Reasonable layover time?
Jun 29th, 2010, 08:21 AM
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Reasonable layover time?
We're planning a trip from Boston to Vietnam. I will be traveling with DH (42), DS (8), DS (8), and DMIL (65) so want to make sure we have enough time for the layover which could be in either Hong Kong or Tokyo. Our bags will be checked through to the destination. Is 90 minutes enough time for these airports? I'd feel comfortable with two hours, but I think the next layover time option left would be 4+ hours.
Another question: On one leg of our trip, we'll be going from HCMC to Siem Reap then on to Hoi An via Da Nang. I'm looking at flying with Vietnam Airlines, which would connect back through HCMC again. How much time should I allow for a layover there, considering that we'd probably have to collect our bags and go back through customs?
Thanks for your help!
Another question: On one leg of our trip, we'll be going from HCMC to Siem Reap then on to Hoi An via Da Nang. I'm looking at flying with Vietnam Airlines, which would connect back through HCMC again. How much time should I allow for a layover there, considering that we'd probably have to collect our bags and go back through customs?
Thanks for your help!
Jun 29th, 2010, 09:11 AM
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my first question would be: are you continuing on the same airline? if so connection time is less important.... the standard time between flights is set for each airport and doing it in less time is usually not allowed.... a short layover is fantastic if everything is on time....i personally like at least 2 hours... i hate, and refuse, to run from plane to plane...
one beauty of NRT is that all flights on the same airline are centered in the same location....for instance northwest, now delta, has a hub there with all flights in and out of the same large area and changing is not that big of a deal except that these days they make you go through a simple japan security check---hand luggage only, but the line can be long... a 45 minute layover in NRT is perfect...
as far as VN airlines is concerned most of their airports are very small and things are easier...
btw, you might want to consider the Boston GTG on oct 9 at the indigo hotel in newton... many regular asia travellers will be in attendence and can give you added info...if interested contact me at: [email protected]
one beauty of NRT is that all flights on the same airline are centered in the same location....for instance northwest, now delta, has a hub there with all flights in and out of the same large area and changing is not that big of a deal except that these days they make you go through a simple japan security check---hand luggage only, but the line can be long... a 45 minute layover in NRT is perfect...
as far as VN airlines is concerned most of their airports are very small and things are easier...
btw, you might want to consider the Boston GTG on oct 9 at the indigo hotel in newton... many regular asia travellers will be in attendence and can give you added info...if interested contact me at: [email protected]
Jun 29th, 2010, 10:39 AM
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Thanks for your feedback.
rhkkmk, I'm almost certain that the connections I need to make in either NRT or HKG will require a change of airlines. I'm booking the flights using my FF miles on Continental. Continental doesn't fly to VN and would have to leverage its Star Alliance Network.
I've never heard of Boston GTG. What is it? Googled it and am still not clear.
Thanks.
rhkkmk, I'm almost certain that the connections I need to make in either NRT or HKG will require a change of airlines. I'm booking the flights using my FF miles on Continental. Continental doesn't fly to VN and would have to leverage its Star Alliance Network.
I've never heard of Boston GTG. What is it? Googled it and am still not clear.
Thanks.
Jun 29th, 2010, 11:24 AM
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Molly
The Boston GTG (get together) is an annual fodors gathering, mostly of Asia and Europe forum posters. Bob will give you all the details of when/where if you email him. I've now been flying in from my home in Illinois for the 5-6 GTGs in Boston. They are always great fun! I wouldn't miss it for anything! (well, hardly anything)
Hope you'll join us.
Carol
The Boston GTG (get together) is an annual fodors gathering, mostly of Asia and Europe forum posters. Bob will give you all the details of when/where if you email him. I've now been flying in from my home in Illinois for the 5-6 GTGs in Boston. They are always great fun! I wouldn't miss it for anything! (well, hardly anything)
Hope you'll join us.
Carol
Jun 29th, 2010, 11:46 AM
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Take a look here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...n-gtg-2010.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...n-gtg-2010.cfm
Jun 29th, 2010, 12:37 PM
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the ladies of the asia forum have spoken....its a great place to meet other travelers and learn their secrets and to set up a ready resource on travel....i can find out most any travel info i want just from the people i have met through fodors in the last 5+ years...
the GTG is basically a gab fest, followed by a luncheon and sometimes we have a dinner the night before and the night of the GTG as will both happen this october...
get to meet: gpanda, lcuy, simpsonc510, laurieco, boston harbor, hawaiian traveller, craig, and that is just some asia folks who spring to mind....
the GTG is basically a gab fest, followed by a luncheon and sometimes we have a dinner the night before and the night of the GTG as will both happen this october...
get to meet: gpanda, lcuy, simpsonc510, laurieco, boston harbor, hawaiian traveller, craig, and that is just some asia folks who spring to mind....
