Here's How Long Your Layover Should Be, According to a Travel Expert

It’s totally natural to want to get to your vacation destination as fast as possible. We fully understand the primal urge to book the shortest flight duration so you can explore a new city, hike a mountain, or just sit on a relaxing beach ASAP. But, when booking flights, it is, in fact, critical to think carefully about how much time you need for a layover. Because the one thing that can ruin your vacation is missing the flight to get there. 

Luckily, airlines and airports do have a few rules in place to try and ensure smooth connections. As Scott Keyes, founder of Going.com, shares with Travel + Leisure, “Every airport has a minimum connection time (MCT), and an airline won’t book you on a layover below that amount.” 

However, MCTs can vary within an airport. As an example, he notes that “the MCT at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) is 40 minutes for domestic flights and 50 minutes for international flights.” Those times may not be enough, especially if you’re traveling with a lot of baggage, have children, need to change terminals, or just don’t feel like having to sprint to your next flight.

So, how long should a layover really be, then? That depends on a few things. 

Are your plans flexible? 

According to Keyes, you need to consider any consequences that may come with risking a short layover. “Say you’re traveling to attend a wedding, work event, graduation, or the birth of a child. You may not want to book a connecting flight with a short layover, as it could result in you missing the event that you’re traveling for altogether,” he says. But, if the stakes are low, you can go ahead and risk the shorter time frame.  

Will you need to go through additional security? 

If you’re making a domestic connection, odds are you won’t have to go through any additional security. However, if you’re making an international one, there may be both immigration and security involved.

“If you have an international layover, you’ll need extra time to navigate immigration, customs, or any other security clearances,” Keyes says. “Additionally, you’ll need to go through customs and immigration at your first point of entry to the U.S. after traveling internationally, and this means you’ll need to pick up your checked luggage and recheck it, adding time to your layover. Immigration, security, and luggage lines can be unpredictable, so you should build time into your layover for this, especially if your plans aren’t flexible.” 

How good do you feel about the airline you’re flying? 

Do you have faith that your airline will accommodate you if you miss your flight? Perhaps you should read through its ticketing terms and conditions first, and look at if the airline has other flight options should you miss yours.

“You’ll want to think about how many replacement flights are available through your airline and the airport that they’re transiting through,” Keyes says. “If there are six flights per day between your origin and your destination, you’d have options if you missed your connection. However, if there is only one flight per week between your origin and destination, which is sometimes the case between small or very distant airports, you probably won’t want to risk it.”

And does your first flight have a history of being on time? 

Here’s a little good news: it’s very easy to check your flight’s performance record. As Keyes points out, services like FlightAware allow you to look at the history of your flight and how often it lands on time. This can help you decide if a short layover is worth it or not. “Weather and time of year can greatly affect whether your flight will leave or arrive on time," Keyes says. "For instance, if you’re traveling through Denver or Chicago in winter when severe storms can determine take-offs and landings, you should add more time to your layover.”

To sum it all up, assess how flexible your travel plans are, if you’ll need to go through extra security, and if you think you’ll get easily rebooked. And think hard about how badly you want this trip. Maybe waiting an extra hour and getting a coffee in your layover airport isn’t so bad after all.