Look for Individual Tickets Before Booking Your Connecting Flight
Not all long stops are terrible; If you dock in an unfamiliar city, this is the chance to explore a new destination for a few hours before your next flight departs. But if you cannot find the ideal route due to a too narrow connection, you can expand your options by booking each branch of this connection separately ; you can even save some money in the process.
“I took an early morning flight to Chicago where I booked an afternoon flight to Beijing for $ 600 round trip, ” writes Melissa Yeager of the Arizona Republic . “It was half the cost of direct booking. On the flight between Morocco and Berlin, I stayed overnight in Madrid, saving money, and [added] a stopover in a city I’ve always wanted to see. ”
It is quite easy to book a “do-it-yourself connection”; search for roundtrip flights from the nearest airport to your preferred stop and from that stop to your final destination. (Some third-party booking sites, such as Google Flights and Skyscanner, also provide some self-service options in their results, although you should still do your own research.)
For example, suppose I would like to fly from Minneapolis to London today and return in a week. The best round trip rate is over $ 2,000 for a direct or one-stop flight in Ireland. Meanwhile, if I had to book separate tickets, I could get there and back from Minneapolis to New York for about $ 500, and another from New York to London for anywhere from $ 900 to $ 1200 with a stop of four until eight o’clock before my departure. In other words, I could travel cheaper and spend a few hours in New York if I preferred it to Dublin.
Set aside enough time for communication
Of course, booking a self-connection is more complicated than a standard round trip with a single airline. Typically, if you miss a connecting flight that is operated by the same airline, you will be rebooked for the next outbound flight. You will not have this option if you book through two different airlines, so you will have to take care of yourself in the event of a delay.
You should also consider possible terminal changes and baggage retrieval from the baggage claim area, which may cause delays. (If you book two different flights on different airlines, it is unlikely that the first airline will move your bag. If you are traveling with the same airline or partner airlines, you should check if you need to collect your bag at the check-in counter.) border, you should also consider customs and immigration queues.
In the end, you may find that booking each leg separately may not save you enough money to justify jumping through additional hoops on sites online, but it is a valuable tool for anyone looking to explore the city for hours. At least it doesn’t hurt to check; just be careful in managing your time so your flight doesn’t take off without you.