Flight transfers advice

[Hodders]

My 20 year old daughter wants to fly out to Manila in August to spend some time with a Filipino friend.

There are no direct flights from the UK. None of us have ever taken connecting flights.

Looking at Kuwait Air and Thai Airways both have flights with transfers in the order of 1h30m.

This seems like a crazy short time to land, taxi to the gate, get off, find the departure gate, walk, pass security (if required) and get to the new plane. That's assuming they transfer hold luggage. Any delay and you're screwed.

I know that the airline is responsible for making sure you get to your destination, but missing the flight could mean delays of a long time if the next few flights are fully booked.

But if all these airlines are selling flights with these short transfer times, they must be confident of dealing with these concerns.

So what's the deal? What's the minimum transfer time you would accept, or am I over worrying?

 

[Raymond Lin]

I would not book a flight with less than 2hrs, also, I would try to travel without any checked in baggage if at all possible. You might end up in a scenario that the bag might make the connection but you can't.

If I am or have to book a flight with such a short connection then I would think of Plan B immediately. Plan B being when is the next flight if I miss it, or Plan B being other mode of transport, or if the connecting flight is the last flight....where to stay.

I am unsure on the airline you are taking or how good they are in that part of the world, whilst all flights out of the EU should follow the law in the EU with regards to flight, when it's on the ground, in the moment, arguing with someone at the airport quoting EU legislations isn't going to do much good if they tell you to go away.

I have made it in 45mins but I would want 2hrs as a standard amount of connection time.

 

[Subliminal Aura]

Depends on the transfer airport. Some airports are primarily setup for it, like Instanbul saw.

BUT That's one airport I would like to be in and out as quickly as possible - it's awful BUT for rolling off one flight and on to another it's very efficient. I had a 3 hour stop there recently which was way too much time

I would agree with no less than 2 hours though

 

[Hodders]

Thanks for the advice.

We've booked different flights with Emirates transfers at Dubai with a 6hr window outward and 6h40 in bound.

That sounds much more sensible even if a bit more expensive.