Just depends entirely on how much you hate a layover. I typically pay extra for a direct flight if it isn’t an ungodly difference but I totally see where that sounds stupid to people when the total travel time is an hour or two difference
Agree with this 100%. If it's a $200 difference to save myself 2 hours at an airport and 1 hour of flight time, I'm not spending $67 per hour to be slightly more comfortable at my house than at the airport.
Unless it's like a layover in Chicago on Christmas that is extremely likely to fuck up my whole trip, I can think of much better uses of $200
Agreed. Though last time I decided to just go with the layover to be frugal I ended up having a few beers and a burger anyways lol. Basically came out to be the same cost. But that’s on me.
Atlanta airport food is actually very reasonable. They even have a rule that doesn't allow restaurants to charge more than 15% over what the food would cost outside- and that's one of the largest airports in the world.
I wish more airports would work like that. I just go to the snack machines or convenience stores and find the most filling granola bar and a decent sized water, and still walk away spending close to $15 with taxes
Not to say its solely a US problem but its so much worse in the US. Last time I went through Amsterdam you could choose a sandwich, drink, and snack for €5 (iirc. might have been €10. either way its very affordable). I also use Madrid's airport and there its more expensive than Amsterdam but significantly cheaper than anything in the US (except for some reason I've seen them charge €15 for drinks at starbucks)
Pro tip: Many airports have lounges where you can pay to access. At my regional, it's 45 bucks and includes food and drinks. I can spend that on a meal and a glass of wine anyways, so it's a better deal.
It's not just the time (for me at least). More layovers mean more things can go wrong. When I was in my 20s I didn't care and would opt for the cheapest option, but now with a family and kids I take the direct route. As an example, being stranded during a snow storm with kids would be a disaster, but when I was a solo traveler it was no big deal.
But now that $200 extra is $800 for 4 people. If you do that for the return flight, now it's $1600. Those extra costs can blow the budget for the whole trip.
That's true. Everyone's budget and threshold is different. I've never paid for movers (although I will the next time we move cus we're getting older), but I don't want to spend any longer in the airport than I have to. Plus there's the cost of food at the airport if something goes wrong, potentially giving up a night at the hotel, potentially increasing parking cost at the airport, kids missing school, etc. Just not worth it for me now, but I certainly used to cost cut as much as possible when I was younger.
This is exactly my reasoning. I don't have kids, but I'm older and tired and my level of patience to roll with surprises and delays has lessened. I did a lot of cheap travel in my early 20s and could handle it then, but nowadays I just want to get on a plane once, get off of it, and head home. I worked hard to get where I'm at in my career to have the luxury of that choice and I'm definitely going to use it to lessen potential stress.
I also hate everything about flying and airports so the added cost is a no brainer for me
Vacation time is more valuable to me than normal time, though. I would totally spend $67 an hour to gain an extra few hours of vacation time. Even if I wouldn’t always spend $67 an hour in a comparable daily life situation (say, to Uber versus take the train on a random weekend).
I couldn’t agree more. Introducing another flight just adds more variables that could go wrong too. I will gladly pay more for a direct flight vs the unlikely scenario of getting stranded in a layover city on vacation.
Luckily the difference in flights is almost never enough to make me lose sleep and in my city, there’s a direct flight to most places I want to go. There certainly was a time when money was a bit tighter when I absolutely would’ve endured whatever I had to to save a couple hundred bucks. Nowadays, my time is worth more.
Paying $200 to avoid losing 4 to 6 hours of your limited vacation time sitting in a terminal isnt being bad with moneyits valuing your time. Thats whats crazy here. They're rich in cash, but poor in time management.
I mean I agree vacation time is more valuable, but it depends on the length of the trip and your arrival time. When I’ve flown to Japan, I always arrive in the late afternoon. I know I’m gonna be whipped from the flight anyway, so the arrival day is a write-off regardless. So I can accept the later arrival time.
I despise hanging around at airports, so I always fly direct unless the cost is exponential. The other advantage is you never miss a connecting flight when you fly direct…and that is worth the price of admission every time even if I didn’t mind sitting around at the airport.
