FAQ about transfers and connecting flights: what's the difference that a passenger can and cannot do

Perhaps we will put this inscription on the receipt with four or more transfers as Easter eggs.

Before I started working in Tutu. I didn’t really understand how transplantation differs from docking. And I always feared that I would not have time to go from a plane to a plane at the airport and would get stuck somewhere along the way. The specifics of our call center in answering questions about the docking is that they are already calling upon the fact that something did not work out. So let me tell you in detail what it is and how. So you know in advance. Maybe this will help someone.

The most important thing:
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• One ticket receipt = you will be taken to the place by any means.
• Transit zones in the countries with transfer, as a rule, do not require a visa. Transit corridors do not require, but they have a mode of operation (you can not reach the corridor).
• Baggage flies to the end if there is an agreement on common security protocols between the airport and the airline.
• If your flight in the chain of connections is delayed and your visa has expired, the airline will resolve the issue with the border guards.
• There are no joints for more than a day, if the gap is larger - this is a stopover.
• Transit passengers influence the choice of the alternate aerodrome if it is impossible to board the main one: the company assesses the visa regime, the cost of continuing the flight, and so on.

One receipt

On this receipt flights are docked.

You can fly with a transfer with one ticket (more precisely, a ticket receipt), and you can - with several.

If all segments are combined on the same receipt - docking between them. Usually it is not necessary to take luggage at intermediate points: you check in at the starting point for all segments at once.

In general, if you have one receipt in your hands, then you are guaranteed to get to the end point without additional costs, even if there is a big flight delay along the way. It is not a fact that it is precisely the indicated flights and the indicated route in an emergency case, but you will be taken.

Different receipts

These are two different segments, and they are not related to each other.

If the segments are on different receipts, then each of them is treated as a separate flight.

Even if both tickets are from the same airline.

There are no guarantees between them: ticket 1 guarantees that you will reach the intermediate point, and ticket 2 guarantees that you will reach the final point if you take the flight on time at the intermediate point. In case of delay of flight No. 1 it will be considered that you did not come on flight No. 2 of your own accord.

Between such connections it is necessary to get luggage, and then take it to the next segment of the path.

Is it possible not to go for a part of the segments on connecting flights?

No, as a rule, most airlines prohibit violating the sequence of coupons and cancel all subsequent flights.

But some carriers have an exception. If you warn the airline in advance that you will not fly further, then there is an opportunity to save your further flight. This may be important in cases where you yourself got to the next city by car, for example, and wait there for a flight. And you will not be planted.

Is it possible to unload luggage on the way to transfer?

This should be warned representative of the airline at the starting point of your route. And in this case, you will be registered only to an intermediate point and will be given one luggage tag. But note that at the intermediate point you will have to re-register.

What is the minimum connection time?

This is the time that you need to get out of the last seat of the aircraft, boot into the last bus from 2-3 on the transfer to the gate, quietly go to the gate, go through security control, walk at a speed of about 3-4 kilometers per hour to next gate and catch the last minute landing on the next leg. It is calculated statistically, but does not take into account chains of unpleasant coincidences like strikes at the airport or an intensive search at the security point. And so on.

If you are detained for a personal search at the airport (you seem suspicious or come under random inspection) or something else goes wrong on the ground, then it is not the responsibility of the airline. That is, everything that happens on earth is your whole problem. But usually, on “dense” transfers, you are met and accompanied by company employees, or enough time is given for this airport. Failures and problems are rare, they are usually solved individually. There is no general regulation of actions in such a situation.

Usually with very tight docks, you will be met by special people from the airline with signs that will help you pass part of the queue to bypass, or simply will not let you get lost. Some airports have queues for late.

When you buy tickets on connecting flights, you don't need to know anything about MCT. You will be met and held by the hand. The system will not allow to form a chain where there is a transplant shorter than MCT.

On the other hand, when you buy individual segment tickets, it becomes very important. We recommend putting 40 minutes for regular flights (and 2 hours for sometimes late flights) over MCT.

How to recognize him? Each pair of flights and airlines (domestic - international, international - international, etc.) has its own statistics, but it is available in professional accounts, for example, at expertflyer.com. In the simplest case, just google the transfer time at the destination airport. Or see how much difference there is between connecting flights.

We offer for sale only those tickets that correspond to the MCT according to the airlines or booking systems (someone can lay more than 10-20 minutes of MCT airport).

Please note that there are aggregators that allow you to make a route smaller than MCT on transfers. It makes sense if you are the first to leave the plane on the platform with a telescope, run and be able to bypass the queue with wild cries: “I am late, save!” But in general, it’s better not to risk it.

Features of ticket sales

You can find selling connecting flights to the point of destination, but not to find individual tickets to these segments. This means that some segment is something like an airline's internal armor for transit passengers.

It is possible to find separate flights in the direction from one airline, but not to find a connecting flight. This means either possible problems with the MCT, or poor statistics of the delay of the first flight (for example, when departing from islands with frequently changing weather, the time available for docking is very large).

Of course, connecting flights may be cheaper than individual ones. And vice versa.

How to distinguish one receipt from several

The receipt must have one number and one reservation. There are chances to buy two different tickets - it will not be a transfer.

