If you travel by plane for a long enough distance or between obscure enough cities, you will
inevitably have to have a layover.
After all, commercial flights are crazy complicated and an airline isn’t going to start flying
a new route just because you want to go somewhere.
So what are these strange stopping points breaking up your journey, and what exactly
do you, the presumably tired and confused passenger, have to do when you get there?
For those of you who aren’t so knowledgeable about flying, the key thing to remember is
that airlines are commercial enterprises, and flying from Portland to Amsterdam may
seem vastly more profitable to an airline than Portland to Chengdu.
For this reason, you would most likely be routed through an additional airport with
planes flying both to Portland and to Chengdu, like Tokyo-Narita airport.
So how do these things work?
Well, let’s go through a few scenarios.
I’ll actually go through some scenarios I’ve been through myself, basically so I
don’t have to do as much research.
This will essentially be a beginner’s guide to what you need to do in layovers, so forgive
me if the information here is a bit… basic at times, but this is stuff everyone should
know, so I’m here for you if you don’t already know this stuff.
Let’s start with simple domestic flights, where you don’t have to worry about whether
or not you have to go through customs, or anything like that, that’ll be in the next
few scenarios.
For this scenario, let’s say you’re going from Portland to New Orleans.
There are no direct flights between Portland and New Orleans, so going there I was routed
through Dallas Love Field airport.
Upon arrival at PDX, simply check in, either online or through printing your boarding passes
at the machines that some airports have.
If you use the latter option, you should get two boarding passes, as you will be flying
on two different flights.
Since your layover is in DAL, you will of course look for the flight to DAL, not New
Orleans.
Upon arrival in Dallas, all you need to do then is look for the gate for your New Orleans
flight (keep in mind, gates change, so do look at the departure boards, even if a bit
excessively).
However, once you’re in Dallas, you don’t need to recheck your bags, go through security,
or any of that stuff.
Generally at least as long as you still have that boarding pass.
Okay, now let’s get international travel involved.
Let’s use Vancouver to Berlin, via Toronto, making this a scenario involving flying from
Country A to Country B via another city in Country A. So, upon arrival at Vancouver-YVR
airport, you of course need to check in and find your flight to Toronto.
This will generally be in the domestic flights area, even though your final destination may
not actually be in Canada.
Simply fly to Toronto and once you’re in Toronto-YYZ airport, then go to the international
flights, and find your flight to Berlin.
What about the reverse, though?
What if you’re flying internationally, and your layover is in the same country as your
destination?
For this, we’ll take a flight from London to Portland, via Seattle.
Now, since London is in the United Kingdom and Seattle is in the United States, I of
course had to go through US customs.
This happened in Seattle, not in Portland, simply for the reason that other people exist.
Not everyone on the flight from London was continuing onto Portland (or even anywhere
at all), and not everyone on the flight to Portland was connecting from another country.
Besides, I would eventually have to go through US customs either way, so I may as well do
it when I actually enter the US.
Now-- while this is different in other countries-- in North American airports, passengers arriving
from abroad generally go through immigration, then pick up their checked bags, go through
customs (which in this case is slightly different from immigration), and then they are effectively
kicked out of the sterile area, meaning they must re-check any bags and go through security
once again, though some airports may have a special area for arrivals from abroad, just
to make things a little quicker.
Let’s up the ante a little bit.
Let’s now say you are flying from one country to another country, via a third country.
For this example, we’ll use Portland to London, via Amsterdam.
Now, since the Netherlands is in the Schengen Area, but both the US and the UK aren’t,
did I have to go through Dutch Schengen customs when I took this flight?
No.
Most airports in Europe (as well as other parts of the world, though not including the
US and Canada) operate their international flights separate from their domestic flights.
When departing from countries like the US, Canada or the UK, passengers simply board
the plane and leave the country.
However, in areas like the Schengen Area, passengers effectively go through customs
a second time to leave the country.
This creates a separate area that allows connecting passengers to simply walk through the airport
without having to go through customs, which is very convenient when you only have an hour-long
layover!
However, do be advised that, when you’re going through UK customs upon arrival in London,
this also means that you were basically never in the Netherlands at all.
I’ve... made that mistake on my declaration card.
This isn’t quite the same in North America, though.
I have yet to have a layover connecting through the US or Canada as a third country, though
Vancouver-YVR airport’s website has a helpful tool for determining what you need to do at
that specific airport.
For the most part, US and Canadian airports don’t have an international zone like in
most European airports, largely because of how departing passengers just board the plane
and… leave.
This means that those going through a North American airport will most likely have to
go through customs, even if they are continuing onto a destination in another country.
One more scenario.
Suppose you’ve booked yourself a longer layover, and you’ve heard of other people
stepping outside the airport and taking a day-trip in their layover city.
Is it safe to do this?
Is it okay to leave behind the confines of the airport while you’re in the middle of
your journey?
Yes, calm down, you’ll be fine.
People do this all the time, and yes I’ve done this too.
Basically if you want to do this, what’s most important is to give yourself a lot of
time.
There is absolutely nothing stopping you from leaving the airport, but do be warned that
you will have to go through security again and get to your gate, so be sure to give yourself
enough time for that (note that the time you should give yourself varies between cities
and airports).
But yeah, if you have a long enough layover (ideally an overnight layover) then there’s
nothing stopping you from going out and breaking up a long travel day with a day-trip to a
new city.
Except for having a layover less than 6 or 7 hours, of course.
So, that’s a very basic guide to a layover.
Remember, whether or not you leave the airport or go through customs, or just have a short
connection and need to run to your plane, do be sure to remember that your biggest priority
by the end of the layover is to get onto that second plane.
If you got the ticket for your second flight at the first airport and miss the second flight
though, airlines do also often have protocols in place just in case that happens.
Well, mostly, maybe not with cheaper airlines, you kind of get what you pay for in that case.
Oh, and a little word of warning, make sure that both your flights go through the same
airport.
If you have a two-hour connection in Istanbul Airport, make sure your next flight doesn’t
leave from Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen Airport, or else you’re not going to be able to make
your flight.
Thank you as always for watching this video.
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