Every day we see in the media yet another story about airport chaos.
Mountains of baggage, queues around the corner and down the road, and a litany of cancelled or delayed flights.
It almost makes you want to stop travelling. Almost.
But we can’t seem to stop ourselves. If we are not planning our next trip, we are thinking about it or reliving the last one.
Planning has become the key to travel these days, and one aspect of your next trip not to be taken lightly is timing your flights, especially for a layover or connecting flight.
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Once upon a time, in a world before the pandemic, you were confident your booked plane would take off and it was generally recommended that you allow one hour for a domestic connecting flight and two hours for an international flight.
How we laugh at that now.
Those times are only for the brave and those who only have carry-on luggage. A wait time of an hour to collect your bags is nothing to us anymore.
Airlines are struggling to return to pre-pandemic staffing levels and many potential employees are understandably a bit gun shy of entering an industry with such volatility.
Qantas is still dealing with the fallout of illegally sacking its workers and it’s estimated the company stood down or sacked about 9000 people. Not exactly the job security people look for.
And it’s not just the ground crew. Flight crews have strict regulations about how long they can work, and stretched crews due to low staff numbers and COVID have to finish when their time is up, often with no replacement crew, which is fine by me. I don’t want my safety compromised by weary crew.
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All this adds up to potentially long delays or cancellations.
So, what’s your method to decrease your flying stress? Well, it’s time to plan your flights carefully.
Before you even consider the connecting flight or stopover, take into account your travel motivation.
If you are holidaying for a landmark event such as a wedding or significant date make sure it’s a few days on the safe side of your flight. Going to a wedding the day after you plan to land is just asking for trouble.
Book a buffer of a few days, if possible, to cover all contingencies. Imagine being the bride and your luggage is lost or you miss your embarking date on a once-in-a-lifetime cruise. Disaster.
Also try to book a flight taking off as early as possible. By the end of the day, little things add up to big delays. A fogged-out airport in the morning could easily cascade into a cancelled flight late at night. And, anyway, it could be a welcome early start to your holiday.
Take some time to download the airline’s app. Airlines are under the pump and can’t keep up with the flow of information. More often than not, a flight is cancelled just minutes from its estimated departure time.
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Airline apps may not fix this problem, but it is another avenue of information that can ease travel stress. Many allow you to track your bag or flight and can even guide you in how to rebook a flight if needed.
Book a connecting flight with a 90-minute to two-hour gap for a domestic flight if possible and three hours for an international flight, especially if you can’t book your luggage straight through.
I once booked a five-hour layover and I’m glad I did, even though the first flight was relatively short. The other alternative was a two-hour layover, which we would not have made due to an hour-long delay. We sat on the tarmac for 40 minutes and then got lost in a massive international terminal with hardly any signs in English. We still waited two hours in the terminal, but the lack of stress was priceless.
Two-hour layovers in this day and age are fine for adrenaline junkies and confident flyers, but for the rest of us, and especially those with mobility issues, aim for at least three hours until things settle down.
What’s your pandemic travel advice? We’d love to hear your tips in the comments section below.
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