Our Managing Editor, Richard Turen, helps direct traffic inside London Heathrow
Q – I am planning two, possibly, three trips to Europe later this year. In setting up flights, I am wondering what the real travel pros are recommending in terms of airport and connection times. It was always an hour and a half for anything out of Atlanta and that has worked for my wife and I for years. But I just put down an article in USA Today that makes me think I should follow the strategy of getting to the airport around midnight and just camping out in front of my gate. It might be helpful to many of us to have the latest recommendations. I simply do not believe what I am reading online or on the airline aps. We will likely fly Delta.
Thank you for this obvious labor of love. Quite frankly, I don’t quite understand how you are monetizing this site but we would gladly pay an annual subscription fee.
A – So, you live in the Atlanta area and you’ll be flying Delta internationally – what a shock! You are correct, things are changing before our eyes – as our eyes become part of our biometric profile. It is taking longer to get a Biometric reading at Hartsfield than it takes to get a double latte from Starbucks. And that’s a very long time.
Although airlines may legally sell connections as short as 45–90 minutes, most experienced travel professionals prefer considerably more time. For Europe-bound travel, we generally recommend 2½–3 hours when connecting in the United States and 2–3 hours when connecting through major European gateways. Airports such as Heathrow, Frankfurt, and Charles de Gaulle often warrant a minimum of 3 hours. Missing a connection can easily cost half a day of vacation time, so we prefer building itineraries with comfortable rather than merely legal connection times.
Look at it this way: The value of an extra hour in the airport is usually far greater than the value of saving an hour on paper if a missed connection could jeopardize hotel reservations, private transfers, cruise embarkation, or touring arrangements. And, at Hartsfield-Jackson you have the sandwiches at Proof of the Pudding over in Terminal A to help pass the time.
Finally, our entire Traveltruth Media Group is operated on a not-for-profit basis. We hope in some small way we can make your travel experiences just a little bit easier and more fact-based.
What Experienced Travel Advisors Are Now Recommending:
| Connection Type | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Domestic U.S. → Europe flight | 2½–3 hours |
| Europe arrival → Europe connection | 2–3 hours |
| Heathrow, Frankfurt, CDG connections | 3+ hours |
| Europe → U.S. connection | 3 hours |
| Elderly travelers, families, infrequent flyers | Add another 30–60 minutes |
