Image credit: Andrey Belenko, January 2010

The first stage in taking a flight, particularly for the first time, is to get to the right airport and the correct terminal.  Many airports are so large these days that even being at the right airport but the wrong terminal may cost you your flight because it can take so long to get to the right place.  And if you arrive at the wrong airport you will likely stand no chance of getting to the correct one before your flight leaves.

Our advice is to ensure well ahead of time that you know exactly which airport your flight departs from, and the terminal that you need to get to.  You should find this out for all of the airports that you will visit on your journey.

Different cities, different problems

Finding the right airport in New York can be quite daunting for a first-time traveller.  The Big Apple is served by: JFK airport, LaGuardia, Newark,  Westchester and Long Island airport.  JFK alone has 7 terminals.

At the other end of the scale, in some cities it is pretty easy.  For instance Cape Town has a single airport serving commercial flights.  After the massive rebuild there, there is now a single combined terminal, with international and domestic arrivals and departures all within the same concourse.  There are still challenges though as the rush hour traffic can add an extra hour’s travel from the Cape Town central business district to the airport.  In the Cape’s wet winter it can get a lot worse.

Modern airports are big.  Beijing Capital International Airport, the main airport serving the Chinese capital, has three terminals and is truly gigantic – one part of terminal three is separated from another by two kilometres!  And worse yet, it is not the only airport: Beijing Nanyaun Airport serves domestic and regional flights operated by China United Airlines.

Moscow has three airports: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo (which is for domestic flights).  Sheremetyevo has two groups of terminals (totalling six in all) that are a 20 minute bus ride away from each other.  In common with most large cities, Moscow traffic is bad and you need to allow at least an hour extra to get to the airport.  You can also get to Domodedovo by train, a journey that takes two hours.

The apron-side shuttle bus at Dubai airport takes 30 minutes to travel from terminal 2 to terminal 3.

In Paris there is the Charles de Gaulle airport.  There is also Paris Roissy airport.  These are two different names for the same airport!  To complete the confusion, it was originally known as Aéroport de Paris Nord.  The other main Parisian airport is Orly.

Transit passengers

Do not think that because you are transiting that this will not affect you.  It may!  In some cases you will even need to obtain a visa for the country you are transiting in.  For example, at Heathrow airport, only BA fly out of terminal 5.  So if you arrive on BA but depart on another airline, you will need to go through customs and catch the tube to another terminal, in order to continue your flight.

On one of my China trips I had to go through customs, leave the airport and catch a bus on the freeway to get to the right terminal of Being Capital International for my regional flight!

Even if you do not change flight number, you may still end up in the terminal if there is a refuelling stop.  (Refuelling stops are not always indicated on the itinerary.)  I do not know of any transit passengers (with the same flight number) who have had to move to another terminal to resume the flight, but very often the gate you enter by is not the same one as the exit one.

Size of terminals – finding the gate

With airport terminals so large, even when you have the right airport and terminal, you may still be faced with a Herculean task to get to the right gate.  Emirates have exclusive use of terminal 3 in Dubai.  So if you are travelling on Emirates you may think you are going to be fine.  If you are flying to London, then you probably are – you will usually depart from one of the 24 “A” gate numbers, which are in the main building.  But if you are flying to maybe Dusseldorf then it is another matter.  You are going to have to walk rather far.  After you have walked the full length of the main terminal you will turn right and then keep walking.  There are another 50 “C” gates!  Here’s the ugly little secret – Concourse C is actually part of the old terminal 1.  You have walked all the way to the next terminal.  The area around the “C” gates looks old and out of date.

In Dubai a brisk walk from terminal 3 to the far end of terminal 1 takes 45 minutes!

transit passenger

Some airports are better than others, depending on ones interests, if you are stuck with a long connection time.  The experience varies from small island airports stuck in yesteryear, where you can wander out onto the tarmac and watch them fuelling the plane, to ones with an Aladdin’s trove of shopping, luxury lounges, or even hidey-holes where you can catch up on sleep.  Or you could be stuck in a hot and humid hell-hole with nasty smells, overcrowding, leering eyes, grabby hands and no place to sit on the floor.