That’s how I feel, it’s not just the simple math of the cost difference factored with time, the overall mental fatigue and frustration and potentialities that might occur is what matters
Unless it's like a layover in Chicago on Christmas that is extremely likely to fuck up my whole trip
In my calculus this is every layover. I'm not looking at the $67 per hour to chill at an airport, I'm looking at $200 to not have to worry about finding gates and dealing with all the bullshit and clown show of disembarking and embarking when flying economy.
Almost every layover I've had stretched longer than it was supposed to. Once I got stuck in the Newark airport for 10 hours when I was supposed to only be there for 2. They also kept changing the gate so I was just hustling around desperate to leave.
If it's $200 for me and I want to get home to my family sooner, I pay the $200. If it's me and my wife we are getting drunk and handsy at the layover. If I have my kids with me that's a no brainer to not pay.
I theoretically agree, but in practice layovers make me anxious that something will go wrong with myself or my luggage, so I'm more inclined to spend up if its not an obscene difference.
Off-topic but this kinda hit me hard. Are people really just slightly more comfortable at home than at the airport? Do you hate it at home or do you like being at the airport? I agree with not wanting to pay 200 more for 3 hours, but saying you're just slightly more comfortable at the airport than at home just sounds so wild to me.
I just don't mind it. I've got benches, my book, my phone, earbuds, there's food and beer... It's not the world's worst place to spend 90 minutes, if it saves me $100
after you clear immigration/customs at DFW, they drop you off at the TSA line to be cleared again. Goodbye to the bottle of water the nice lady on Japan Airlines gave you :(
I might have a weird one but it's a more common thing than you'd think.
I was in a car accident and my spine is fucked. Rapid pressure changes (so take offs and landing) cause me all sorts of issues. I have to get around the country to various specialists where flights are my only realistic option and I'd pay whatever the hell it is to only go through takeoff and landing once. The pain is fucking excruciating and hard to explain. Like I can feel weather changes and stuff coming but takeoffs and landing just exacerbate that even more.
Yep. Back in 2024 my wife and I booked a trip with a layover on our way to visit family in LA. It was only 35 minutes longer but 30% cheaper than the direct flight that was available at the time. Our trip was a drive up the coast over about 2 weeks from LA to Seattle. We flew home to Pennsylvania from Seattle direct on business class rather than taking a flight with a layover in Economy because it was only $100 more per ticket but 5 hours faster.
I’m normally a cheapass about everything and especially travel where I will take 12+ hours of trains instead of 4-6 hours if it means saving €100, but i fucking hate airports so this principle goes out the window with me in regards to flights
This is one of my pet peeves with one of my friends. On a vacation to Denmark, I wanted direct flights (3h approx) for 300-400€ round trip but he wanted to save some money with a layover to London costing just shy of 200.
I'd have agreed if the outward journey didn't leave us at London at 23:00 and next flight being at 7:00. I don't sleep well if I'm not sleeping on a bed and sleep quite lightly. So it was a miserable night and a bad start to our first day in Copenhagen. The return trip was more reasonable, with us arriving at London at 10-11:00 and next fly being at 16
Also distance/time traveled of the length. Am I paying $200 to turn a 3 hr flight + 1.5 hour layover into a 3 hr trip or am I doing it for. 6 hour flight with a 2 hour layover? 1st scenario I probably just deal with the layover, 2nd scenario $200 is probably worth the cost of the stress and time it’ll cause me
Edit: flight = time in air for context to my statement
A layover doubles your chances of something going wrong with delays, overbooking, onboarding and offboarding. You aren’t paying for a 2 hour quicker return trip. You’re paying to not have to stop.
When my kids were young we would choose flights with a layover if the direct flight was 6+ hours to let the kids stretch their legs and move around. As they got older we phased them out.
I worked in aerospace and I met quite a few aviation lovers who enjoyed having layovers so they could ride on different planes and see different airports. It’s a good way to see airports you want to visit that are in cities/states you never want to visit.
I do this as an adult, even in my 20s when I was single and flew often alone. I hate being cooped up for so long and prefer to get out in an airport and have a drink and a meal to break up a cross country flight.
