Will my luggage get to the destination?
Luggage can get lost, even on direct flights - that is a fact of travel. Connecting flights do increase the risk slightly of luggage being lost, because they are going between two aircraft, but the risk of this is low. As noted above, the luggage is tagged to the destination and it should automatically get processed and sent onwards on the next flight. As always, if the airline or baggage handler loses the luggage you will be able to get support at your destination airport. As a reference, I have made 8 separate connecting journeys and never has my luggage been lost - but as always, that is not representative for everybody.
Will I need a visa to transfer?
This will vary from country to country but if you are a UK passport holder connecting through most of the primary hubs in the Middle East, Asia or North America and connecting between two international flights you are unlikely to need a visa. This is generally the case if you are getting off one plane, have your layover of x number of minutes/hours, then get onto your next flight. If you plan to leave the airport and head to the city centre, you will definitely need to check if you require a visa. Places like Singapore, Dubai or Istanbul you will probably have no problem but you may need to apply for a visa waiver/eVisa before entering the country proper. Places like China, you will almost definitely need a Visa or Visa on Arrival. For non-UK citizens, your mileage will vary - for example, Filipinos don’t require a transit visa for non-Schengen to non-Schengen connection in Germany and the Netherlands but do in France. Go figure.
Just check the requirements before you make the booking
And finally…
Check the Covid-related restrictions for both your connecting airport’s country and your destination. Many countries may give you an exemption from entry requirements during Coronavirus such as PCR testing if you do not leave the airport - but you must check prior to travelling. If there is not an exemption and, for example, you was required to have a PCR test even for a connecting traveller then you may be denied boarding. The airline’s website and UK Government’s FCDO will provide relevant information.
I repeat from earlier, don’t stress if you’ve got a connecting flight. It may be new to you, but major airlines globally do this day in, day out - and they know what they’re doing, even more so in the case of Emirates and Qatar who almost exclusively have connecting passengers.
