Layover Time Checker
Build the connection minute by minute — deplaning, immigration, bags, the terminal train, security, the walk, the gate closing — and find out whether your layover is comfortable, tight or a mistake.
Nothing you type here is uploaded, stored or sent anywhere. It all runs in your browser.
Separate tickets are the thing that ruins trips
On one ticket — or on two tickets issued together as an interline itinerary — the airline owns the connection. Miss it because the first flight was late and they rebook you, at their cost, and they feed and house you if the rebooking is tomorrow. That is the deal you bought.
On two separate tickets bought from two airlines, nobody owns the connection but you. The second airline has no idea the first one exists. If you miss the flight you are a no-show, the fare is gone, and a new ticket at the airport counter costs whatever it costs that afternoon. Your bags will not be checked through, so you collect them and check in again, which is the slowest version of every step on this page. Travel insurance may cover a missed connection, and it may also have a minimum-connection clause that excludes exactly the tight one you booked — read it before you rely on it.
None of which means never do it. Separate tickets are often much cheaper, and on a long layover the risk is small. It means budget three or four hours rather than ninety minutes, or better, break the journey with a night in the connecting city and treat them as two trips. And check whether the airport allows a transit without a visa if you have to leave the airside area to collect a bag — that requirement has caught out more people than any queue.
Minimum connection time is a legal minimum, not a plan
Every airport publishes a minimum connecting time, and a booking system will not sell you a connection shorter than it. It is the time an unencumbered, fit passenger needs to move between two specific terminals when nothing goes wrong. It assumes an on-time arrival, a jet bridge rather than a bus, no queue at passport control and no stop at a toilet.
Typical published minimums, which vary enormously by airport and by terminal pair:
- Domestic to domestic: 30 to 45 minutes.
- Domestic to international: 45 to 60 minutes.
- International to international, staying airside: 45 to 90 minutes.
- International to domestic where you clear immigration and recheck bags: 90 to 120 minutes, and in practice the United States wants more than that at a busy hour.
The budget this page builds is usually a little longer than the published minimum, on purpose. The minimum is what is possible; the budget is what it takes without running.
The steps people forget to count
- Getting off the aircraft. Between the doors opening and the last passengers reaching the terminal there can be twenty-five minutes on a full widebody, and considerably more from a remote stand with buses. It is dead time and it starts your clock late.
- The gate closes before departure. Ten minutes for a small aircraft, twenty to thirty for a long-haul one, and some airlines offload a missing passenger's bag and go. "Departure time" is not your deadline.
- The inbound delay you already know about. If your first flight is routinely thirty minutes late, that is thirty minutes off the connection before you start. Check the route's recent history rather than the schedule.
- The last flight of the day. A missed connection at 09:00 costs three hours. The same miss at 21:00 costs a night, a hotel and a day of the trip. Pad evening connections harder.
What these numbers are
Judgement, not measurement. The per-step allowances come from how long these things take at a big airport on an ordinary day, scaled by the busyness setting, and no airport publishes the data that would let anyone do better. Treat the output as a structured second opinion — the value is in seeing which step eats the time, which is almost always immigration or a bag you have to collect.
Questions people ask
Is one hour enough for an international connection?
At a smaller airport where you stay airside, your bags are checked through and the terminals are joined — usually yes. At a large hub with a terminal change, a transfer security queue and a widebody to get off, an hour is tight enough that a twenty-minute inbound delay ends it. Build it out of the steps rather than trusting a round number.
What happens if I miss a connection on one ticket?
The airline rebooks you on the next available flight at no cost, because the contract is to get you to the final destination on the ticket. If the delay was theirs and you are departing from or arriving in the EU or the UK, the right-to-care rules also apply — meals, and a hotel if it becomes an overnight. Our flight compensation checker covers when cash compensation is owed on top.
Do my bags transfer automatically?
On a single ticket, usually yes. On separate tickets, almost never. Arriving into the United States from abroad you collect and recheck them regardless, because everything clears customs at the first point of entry. Ask at the original check-in desk and get the answer before you fly, not at the carousel.
Should I book a long layover on purpose?
If the alternative is a connection under the published minimum plus a margin, yes. Four hours is boring; a missed last flight of the day costs a hotel, a day and often a new ticket. On separate tickets the calculation is even more one-sided — budget hours rather than minutes.
Is what I enter here stored anywhere?
No. The page has no backend. Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing is uploaded or saved.
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