Why transiting can be lengthy

Most airlines have rules that prohibit booking connecting flights with less than a specified minimum time between them.  That means time on the ground.  A number of economy airline hubs in the Middle East or Africa have at most two flights a day to the destination that you’re probably headed too.  That means even more time on the ground.  Lastly, your flight may be delayed – an unplanned delay.  Try to keep up your spirits and bear it.  Naturally, since this is DIY Travel Expert, we have some handy suggestions.

Window shopping

All airports that are hubs will have at least one duty free shop (some airports in Africa are the exception to this rule).  If there is only one shop, it is bound to be expensive due to lack of competition.  Take a good look around for interesting alternatives.  At one duty-free I saw a brand new Ferrari for sale!  Some places like Dubai Airport have the most wonderful things on display, but mostly affordable only by passengers from the front of the plane (like $240 for a pair of gaudy sunglasses) – let’s just say it is a window shoppers paradise.  One’s enthusiasm for shopping tends to decline when you have run out of budget, or worse yet, maxed out your card.

Airport lounge access

If you want to relax in comfort, opt for a good airport lounge.  Most major airports have lounges where access can be bought and you don’t need to be flying business class to get in.  Prices range from $15 – $30 for four hours of access in most non-exclusive lounges.  This will give you a quiet place to maybe take a shower, surf the web and get a snack while waiting for your connecting flight.

Transit hotels

At some airports there are hotels with air-side rooms that you can rent for a set number of hours, for a shower and a nap, and the cost can be roughly comparable to the cost of an annual membership of a top lounge.

Multiple-entry visas

If you have a multiple-entry visa for the country you are transiting through, and the city is just outside the airport, then you can always pop out through customs for a couple of hours.  Some airports offer tours of the facilities, though limited by security considerations, such as a 45-minute tour of Frankfurt.  And larger airports may have cinemas (though you need to check on the type of movie being shown – it may not necessarily be to your liking).

Have a look-see

Most of us enjoy a good coffee on a busy sidewalk café while watching the world go by.  Well, you can do the same in airports.  Grab a coffee and watch the scenery – very good for aspiring authors to get that ‘perfect’ character for the next novel.  In fact, one usually gets too see the full gamut of human emotions in an airport.  From loved ones embracing to a good old stand-off between check-in staff and vexed passengers being told their flight is delayed.  (…or worse, they’ve been bumped.)  If you enjoy a scene, that probably ranks right up there with anger-management classes!

Listen to music

You could listen to music if you have a portable music-player with you.  This can also help one to relax, and is a popular way of passing the time.  The catch is that you may need to take a large portion of your music collection with you – one can readily tire of listening to the same CD repeatedly.

Learn a language

If you are planning to spend some time in a destination country and you are stuck at an airport, you can spend time learning the language with books and audio.

Pretend to work on a laptop

This is also very popular, particularly if a Café offers free wireless.  You sit at a table, buy a cup of coffee, unpack the laptop and tap randomly at the keyboard while looking around at the people, to see if they are paying you any attention.

Keep an eye on the flight monitor

As well as providing a walk every now and then, it will ensure that you know about any last minute gate changes.  While connecting in Beijing’s Capitol Airport, the gate changed twice for my departure in a two hour period.  Announcements are regularly made, in Chinese, so checking the monitor is a good idea.

Take games along

You may have more time than can be beneficially used up with drinking coffee or watching the departure board.  If you are in a group you could exercise the ancient art of conversation.  Of if you are with a companion you may find it helpful to while away the extra hours playing games: take a pack of cards with you, or a magnetic game.  Why magnetic?  So you can close it up temporarily and resume it later in the journey.  One can get any number of popular games in magnetic versions: draughts, chess, even a variety of Monopoly variants.  There are also a large number of electronic games.  And a large number of people pretending to work on their laptops at airports are actually, when you look closely at the screen, playing solitaire on the computer.