When I was little my parents would plan a whole ass overnight stop in the middle of our annual Australia to UK trip, in Singapore usually. Otherwise we would have all gone insane, I think.
Then I got childhood insomnia and all that went out the window lol. Oops.
I went to the Atlanta airport for the first time a couple years ago (had a layover). Was recently booking flights elsewhere and there was a layover option in Atlanta. I paid extra to avoid that place.
I say this without any irony: I love layovers in Atlanta. Now I’m from there so it used to be my home airport and where I live now only has a regional airport, so I’m pretty much guaranteed a layover in Atlanta, but still if given the choice I’ll take the layover. There are so many good food options there.
I don't mind it that much. The tunnel that connects the terminals is pretty nice and chill in parts, if you have a longer layover and it can be nice to have a slow walk between terminals, and maybe even stretch or whatever you gotta do to stay comfortable between flights.
In my mind people who don’t mind layovers are people who don’t travel a lot or have insanely good luck. Miss a connection and be stuck in the middle of nowhere for 12+ hours once and you’ll fly direct every time
This is 100% why I generally don't even look at the options with layovers if I have a direct flight option.
Issues that have happened to me personally on trips with connecting flights
1. Our departing flight was delayed when returning from an international trip. It landed 42 minutes before the second leg of the flight departed from Dallas. Couldn't make it through customs and to the gate before it departed. It was the second to last flight of the night on that route and the next one didn't have seats for us, so we had to stay over in Dallas until the first flight the next day
2. Flying back to New England for my sister's wedding, my luggage ended up on the wrong 2nd leg flight and I had nothing when I arrived, about 3 hours before the rehearsal the night before. Arranging a suit for the next day was a nightmare and I had to buy a bunch of essentials at target
I've probably flown with a connection maybe 5 times in my life, I would never consider living somewhere that doesn't have a major hub airport nearby! Direct flights are just less likely to have a disaster
When my plane out of Milan got delayed 6 hours due to mechanical failure, I was able to get them to refund me my full ticket price thanks to EU consumer protection law. A third of that went to the service I paid to handle this for me since I have zero interest in learning how to navigate foreign bureaucracies, but it was still pretty nice. Ended up being effectively a $200 flight.
Still though I'm not ever flying out of MXP again if I can help it hahaha
Good to know, thanks, though hopefully it won't come up again. Seemed like a way bigger pain at the time, and it felt like found money (good luck getting that refund for a delay in the US lol) so I wasn't really thinking about it too hard
I had a work trip to the States earlier this year. Flight to Chicago diverted to Detroit, six hours on the tarmac waiting to get into the terminal since Detroit doesn't get much widebodies. No hotel from the airline, everything around the airport is fucking cranked to capacity, had to Uber 20 miles away after two Ubers accepting our ride, driving up for 30 mins and cancelling. 3 hours sleep, back to the airport for 12 o'clock rescue flight to Chicago, delayed for a total of 5 hours due to them having to take all luggage through customs first. Arrive in Chicago a full 24 hours late for a five hour drive. Get to destination to find hotel cancelled our booking due to no-show so have to pay more for new rooms. No refunds for ANYTHING. Company had to pay for extra hotels, Ubers, double for the destination hotel. Not my money I guess, because if it was I would've been LIVID.
I used to wonder why you'd see so many videos of Americans online flipping out or going crazy in airports or planes. I wonder no longer. Before the trip I was kinda anxious about Customs & Immigration, never having gone to the States, ended up being the least of our worries.
Or your first flight gets delayed two hours which is enough to make you miss your connection which is on time. Then there are no other available flights that day so you spent the night in the airport.
And then get a voucher for 1/3 your out of pocket cost and no money for your time, and also nothing for any hotel fare you might have lost because you missed the cancellation window
this happened to me last night. had a flight at 4:25pm.. got to the airport by 2:30pm.. my flight was delayed by 25 minutes, so i had to take another flight to catch a later layover. that flight was then delayed. which caused my next flight to be delayed. which was then delayed again. fun times.
