My sister and husband are flying Alaska airlines from mexico to seattle and have found out that they have a layover of over 4 hours before flying home. I thought the law stated that layovers could not be more then 4 hours.

No such laws exist.

Who booked it? Schedules are very clear to people before a purchase is made. Sometimes accepting a less than perfect schedule results in substantial savings (but sometimes it doesn't). If it is a matter of a schedule change made by the airline AFTER purchase, then there would be some recourse -- but keep in mind that one remedy might be a refund and they probably still want to go on the trip.

They bought form Alaska in June, with a couple schedule changes since. I looked at the schedules and thats really all there is unless they want to leave mex earlier, stop in Ca. Then get into Seattle at 9pm. As of for now they are on a non-stop to Seattle, so they will just have to go with it.

Thanks for the respones.

If they are flying non-stop to Seattle, what layover are you talking about?

There is a 4 hour layover rule but it does not apply here.

Where it does apply is that when constructing a flight with a connection in some city, you must use an outbound flight within 4 hours of your arrival in order to get a through fare. (Or, if none within 4 hours, the next available one.)

This is to prevent people from stopping in a city for 5, 8, 12 or more hours and trying to claim it is a stopover, rather than a visit. Bottom line: more revenue for the airlines, but I think it's deserved in this case.

Note also that most of these type things are not laws, but rather rules of the airlines. If you break the rules, the airline can charge more or do other contractual stuff, but you cannot not be arrested.

The flight is non stop to seattle, but the layover is because they will continue on to a smaller airport closer to their home town, a 45 minute flight.


I did mean rule not law

It's probably one of the Horizon flights that are scheduled out of Seattle in the evening hours after some of the early evening flights come in. We often have a 3 hour wait in Seattle before our 45 minute flight home, and we could drive it in an hour+ in the right conditions.

Horizon can't seem to figure those flights out but they have the market and nobody is competing with them, unfortunately.

So long as you are not charged a higher fare compared with a layover of less than 4 hours, and so long as you don't mind, don't worry about it.

If because of a schedule change the airline creates the layover more than 4 hours that did not exist before, you are not obliged to call them and point it out and also the airline may not increase your fare.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

Calm down. Just tell them to sit back, relax, and find something to do in the airport. There are always ways to pass the time.

Interesting topic. When having a layover in St. Paul, MN I always try to obtain a flight with the longes layover that I can. Love that Mall of America that is only minutes away and a shuttle bus available. Easy on and off and runs timely.