Waiting at the airport

If the flight in the chain docked is delayed, then you will be helped. In case of delay, you are required to transfer to the nearest flight of the same airline. If there is no suitable flight for this airline, then they can put it on another flight that is heading in the right direction under the agreement on transit passengers. Previously, this was often used for a special kind of ticket - Flight Interruption Manifest. Now FIM are made in electronic document flow between companies.

If you have to wait at the airport, you will first be offered water, then food, then a hotel and a sleeping set (or they will be compensated for the cost of all this).

The generally accepted standard (specify local conditions) - a hotel in the case of more than 6 hours of waiting at night and 8 hours of waiting during the day. 2 hours - drinks (often just water). 4 hours - food. For parents - room for mother and child (check conditions with a representative of the airline).

The order of actions is not always like this. If passengers voluntarily refuse the hotel, for example, during the day, it will not be. This is important because there is a fairly frequent practice - to talk about the delay right away, not to wait 6–8 hours at the airport and offer a city tour. Those who agree, do not waste time. At the dock for flights to Phuket, for example, there is a transfer from Aeroflot to a local carrier in one alliance. A local carrier is sometimes delayed due to storms. Accordingly, it is often more convenient for tourists to be like excursions around the city, which they simply would have missed, than to stay at a hotel at the airport. The representative of the airline offers it to the whole group, and then the group usually begins to spud even before the end of the flight.

You can simply refuse without exchanging for other “buns”: for example, when departing from St. Petersburg with a delay of 20 hours it is strange to rest in a hotel, you can go to your home.

Transit areas and corridors

The transit zone is the zone before passport and customs control. That is, you do not need a visa of the country through which you move in transit, if you dock without leaving the transit zone.

For example, if you are carrying drone or liquor, then you may experience friction with customs from different countries. Alcohol cannot be brought into Singapore, but there is a transit zone. You cannot bring plastic bags into Kenya (ordinary plastic bags that are in your home in a bag) - there is a fine of up to 38 thousand dollars or four years in prison.

There are exceptions, where baggage must still be received and passed through security checks (but not through customs). Security control is a check that you do not damage the airport. Customs is a filter at the entrance to the country. The transit zone is not part of the country in terms of customs.

On a flight to New York via Heathrow (London), you will need to get the baggage, drag it through the introscope yourself and pass it again at the airline’s counter. This is done because Heathrow does not trust all airports in the world. When they do not know who and how checked your luggage before and according to what protocol (or they do not trust these people), they need their own check.

The transit corridor differs from the transit zone in that it has working time. For example, there is a frequent transit corridor in Düsseldorf. And at night it is closed. If you want to go - you have to wait for the opening. Do you want to pass by - get a transit visa. Therefore, this is another good chance to be late for the flight if something went wrong.

At many airports you can get a transit visa on site. Usually it is free or worth the token money, but it requires moral suffering. Especially if you fly through Asia.

All reservation systems show you a visa that is needed for flight, for example, we have this:



If you have problems with a visa because of a delayed segment in the chain of connected flights (for example, Schengen ended, you flew out on the last day, and the airport was closed due to weather), then there will be no violation: the airline will alert the country's immigration service.

If you are trying to catch up on a different route, drop off somewhere where there is no visa, the airline will try to get transit in a special order. For example, on the day the Pakistani space was closed, AK “Russia” landed in Goa, where all passengers were given temporary visas.

Is it possible to make a recurrent one of the segments?

Most often, no increase to the business rate - no. Nevertheless, for example, we have the service of turning any ticket into a return one. In fact, this is a non-coverage insurance that covers the purchase of new tickets. This is how it looks like:

What is a stopover?

At the dock, you can request a pause of 2-3 days for a walk around the city (at your own expense, of course). To do this, look at the rate and see if stopover is allowed. If yes - as a rule, the price will change slightly, and you will get another city on the way. In a more complicated case, it’s enough to create routes with a pause of several days. This is, for example, the composite route option:

Can there be different baggage on different lengths?

Yes maybe. For example, if connecting flights are operated by different carriers under the code share agreement. In this case, the baggage and carry-on baggage allowance must be in accordance with the carrier’s standard.

And the last - we show the danger of flight delay

Here you see two connected flights (Singapore and the Emirates), and then - several in a row disassociated with transfers.



You can click on “About the flight” and get access to the data that we take from our partner, which tracks the actual departure of each flight in the world by respondents (in fact, by flytradar). Plus, we enrich this data with reviews on small aircraft (relevant for the Far East) and look at the percentage of cancellations. These are the informers:



You can see even more data:



Actually, this is all that I wanted to tell you about the transit. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the airline sees all transit passengers on board when choosing possible options for alternate aerodromes and most often calculates in such a way that it turns out cheaper in the end (that is, there were fewer additional flights). This means, in particular, when choosing which of the two sides can take off (for example, due to weather problems, you need to delay one, because it will be a co-pilot with a low tolerance for the weather), then choose where transit passengers more. But such situations are rare.

Here are some more links to Tutu. Aviation: why exactly is the plane poured before departure, and what will happen if you don’t do this, how does business aviation in Russia (FBO centers) work , Sheremetyevo’s FBO infrastructure: how light airplanes, cargo for the flight for pilots, the history of in-flight catering and our rating of the “tastiest” airlines, according to what rules an airplane flies to Russia, safety of air travel.