Jun 30th, 2010, 01:21 AM
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I had thought from your other posts that you were going to spend some time in both Japan and Hong Kong. It appears now that you are just connecting through either city directly on to Vietnam?
90 minutes to make a change at Tokyo and Hong Kong should be OK on inbound flights from the US. While your bags will be checked through to your final destination, you most likely will have to get boarding passes for the onward flight to Vietnam, as CO won’t be able to ticket you in the US for the flight to Vietnam. So when you land in Narita or HK, you will have to get a boarding pass (you don’t need to go through Immigration or Customs to do this, you stay in the transit area). Getting a board pass can add a bit of time if there is a line in the transit areas . However, generally I would say you should be OK with 90 minutes.
My concern on any outbound flight <i>from</i> Vietnam which transits through Narita or Hong Kong would be that if the flight takes off late, you will end up with less time for the transfer. If you run into lines getting a boarding pass in the transfer, then you may have a problem. Therefore I would tend to agree with your feeling that 2 hours or more is preferable, esp for any outbound Vietnamese flight. It’s kind of up to you. A 4-hour layover at either Narita or HK airports is certainly liveable, as they are nice airports with restaurants and other options. It beats missing the flights. (In my 20 years or so experience, international flights from the US are virtually never late and are generally 15 minutes or so early. That is why I think on the outbound from the US you would be OK with 90 minutes for a transfer. My more limited experience with Vietnamese airports is not as good. Delays tend to be more common in my experience, even for international flights.)
For the transfer in HCM, note that if you are coming from outside Vietnam, you have to change terminals from the international to the domestic. This will require a short walk (there are luggage carts). The walk is like 5-10 minutes. So after you land, you will first go through Immigration. You may run into lines there. You then have to collect your bags (may be a wait for them). Then you need to walk over to the domestic terminal. If you are on Vietnam Air the whole way, they hopefully would have ticketed you for all flights when you were in Siem Reap, so all you have to do is drop bags. If you were not able to get a boarding pass for both legs of the flight when you checked in at Siem Reap, then you will have to check-in at the domestic terminal, and you may have lines here. If you are in economy, the lines could be longish. So my answer would probably vary a bit based on the class of flight and whether Vietnam Air ticketed you for all sectors in Siem Reap. But all in all, to allow for delays and wait time, to be on the safe side, I would want to have 2 hours between flights. It can be done with less, but that would be a good cushion, IMO. It is mostly because I find the check-in lines for economy class on domestic Vietnamese flights to be rather unorganized, and that is where you may have lost time. The flight from Siem Reap could also be late, which is another reason to keep a 2 hour cushion.
I don’t understand going to Cambodia in the middle of the Vietnamese portion of the trip. This will require you to travel back and forth to Vietnam, which seems unnecessary, and from what I can see will eat up at least half a day of your vacation time each way. You will also need a multiple-entry visa for Vietnam, which for a family of more will cost US$80 more. If there is any way you can go to Cambodia first or last, this may work better in the schedule. Also, you can take a ferry and bus combination to/from HCM and Siem Reap, so flying may not be necessary. This does take longer, but would be quite scenic I would imagine.
90 minutes to make a change at Tokyo and Hong Kong should be OK on inbound flights from the US. While your bags will be checked through to your final destination, you most likely will have to get boarding passes for the onward flight to Vietnam, as CO won’t be able to ticket you in the US for the flight to Vietnam. So when you land in Narita or HK, you will have to get a boarding pass (you don’t need to go through Immigration or Customs to do this, you stay in the transit area). Getting a board pass can add a bit of time if there is a line in the transit areas . However, generally I would say you should be OK with 90 minutes.
My concern on any outbound flight <i>from</i> Vietnam which transits through Narita or Hong Kong would be that if the flight takes off late, you will end up with less time for the transfer. If you run into lines getting a boarding pass in the transfer, then you may have a problem. Therefore I would tend to agree with your feeling that 2 hours or more is preferable, esp for any outbound Vietnamese flight. It’s kind of up to you. A 4-hour layover at either Narita or HK airports is certainly liveable, as they are nice airports with restaurants and other options. It beats missing the flights. (In my 20 years or so experience, international flights from the US are virtually never late and are generally 15 minutes or so early. That is why I think on the outbound from the US you would be OK with 90 minutes for a transfer. My more limited experience with Vietnamese airports is not as good. Delays tend to be more common in my experience, even for international flights.)
