What Do I Do If I Have a Connecting Flight With a Short Layover?

Even if you’re a travel veteran, the thought of sprinting through the airport with your carry-on luggage can make your palms sweat.

If you don’t know what to expect, connecting flights can induce even more anxiety.

How do you find the gate? What happens if you miss your flight? And how much time do you have to board?

How To Handle Connecting Flights

I’m catching a connecting flight in a major airport. How do I make sure I make it to the gate on time?

That’s what a Clark Howard listener recently asked.

Asked Bruce in California: “My wife and I are invited to a wedding across the country in Charleston, South Carolina. The best flight deals all have connecting flights.

“It scares me that we are booked with connecting flights at Dallas/Fort Worth. With only one hour to our next flight, how can we be prepared to know where to go and how to get there in such a large airport with many terminals, different levels and trains that take people to their destinations? What do we do?”

Clark pulled out a Bob Marley reference. He loves airports and isn’t one to stress while traveling.

“Don’t worry so much. Be happy,” Clark says. “Barring a thunderstorm hitting the Dallas-Fort Worth area or something like that, an hour is plenty of time to change planes at DFW.

“Having said that, it’s a very confusing airport for a first-time traveler. Go online. If you have a printer, Bruce, print out a map of the Dallas airport terminals.”

How Long Does It Take To Walk From One Flight to Another?

Airlines often close the door to the jetway, which you use to walk on and off the plane, about 10 minutes before a flight takes off. And it takes time to taxi after you land, get to the gate and disembark. So if you have exactly 60 minutes between wheels down and your next flight, it may be closer to 35 minutes.

However, depending on how far away your next terminal and gate is, it could take you as little as five minutes — even in an airport like DFW, and even if you have to change terminals.

“The new train system in Dallas is really good. And you’ll be able to get — as long as you get on it the right direction for the terminal you’re going to — you’ll be able to change terminals in four to six minutes,” Clark says. “So plenty, plenty, plenty of time to go to the connecting gate.”

If you’re a slow walker, you hit the tram to switch terminals at exactly the wrong time and you have to go from one end of the airport to the other, you still should be able to do that in much less than 30 minutes.

With luck, you’ll have time to hit the restroom and grab water or a snack at a kiosk near your gate.

How Do You Figure Out the Gate Number for Your Next Flight?

In addition to Clark’s suggestion — printing out a map of the DFW terminals at home before your flight — you should be able to find one in the reading material in the back pocket of the seat in front of you on the plane.

And you also should be able to view or download a map on your phone while you’re at the airport, or on the flight if you can access Wi-Fi.

Almost always, the website or app of the airline through which you’re booked will tell you the terminal letter and gate number for your connecting flight. Sometimes the airline will even allow you to turn on your phone location inside the airport and will connect to your phone’s navigation app to guide you there.

I often use the airline’s app in conjunction with FlightAware.com. For free, it gives you real-time updates on whether your flight is on time and even which gate it’s flying out of. And sometimes I notice that FlightAware updates that information before the airline does on its website or over the intercom at the gate.

Occasionally, but not often, an airline crew will announce the terminal and gate information for connecting flights while you’re preparing to deboard.

If all else fails, find one of those giant electronic boards and look for your flight number, destination and flight time. You should be able to find the gate information that way.

What Happens if You Miss Your Connecting Flight?

It’s impossible to avoid canceled or delayed flights 100% of the time. And, occasionally, your initial flight won’t arrive on time to make your connecting flight.

The later in the day you’re flying, the more likely you are to face a delay, as Clark often notes. To minimize your risks, avoid checking a bag and take the earliest possible flight.

Clark thinks he knows what airline Bruce and his family will take based on their connecting city.

“You’re almost certainly flying American since you’re changing in Dallas,” Clark says. “American offers so many flights a day into their various destinations out of Dallas that normally, on a normal day, unless you’re the last flight bank of the day, there will be other connections they’ll be able to get you on to get you to the wedding on time.”

If you’ve missed your connecting flight for whatever reason, it can be a nightmare trying to get help from an airline worker at the counter these days. In addition to waiting in line and being polite but firm, you should be on the airline’s app or website seeing if you can rebook your flight on your own.

Most airlines have a customer support chat or phone number. Try every avenue possible while you’re waiting to talk to a gate agent.

Final Thoughts

If you exit the plane with less than a half-hour before your next flight is scheduled to depart, you’ll have to move fast. But, generally, if your connecting flight is separated with a one-hour layover, you should have enough time to get to your gate, use the restroom and buy food or snacks before they begin the boarding process.

There are a number of different ways to find a map of the airport terminals and determine which gate you need to find to board your next flight.