How long a buffer do you leave for positioning flight?
 

Not sure where this q goes, but since in my case it involves an award, will ask here.

How much time would you leave between arrival of a positioning flight and the departure of another flight:

If alliances are different?

If on the same alliance?

Assume you REALLY do not want to miss the second flight.

How much time would you leave before catching any other flight?

60-90 minutes, but I'm not dependent on a flight being on schedule to get me there, so I miss the relevance of the question.

How long a buffer do you leave for positioning flight?
 

If it is 2 separate tickets, I would probably go the night before.

Wouldnt this all depend on time of year, weather conditions, etc? If it were me, and I REALLY REALLY needed to make the next flight, i'd plan to get there a day early. Having had severe thunderstorms and snowstorms push me from the last flight of the day to the first flight of the next day, and having had all flights into a certain city cancelled even when i was originally booked to fly early in the morning, i'd be extra conservative. Worst case you get a cheap hotel room and/or chill in a positioning city for a while.

I'm deliberating for a summer trip, which eliminates snowstorms, but thunderstorms are possible. At first I was thinking early morning, which would leave me about 12 hours, but being very risk averse, I'm now leaning towards the night before.

How long a buffer do you leave for positioning flight?
 

From personal experience, i'd definitely go the night before.

Generally the day before. I have done it same day AA to a Oneworld flight being that AA has language on their website that states such situation are treated as one ticket if the first flight has a problem (even then I wouldn't make it too tight).

Agree.

On my one and only MR I had ample time scheduled, and yet had a several hour delay getting out of LAX for a redeye to BOS. Almost missed my flight from BOS to LAX which would have caused me to miss my next flight to BOS!

Met several FTers that night, including SFO777.

How long a buffer do you leave for positioning flight?
 

For a cruise, I've done the night before and the morning of (very early). I'd prefer the night before just to be safe (not to mention the morning flight was a pain because it was so early!)

I did do a repositioning-type flight last year on award in which making the second connection was critical. I debated flying out a day early, but it made no financial sense since that would mean extra 2 room cost for our traveling party.

We finally decided to fly the day of and I buffered 6 hours or so of extra time. I'd rather hang out at the airport than miss the international segment that took me so long to set up. Figured 6ish hours of buffer time should do it. I'd have to miss about 3 domestic connecting flight to totally miss my target and figured that the trip is not meant to be if that happened.

Our first flight ended up getting moved earlier by 3 hours, so we ended up with like 8+ hours at the airport.

It was a long wait, but nothing that the lounge and a proper meal at a restaurant couldn't fix. We were tired by the time we got onboard and we were all able to catch some sleep after the onboard dinner.

My layover for a LHR -ATH was also roughly 7hrs. Sure, a bit of an overkill but it sure beats being rushed!

It also must depend on the airport. Transferring between flights that are operating from different terminals at London Heathrow is very different from changing flights at Dullsville Domestic, for example.

The only time I had to worry about this - a 1x/week flight to a distant island - I arrived the evening before and stayed at an airport hotel.

Wait a minute buddy, you're talking about my airport!

Minimum three hours. More if weather is dodgy anywhere en route.


For same alliances, I'd say minimum 90 minutes although I have done T3 to T5 at LHR, coming in from Singapore, going through UK Immigration as a non-EU, and security, in 45 minutes. Even had time for a shower in the BA lounge. Wouldn't bet on it though.

Tomorrow this mad lad is going LAD-MAD-LHR-ABZ and attempting to change terminals and airlines in MAD (Iberia -> BA) in 1 hr 35min. Wish me luck.

I'm in the "night before" camp and stay at the hotel in the airport terminal, if possible. As long as I can leave late enough the night before so it's after work, it doesn't really take up an extra day, and then I get both the peace of mind of knowing that I don't have a tight connection in the morning, plus not having to leave the house at 5am the next day.