For the transfer in HCM, note that if you are coming from outside Vietnam, you have to change terminals from the international to the domestic. This will require a short walk (there are luggage carts). The walk is like 5-10 minutes. So after you land, you will first go through Immigration. You may run into lines there. You then have to collect your bags (may be a wait for them). Then you need to walk over to the domestic terminal. If you are on Vietnam Air the whole way, they hopefully would have ticketed you for all flights when you were in Siem Reap, so all you have to do is drop bags. If you were not able to get a boarding pass for both legs of the flight when you checked in at Siem Reap, then you will have to check-in at the domestic terminal, and you may have lines here. If you are in economy, the lines could be longish. So my answer would probably vary a bit based on the class of flight and whether Vietnam Air ticketed you for all sectors in Siem Reap. But all in all, to allow for delays and wait time, to be on the safe side, I would want to have 2 hours between flights. It can be done with less, but that would be a good cushion, IMO. It is mostly because I find the check-in lines for economy class on domestic Vietnamese flights to be rather unorganized, and that is where you may have lost time. The flight from Siem Reap could also be late, which is another reason to keep a 2 hour cushion.
I don’t understand going to Cambodia in the middle of the Vietnamese portion of the trip. This will require you to travel back and forth to Vietnam, which seems unnecessary, and from what I can see will eat up at least half a day of your vacation time each way. You will also need a multiple-entry visa for Vietnam, which for a family of more will cost US$80 more. If there is any way you can go to Cambodia first or last, this may work better in the schedule. Also, you can take a ferry and bus combination to/from HCM and Siem Reap, so flying may not be necessary. This does take longer, but would be quite scenic I would imagine.
Jun 30th, 2010, 06:19 AM
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Okay, GTG does sound like fun. I'll see about roping in DH too to get him excited about this trip!
Cicerone, you are right. Originally, we were going to do HK and JP. It was my husband's preference to get in as much as possible, but I've since convinced him that the whole time would really need to be spent in VN. There's too much to see if he wants a laid back trip, with downtime. We only have vacation time and budget for a three week trip.
As for your question about sticking Cambodia in at the middle...here's my thought...please push back on me if you think my logic is off since you're the travel expert here and I'd really appreciate your feedback.
Adding in Cambodia in the beginning is problematic in that CO does not fly to Siem Reap so I'd have to fly into HCMC first. The flight into HCMC gets in late, close to or after 10 PM local time. We'd have to stay overnight before catching a flight to Siem Reap, which turns two days of travel into three plus the cost of the hotel room.
I considered going at the end, but then I run the risk of sensory overload and no one will want to see temples for 3 days in the intense heat.
No matter how we cut it, because we're flying via CO, we'll need to a multi-entry visa to VN. I figure if we have to land in HCMC anyway, might as well take some time to recover from the two day trip and stop and see the city before heading off to Siem Reap.
That's my logic anyway. Would you do this differently? I'd appreciate your critical view of this.
Thanks so much.
Molly
Cicerone, you are right. Originally, we were going to do HK and JP. It was my husband's preference to get in as much as possible, but I've since convinced him that the whole time would really need to be spent in VN. There's too much to see if he wants a laid back trip, with downtime. We only have vacation time and budget for a three week trip.
As for your question about sticking Cambodia in at the middle...here's my thought...please push back on me if you think my logic is off since you're the travel expert here and I'd really appreciate your feedback.
Adding in Cambodia in the beginning is problematic in that CO does not fly to Siem Reap so I'd have to fly into HCMC first. The flight into HCMC gets in late, close to or after 10 PM local time. We'd have to stay overnight before catching a flight to Siem Reap, which turns two days of travel into three plus the cost of the hotel room.
I considered going at the end, but then I run the risk of sensory overload and no one will want to see temples for 3 days in the intense heat.
No matter how we cut it, because we're flying via CO, we'll need to a multi-entry visa to VN. I figure if we have to land in HCMC anyway, might as well take some time to recover from the two day trip and stop and see the city before heading off to Siem Reap.
That's my logic anyway. Would you do this differently? I'd appreciate your critical view of this.
Thanks so much.
Molly
Jun 30th, 2010, 09:12 AM
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rhkkmk, unless I win the lottery between now and then, it's coach for us. My FF miles are with CO so I guess ultimately, whichever airline in the Star Alliance that can get me there with my miles is it. Would love to luck out and go via Singapore Airlines, but I highly doubt that sort of luck.
Jun 30th, 2010, 09:50 AM
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Bob, how can you recover from jetlag that quickly? It takes me almost a week... and I fly biz class and can sleep a good portion of the trip! I don't 'do' pool time since I'm too busy shopping in the markets and I don't like so much sun exposure. Anyway, 3 days doesn't quite cut it for me to recover. Maybe others are much quicker at bouncing back than I am... but them I'm 'older'...(smile)
Jun 30th, 2010, 07:20 PM
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you can sometimes get the ny flt on singapore...remember to check about 331 days before you want to return (not leave home but return to home)...
try for some of the foreign airlines or for Cont...
try for some of the foreign airlines or for Cont...
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