A Basic Guide to Layovers

If you've ever travelled long enough, or between small enough cities, you've probably experienced the joys of a layover. However, for newcomers to flying, it can be pretty tricky to figure out what you may need to do during a layover, so hopefully this will serve as your basic guide on how to get yourself onto that second flight!

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[StefanVeenstra]

My biggest fear is getting lost at a layover, missing my flight, possibly being forced to pay an additional ticket to get where I need to go.

[itaybron]

wendover productions has joined the chat

[victormunhozzz]

I'm sure he explained everything very well but I didn't understand any of it

[thomasturner]

When u say you've been to France once cuz u had a 15 minute layover in Paris Airport

[Matthew]

0:11 Literally every YouTuber who has done a video on flights has used this clip before haha

[davetissue]

There's another scenario - flying between two cities in country A but via a airport in country B. This sounds absurd, but it's actually quite common among frequent fliers in China, since in some seasons the flights between the North and South can be insanely expensive, and it's often cheaper to connect in Bangkok or HK. Most airlines don't have the right to sell such a ticket, so it usually has to be two separate itineraries, but it's perfectly fine when you don't have checked bags. 😂

[logantheplaneguy]

Who is watching before flying somewhere?

[Alex]

Well, actually you missed a big piece of information speaking about going out to explore a city where you have the layover - the visa. Always double check whether you need a visa to exit to the city (=enter the country) or not. Usually it's not but in some cases you can be stuck in the transit zone for hours.

[WanukeX]

3:54 THANK YOU, I took a European Domestic Flight connecting to Toronto from Paris a few weeks back, and I was extremely confused as to why I was going through Shengen zone customs after arriving on a flight from within the shengen zone.

[Token_Nerd]

I think this video missed some key details for those traveling to the United States. In many airports, especially those in Canada, international flights to the United States can occur in a separate, secluded area called a "preclearance zone". In these cases, rules are a little different: you go through US customs and immigration before you depart from the US, meaning you arrive in the US as a domestic passenger. In terms of transiting, here are a few examples:

A: Flying to the US via a preclearance airport in your home country
Here, you will take your first flight as a domestic flight, however, after you arrive at your layover airport, you will follow signs to US gates (sometimes called Transborder gates in Canada), go through security, then immigration/customs, then you will take your flight to the US, where you will arrive as a domestic passenger.

B: Flying to the US via a preclearance airport in another country
Here, you will take your first flight as an international flight, but at your layover, you will still have to follow signs to US gates, go through security again, then immigration/customs, then finally take your flight to the US, where you will arrive as a domestic passenger.

PLEASE NOTE: You CANNOT under any circumstances leave a preclearance zone once you go through US immigration. You are technically already in the United States, meaning that if you were to leave the preclearance zone, you'd be entering the country of the airport illegally. The only way to mitigate this issue is to go through the immigration/customs of the layover airport's country, and this is only ever granted in special circumstances. Only enter the preclearance zone if you are waiting for your flight, but give yourself enough time because lines are often long.

[adisurd]

That last thing. I have made the mistake once. And it was the day when Istanbul was covered in snow. Thankfully I had a 7 hour layover and a taxi pre-booked, so even with a 2 hour delay arriving at Istanbul I could get in to my next flight on time

[philosofisch]

I'm really glad that there are direct flights from Vancouver to Frankfurt. I wouldn't have wanted
to deal with a layover when flying alone for the first time.

[Steve_in_NJ]

I've booked flights home to Philadelphia from Hawaii and purchased each leg separately (OGG to SFO, then SFO to PHL) with 3 days in between, so that my layover was a weekend trip in between my trip home. Not really a layover, just breaking up the trip home into separate trips. That was easy to do in San Francisco. My first trip to Hawaii via LAX however, was crazy. I had a 2-hour layover in LAX but had to exit the airport, get on a shuttle, then go through LAX again in the International Terminal, which meant more security, and then to my gate for Maui. I guess someone forgot to tell LAX that Hawaii was still part of the USA.

[Spiragon]

4:24 I had an example of this, Toronto to San Jose (Costa Rica) via Houston both ways. I did have to go through US customs and say I was in transit to the final destination.

[srilankanflyer]

I’m glad I have transit airports such as
Singapore Changi
Dubai
Doha

From Sri Lanka

[TomKellyXY]

Transit between different airports in the same city can be done. Just give yourself a lot of time. Transit by train between Incheon and Gimpo (Seoul) or Haneda and Narita (Tokyo) is simple and convenient. People do it all the time.

[TomKellyXY]

I have done transit in Canada as a 3rd country. It was a little confusing since I’m a New Zealander that hadn’t traveled to North America before. I expected it to work the same as Australia, Europe, or Asia. I was travelling Tokyo Haneda to Denver via Vancouver. Rather than going through customs to enter Canada or a transit area, I went through US customs and immigration in while in transit in Vancouver before I departed and entered Denver as if it were a domestic flight. This might be a special case as Denver probably doesn’t get many international flights. I did not have to collect my bags in Vancouver, they checked all the way from Tokyo but I was required to have an ESTA for BOTH the US and Canada before departing Tokyo (despite never entering Canada). Otherwise the transit area was like anywhere else in the world and used Canadian dollars (despite being behind US customs).

[ThisisBarris]

I like to consider myself an experienced flyer but considering the fact that I've been stuck two days in an airport twice because of bad planning from my part, I probably needed to watch this video.


As usual KhAnubis, great video on an important topic that people don't really think about!

[seanc]

2:50 would be a good time to point out that mobile passport exist and it's basically a CBP app that you complete your declarations forms on and just makes the whole process 10x quicker as you get to go through a special line where you present the QR code to get scanned. Just one of those gems that makes your life far easier

[wkscott]

I go through Hong Kong all the time. I know exactly which bus takes me to the restaurant I like for lunch. I go through immigration and customs, but when I continue on I don’t have to get my bags and recheck them. HKG has special lines for international transfers that avoid immigration entirely, but most of the time my layovers are intentionally long enough to leave the airport to catch the bus to lunch. HK immigration takes me 30 seconds or so (thanks e-channel!).

Yeah, I know there’s Airport Express trains, but the bus has a nice view on the ride from Lantau into the city and it goes directly to the restaurant (and directly back after).