What do I need to know to make my connecting flight? First time with a layover

7/7/2020 11:27:40 PM

You’ve had a lot of good advice that I’m not going to repeat, other than to say that half a century of travelling the world has taught me that the most important thing is to ask, ask and ask again. Never be afraid to ask — you won’t look stupid, no matter how dumb you may be afraid your question may seem to yourself. Intelligent travellers keep asking questions — practices vary between airlines and between different airports and different countries.

When booking flights involving a connection I always leave plenty of time between the flights — at least two hours for an internal connection, and at least three hours if one of the flights is international. Airports are big, confusing places full of confused people. Few airports try really hard to make life easy for passengers. Notable exceptions are Changi (Singapore), Bangkok, and especially Xiamen in China where although there’s very little English spoken, it’s simply not necessary — all the staff seem to be on the lookout for lost or confused foreigners and all you need to do is show your ticket or boarding pass and you’ll be pointed in the right direction.

7/1/2020 5:45:53 PM

Assuming your flights were booked as a single itinerary, you will not need to go back through security nor pick up any checked luggage in Denver. When your first flight lands:

  1. Get off the plane, taking your carry-on luggage with you (note 1)

  2. Look for a monitor displaying departing flights

  3. Find your second flight and note its gate number

  4. Go to that gate and wait until it is time to board. (note 2)

You should be given boarding passes for both flights when you check in in PDX (or online). If something happens and you lose your second boarding pass, it can be reprinted at the departure gate of your DEN-BNA flight.

If your flights were not booked as a single itinerary, things get more complicated, but I won’t go into that unless you confirm it’s the case.

Note 1: If your PDX-DEN flight was on a smaller regional aircraft, some of your carry-on luggage may have been "valet checked" or "gate checked" at the departure gate in Portland. If so, you need to pick it up in the jetway as you exit the plane in Denver, and take it with you to your next flight.

Note 2: DEN has three gate areas, A, B and C; every gate number includes the area letter (e.g. A31, B17). Most likely your DEN-BNA flight will depart from the same gate area where the PDX-DEN flight arrived, in which case you only need to walk east or west along the concourse in the appropriate direction until you find the gate. If you should need to go to a different gate area, they are connected by an underground train, which can be reached by going to the center of the concourse and taking an escalator or elevator down.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

Search Posts

Latest posts

Popular posts