Connecting Flights - recommended stopover time?

nachos

Looking for a bit of advice on this one. I'm getting an internal flight from Boston to LA in March. I've to get one with a stopover somewhere.

For some of the flights there's an interval of 45 minutes between the flights. I was wondering if this would be too short a time for me to get from one gate to another? Obviously I'd like to spend as little time as possible waiting around. I know it depends on the airport and all that, but would the 45 minutes be enough? If not, how much time should I be aiming for?

Again, I'm sure it'll depend on the airline, but will be bags be transferred from one flight to the other without having to pick them up at the baggage claim?

Cheers!

rossie1977

45 minutes is cutting it waaaaaaaaaaaaay too fine imo, especially given the fact you are flying from boston which seems to suffer poor weather around march/april time

Give yourself roughly 2.5-3 hours wait stopover time just to be on the safe side

waiting an hour or two in an airport beats missing your connection any day of the week

bags are usually sent through to final destination but again it can vary, one time i had to put my bags through again in San Francisco when i flew with United

mikedragon32

While you can check through to your internal flight, when you arrive in the states, you must collect your bags off the flight. In some airports (Chicago, for example) it's merely a matter of collecting them from one belt and going to another belt via customs. Boston may well have a similar set up.

Rossie is bang on about the time. 45 minutes for a layover is madness. 2.5 hours waiting for a plane you're booked onto is much better than 2.5 hours waiting to see if there's even a seat on another flight. Be aware you may even have to change terminal. That could take 45 minutes alone!

dobsdave

nachos wrote: »

Looking for a bit of advice on this one. I'm getting an internal flight from Boston to LA in March. I've to get one with a stopover somewhere.

For some of the flights there's an interval of 45 minutes between the flights. I was wondering if this would be too short a time for me to get from one gate to another? Obviously I'd like to spend as little time as possible waiting around. I know it depends on the airport and all that, but would the 45 minutes be enough? If not, how much time should I be aiming for?

Again, I'm sure it'll depend on the airline, but will be bags be transferred from one flight to the other without having to pick them up at the baggage claim?

Cheers!

Why do you have to stopover? as a matter of interest.
If you book the trip with one airline, and your first flight is delayed, they will have to put you on the next flight with available seats.
For an internal flight with a stopover you shouldn't have to claim your bags until the end of your journey.

mikedragon32

Dobsdave, because his stopover involves his incoming flight being from another jurisdiction he WILL have to collect his bags in Boston.

nachos

Thanks for all the advice!

I booked with Delta with a layover in New York for 2 hours and 10 minutes. As far as I know the flights arrive and depart from the same terminal so there shouldn't be too much hassle getting to the gate.

I booked the flight with a stopover as the direct ones were double the price! I'm going to already be in Boston when I'm getting the flight and not coming from Ireland, so will I still need to pick up the bags in between flights?

Cheers!

dobsdave

mikedragon32 wrote: »

Dobsdave, because his stopover involves his incoming flight being from another jurisdiction he WILL have to collect his bags in Boston.

Mikedragon32,The original question had nothing to do with another Jurisdiction.

Nachos: I checked the delta website before asking the question on stopovers and the direct flight was costing the same as the stopver flight.(388) and as such didn't understand why you were going indirectly.:)

There is no reason you should have to pick up your baggage on the stopover.

Enjoy!

mikedragon32

dobsdave wrote: »

Mikedragon32,The original question had nothing to do with another Jurisdiction.

Nachos: I checked the delta website before asking the question on stopovers and the direct flight was costing the same as the stopver flight.(388) and as such didn't understand why you were going indirectly.:)

There is no reason you should have to pick up your baggage on the stopover.

Enjoy!

Apologies.

My reading of it was that he was stopping in Boston en route to LA.

You're quite right.

nachos

Good to know that I won't have the extra hassle of picking up the bags in between!

The flights I was looking at are going on the 19th March and there's about $200 in the difference between the direct and the ones with a stopover