How much of a layover is enough?

[Anonymous]

I am traveling domestically on Friday, with a 2 hour layover between my first and second flight. Usually I would think this is plenty of time, but due to all the chaos in air travel these days, I'm wondering if I should try to get on an earlier flight. There are many flights between my home city and the layover city, but only one per day between the layover city and final destination. What thinks DCUM?

[Anonymous]

I think 2hrs is fine for domestic. I like 1.5 for domestic and 3 for international.

I have a 35min layover coming up, and it's domestic to international that I am not excited about. On the return I only have an hour to clear customs, yay.

[Anonymous]

Where is the layover?

[Anonymous]

If you don’t have to change terminals that is more than enough time domestic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is the layover?

Atlanta

[Anonymous]

2 hours is more than enough time. you will be fine.

[Anonymous]

The recommendation used to be one hour for domestic travel. In 2022, they recommend 2 hours for a domestic connection. I would feel comfortable with this, although Atlanta is a big and busy airport.

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm not really thinking about making it from one gate to another; it's obviously ample time for that. It's just that there have been so many cancellations and delays, maybe it's better to jump on an earlier flight to build in more of a buffer if there are problems? Also, earlier flights tend to be cancelled or delayed less frequently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I'm not really thinking about making it from one gate to another; it's obviously ample time for that. It's just that there have been so many cancellations and delays, maybe it's better to jump on an earlier flight to build in more of a buffer if there are problems? Also, earlier flights tend to be cancelled or delayed less frequently.

If there is only one flight to your final destination I would consider doing this. Lots of flights are being delayed up to 2 hours right now. I would check the past 2 weeks worth of flights and see how often your flight was delayed. It might give you a sense of how frequently its happening on your route.

[Anonymous]

I’d allow 2 hours for domestic. Mine was 1 hour and my original flight was delayed which made me miss my connection. Spent 5 more hours in Charlotte. Awful. Huge airports take forever to get from arrival gate to departure gate. This was American.