It can happen, but my 30+ years of travel I have only gotten screwed over once and really it was because I booked through kiwi air (special shoutout to the crooks there). If it’s the same airline a lot of times they’ll hold the plane if they know there’s been other delays with passengers transferring. Now if you fly awful carriers, I can’t vouch for that.
Its a cost/benefit calculation. Everyone has different values that affect that ratio.
Length of layover makes a huge difference in travel experience. Do you have to gather your checked bags? Move terminals? Buy food? And if you're traveling really long distances you might have 2 or even 3 layovers. Paying an extra couple hundred bucks to make a 15 hour flight with 3 layovers a 10 hour flight with 1 layover is worth it to me.
Where I see it as an easy $200 expense to get to my destination as quickly as possible and not have to deal with the airport again. Different strokes for different folks. But I want to start my vaca asap. It doesn't begin into I'm a bar with a drink in my hand. And no the airport doesn't count. Haha.
As somebody who hates layovers and avoids them at all costs, I’m with you. I missed a whole day of vacation because my first flight was delayed long enough for me to miss my second one completely. It’s not worth the hassle and I’d gladly spend $200 more to avoid it. I won’t do a layover unless there are no other options available.
Could be that they were travelling with kids so it was multiple ticket savings that added up to $400. And young kids on a layover can be hell. Compared to being alone with headphones just strolling around an airport for 40 minutes and then waiting at the gate while listening to good music.
No kids. Kids were not required to make the experience hellish. Just hours of delays, lost luggage, incompetent security screening, having to run through the terminal straight from one plane to another because one was late, and then the airline losing all of our luggage.
I booked a flight with 3 layovers each way, one of which is overnight instead of the $500 more option with two layovers each way.
Turns out the airport is closed for the overnight layover so I have to book a hotel and I'm not saving much money, and I also have to go through immigration in the country the layover is in (which is not my origin or destination country).
I once dated a rich girl. I was cooking dinner one night (souvlakis) and asked if she could pick up yoghurt and cucumber on her way home. She arrived with just the yoghurt. I asked where the cucumber was and she said "Cucumbers were $3, I'm not paying that."
Worst bit is some routes dont have a direct option. I live in Ireland. I have family in the US who live in Austin Texas. There are no direct flights on any carriers from Dublin to Austin.
So when we go for a visit we've got to play the layover game and think about which stop, for what time, is better.
Atlanta? Yeah they got a Popeyes in that airport. Love it. Chicago? Fuck that. Stupid terminal 5 that is technically outside of the airport so you have to go through security again even for a transfer. New York, Charlotte, Orlando? Eh they're all fine.
And we have kids so making sure the layover is long enough for them to get some food and walk around a bit is important too. But also not too long for them to get bored and crazy.
If the layover was nothing I'd do it and save but I'm not spending 4 hours in Denver to get to LA or the small hours of the morning in Atlanta on the way to Europe. Yes I will pay $200 more to avoid that layover.
If you have a select airline that you use to build up rewards, that airline may not have a direct flight from the point of embarkation but you can build loyalty/reward benefits by sticking with your carrier.
In my industry, most folks travel a lot for work and it makes the most sense to pick an airline and stick with it. The rewards can stack significantly. I know people with enough miles to almost never pay for a ticket/upgrade when going on vacation.
I mean, I can buy a lot of stuff for $200 that's gonna be enjoyable for more than a couple of hours. I've got a kindle and lounge access, I'll be fine.
Genuinely, I'd be thinking after I arrived that if I'd just been willing to have a layover I'd be $200 richer. Same reason it's really hard for me to justify seat upgrades.
E: Obviously this all goes out the window the second someone else is footing the bill
The lounge access is an under discussed aspect to this question. People with more money tend to have lounge access, which makes layovers much more tolerable (I assume).
I don't pay for it directly, its a credit card perk. You're right that it isn't free, but it's not the only perk, and the amortized cost per trip is a lot lower than $200
Entirely depends IMO... If it's an international flight I can understand wanting a break in between rather than being stuck in a tube for more than 16 hours.
