What has been your experience with more than one layover on an international flight?

[Anonymous]

I’m most concerned about the logistics and luggage being lost. Are the chances of missing one or more connection pretty good when it’s stopping in more than one country?

Anyone btdt? How was it?

[Anonymous]

It was fine. It’s kind of a pain but not a big deal. The most important thing is how much time you have between connections.

Obviously having another flight increases the opportunity for things to gone wrong but in the vast majority of situations things don’t go wrong.

[Anonymous]

It's fine. I did 1hr 15min in Frankfurt, then 50 min in Heathrow, which I feel is the worst of the worst. I was 20 weeks pregnant and had no problems.

[Anonymous]

Left late from DC, missed our flight in Rome to Athens, had to drive 8 hours. Nightmare.

[Anonymous]

We did this for the first time this year---Air Canada from DCA to Montreal on route to Lisbon.

It was totally fine. We had about 3 hours on the ground on the way there and had some dinner (poutine!) at an airport bar.
One the way back we had about 2 hours. We went through US Customs in Montreal and then sat at the gate. It was awesome because we could just deplane and get into an Uber at DCA vs. going through customs at IAD.

[Anonymous]

Oops. Previous poster here again. Just realized that you said "more than one" layover.

[Anonymous]

I've done it a handful of times. In general it's been a nonevent.

[Anonymous]

Just make sure none of the stops are in Canada, nightmare with the clearing/customs etc. I had three hours there and every inch of time was taken up.

[Anonymous]

that would be a hard no from me, and if not possible to avoid I would absolutely not check bags. Carry on only.

[Anonymous]

The chance of a checked bag not making it is obviously significantly higher, as is the chance of a delay causing you to miss your flight. I have done it many times. 7 or 8 out of 10 times it will be fine. But avoid it unless the savings are very significant.

[Anonymous]

Leave a big hour gap (try for 3). Try to make one layover in the US. It's easier to solve problems in your home country.

We disliked our Boston layover of a couple of hours or so. It was a long, confusing transfer at a run between domestic and international. A staff person was rude when we asked for directions.

[Anonymous]

There's now apparently a shuttle bus that helps with that Boston domestic to international connection, but it's also supposed to be a little tricky to find.