International Layovers

A layover is a connection long enough to be a decision. Anything over about six hours stops being a wait and becomes a question: stay airside, take a hotel, or leave the airport and see the city. Each answer has a different requirement, and the one most often overlooked is whether the country will let you in at all. Of the 211 destinations the U.S. State Department publishes country information for, 64 address transit specifically.

What You Need to Know

There is no formal boundary between a connection and a layover; the practical one is whether the gap is long enough that you have to decide what to do with it. Under about four hours you wait. Beyond six you are making a plan. Overnight, you are making a booking.

Transit versus entry

Remaining in the international transit area of an airport is, in most countries, not entering the country, and needs no permission beyond being a passenger with an onward ticket. Passing an immigration desk is entering, and needs whatever your passport requires.

The complication is that this is not your choice everywhere. Some airports have no sterile transit area and require all arriving passengers to clear immigration regardless of where they are going next. Some require it for particular terminal transfers. And on separate tickets you will almost always have to enter, because you must collect your bag and check in again.

Transit permission

Some countries require a specific transit visa even for passengers who do not leave the airport, and a good many more require ordinary entry permission the moment you pass the desk. This is why the same journey can be trivial for one passport and require an application for another, and why 64 of the 211 destinations covered address transit in their entry information rather than leaving it implied.

Some countries go the other way and actively encourage a stopover, offering a free or simplified transit visa to encourage travelers to spend a day in the city. Both are worth knowing about before you book.

What to Do Before Your Trip

• Check the transit rules for your nationality with the connecting country’s embassy or consulate, not with a forum.
• Find out whether the airport has a sterile transit area for your terminal pair, or whether everyone clears immigration.
• Decide before you fly what you are doing with the time, because deciding at 5am after a long flight produces a worse answer.
• If you plan to leave, work out the round trip honestly: immigration in, transport to the city, transport back, security, and being at the gate on time.
• Pack a change of clothes in your hand luggage if the gap is overnight and your bag is checked through.
• Check whether an airside hotel or rest facility exists at that airport, and book it rather than assuming.

Important Considerations

The three-hour rule for leaving the airport

A useful working rule: do not leave the airport unless you have at least six hours on the ground, and treat three of them as unusable. Immigration in, transport, transport back, security and a sensible margin will consume that much before you have seen anything. Below that, the risk of missing the onward flight outweighs whatever you would have done with the time.

Overnight, airside or landside

Many large hubs have hotels inside the transit area, which avoid the entry question entirely and are frequently the better answer for a short overnight. A landside hotel is usually cheaper and better, and it means entering the country twice. Which is right depends on the permission you hold and how much sleep you are actually going to get.

The stopover as a feature

Several airlines whose hubs sit between continents will let you break a journey for a day or several at no extra airfare. If the routing is going through that city anyway, this is close to free travel and it turns dead time into part of the trip. Ask the airline; it is rarely offered by a booking engine.

Facilities are not evenly distributed

Some transit areas have showers, quiet rooms and lounges; some have a row of seats and a shuttered café. If you are planning a long overnight gap, find out which kind you are booking. Lounge access can usually be bought on the day, and is worth it for a gap over about five hours.

Tips for Group Travelers

• Plan the layover as part of the itinerary, with something to do, rather than as a gap to be endured.
• Check transit permission for every traveler’s nationality, because a group frequently holds more than one passport.
• If the group is leaving the airport, arrange transport in advance and set a return time that is earlier than feels necessary.
• Book a lounge or a day-use hotel for a long gap, which for twenty people is usually cheaper than the alternative and much better received.
• Agree a fixed meeting point and time, and confirm everyone has it written down rather than on a phone.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Leaving the airport without checking whether you may re-enter the transit area, or the country, on your passport.
• Assuming you can stay airside. At some airports every arriving passenger clears immigration.
• Underestimating the round trip into the city. The journey back is the one with the deadline.
• Having no change of clothes on an overnight layover because the bag is checked through.
• Booking a long layover in an airport with nothing in it, when a different routing had the same price.
• Forgetting that the onward flight closes well before it departs. Being in the terminal is not being at the gate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a visa for a layover?

It depends on the country, the airport and your nationality. Staying in the international transit area usually requires nothing; passing immigration requires whatever your passport requires; and a few countries require a transit visa even for passengers who never leave. Check with the connecting country’s embassy or consulate, and check for each traveler separately.

How long a layover do I need to leave the airport?

At least six hours, and treat three of them as consumed by immigration, transport both ways, security and a margin. Below six the sensible answer is to stay in the terminal. Remember the onward flight closes some time before it departs, so the deadline is earlier than the departure time on your ticket.

Can I sleep at the airport?

Frequently yes, and many large hubs have airside hotels, rest cabins or quiet areas designed for it. Facilities vary enormously between airports, so find out what exists at yours before you rely on it. For a gap over about five hours, paying for a lounge or a rest facility is usually money well spent.

Will I get my luggage during a layover?

On a single ticket it is normally checked through to your final destination, so you will not see it. That is convenient unless you wanted a change of clothes, which is why an overnight layover means packing one in your hand luggage. On separate tickets you will collect it, and you will be entering the country to do so.

Is a stopover the same as a layover?

In ordinary use a layover is a gap of hours and a stopover is a deliberate break of a day or more, sometimes sold by the airline at no additional airfare. If your routing passes through a city you would like to see, ask the airline whether a stopover is available; it is one of the few genuinely free things in air travel.

Related Travel Tips

• Flights and airports, the section this guide belongs to.
• International Flight Connections. Whether you will have to enter the country at all.
• Visa Requirements for Multi-Country Trips. Transit permission in detail.
• Long-Haul Flight Tips, for using a long gap to arrive in better shape.

Plan Your Trip With LABUSA Travel

A layover is either dead time or a day in a city you were passing through anyway, and which one it turns out to be is decided at booking. LABUSA Travel plans routings with the ground time in mind, including the stopovers airlines will give you for nothing if asked.

Talk with a LABUSA Travel advisor about a trip you are considering, or browse our destination guides for what a connecting city is actually like.

Verify Before You Travel

Transit and entry rules are set by each country for each nationality and change. Confirm them with the connecting country’s embassy or consulate and with the U.S. Department of State, and confirm the airport’s transit arrangements with the airport and your airline. This page is general guidance, not advice about your specific routing.