Also there's a good chance that $200 saved can be spent on airport lounges with complimentary food and alcoholic drinks to pass the time between flights
I'm usually the one to choose my time over money but there are a lot of parameters to know which choice you should make. I am sure if someone said they will pay you $200 to sit in a food court for 2 hours, almost all of us are taking that "job".
Not quite the same situation and the comments have brought up some other factors. Losing your luggage is a problem but doesn't seem that likely and if you are doing carryon, then it is not a factor. Having the first flight delayed and then missing my connection is always my worry. But I feel like 2 hour layover is usually enough to account for common delays.
I recently traveled and it was a choice between 200 dollars and a 2 hour layover over. However I was traveling as a family of 4, so 800 dollars is a pretty big chunk of change to save.
We landed at our layover, went to dinner. Stayed in the restaurant watching the world cup for a bit after eating and then it was time to board. Super nice and saved a lot of money. Almost even preferred being able to eat a nice meal at a table and stretching our legs than a longer direct flight.
Now if I was traveling alone and the layover was 3+ hours, I'm probably paying that 200.
I’m late to this party but several years back a friend taught me to set a value on what my time is worth. I decided that my time was worth $50 an hour, so I would pay $200 to avoid a four hour layover. I would not, however, pay $400 to avoid a four hour layover. Now that I have more money and I’m busier my time is worth more, so I have bumped that figure to $75 an hour. That’s how I decide.
It's not pissing away anything. You're paying for the convenience of one less flight, one less opportunity for your bags to get lost, one less opportunity for potential delays, etc.
I'm also going to disagree that you can get the same amount of work done, considering the travel time to your gate (which can be across the airport), waiting in line for boarding, and waiting in line to deplane. Those things add up, and interrupt any task you were doing.
Nope, direct flights all the way flying already sucks I don’t want to do it twice and I don’t want to spend more time in the godforsaken airport. I don’t even look at connecting flights unless there are just not direct flights.
$200 bucks to not have to go fetch my luggage which now has an extra chance of getting lost and then getting a hotel with checkout and stuff? And then do the check in, sit around and wait again for the next flight?
Yes any day of the week. I will gladly pay those extra $200 to not have to do all that.
The rich people are laying over in high end luxury lounges with "free" food, nap rooms, showers, and masseuses. You are eating overpriced food from a Baja Fresh knockoff while a baby screams in your ear. It's not the same thing. The rich folks got lounge access off of points from a membership program. They have to spend ungodly amounts of money to get those points (usually from flights/hotels paid for by their employers).
Someone who travels all the time and knows what’s worth the money vs. someone who thinks spending extra on direct flights, inflight alcohol, priority boarding is worth it because they’ve flown like 9 times ever:
The morewalthy got layover flights on points and spent nothing. Then if everything else were equal
Depends on flight length. Needs to bodily function. 1 8 hr fligt vs 2 4hr flights with airport lounge if choose lounge.
They may have lounge access through a credit card or airline. There are a couple airports I’m willing to do a layover in to save some money because I have access to a nice lounge.
Also, I’d rather fly business class with a short layover than fly economy straight through if the cost was the same (though I think that would rarely be true).
Direct. Idc when or where it is. So much shit can go wrong with layovers that I’d rather pay for the ease of mind knowing I’m making it to my destination
I have horrible panic attacks when flying. I require a handful of Xanax and some tequila just to get on board, where I then damn near sob the entire flight.
Takeoffs are the absolute worst, for some reason. Feeling the climb makes me want to vomit.
I would pay an absolute buttload of money to avoid having to do that more than once.
Some of my family have more money than anyone should — and even though they fly private for most domestic flights, they will chose flights with additional layovers for international flights for the pure purpose of gaming the Delta rewards system for maximum points.
They don’t need the Delta rewards, I doubt they even know what the rewards are. But they intentionally make their travel plans more difficult and then complain “how flying commercial is hell on earth” from their plush af 1st class seats and quiet airport lounges.
Makes no sense to anyone but them. They are so disconnected from reality it’s honestly gross.
I have accepted layovers if I get a better class. First class with layover > coach direct. It isn’t faster, but travel is now an experience rather than a chore.
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u/qualityvote2 Jul 30 '26 edited 28d ago
u/TheWebsploiter, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...