Time needed for transit ? I have only 40 min to transit while travelling to Toronto, Canada from Singapore via Narita International Airport in Japan
 

Hi,

I am in hurry to check and buy tickets for a trip to and fro from Toronto to Singapore.

My travel agent has given me an option in which I have to travel back to Toronto from Singapore via Narita International Airport in Japan.

My main concern is the time available for transit. It is only 40 minutes and I am not sure whether that would be sufficient to transit without any hassle. I dont know whether the time is just right whether its too short for transit and am also concerned about the whether the luggage would be transferred safely within that time.

Any delay in the flight from Singapore to Narita, Japan will also be troublesome.

Anyone who knows about the minimum time needed for transit..please advise me whether 40 minutes would be sufficient.

Thank you very much for any info.

Regards.

Suggest you go ask this on the airlines forum. Personally, I wouldn't dream of signing up for a 40 minute transfer, regardless of the airport involved. And I'd talk to the airline(s) involved directly, rather than to a TA.

It could take you 30 minutes to get off the plane and into the terminal.

Some international transfers have to pass through a "security screen".

I had an hour to make a transfer in Seoul and barely made it. Several people on the same flight didn't.

We went Singapore to SFO through Narita - everyone coming off the plane from Singapore had to be screened before entering the terminal. It took us 30 minutes to get through.

I would not sign up for such a short connection, esspecially for an international flight like that. If you miss your connection (high probability) then the next flight might not be until the next day.

Nothing specific to that airport, and we don't know your airlines... but I never take a plane transfer of less than 1 hour anywhere for any reason. Too much can go wrong.

I would go for it subject to the following:
1. The short connect route was a good price
2. I was travelling on one ticket
3. Either it did not matter to me if I arrived a day late at the final destination, or there was another flight later in the day from the airport through which I was transiting to my final destination.

If you are on one ticket and there is a delay the airline will look after you. For example, once I was flying to Prague with a transit in FRA. I could go for the one hour connect or take a five hour connect. I took the one hour, my fligt was delayed so missed the flight to Prague and ended up on the later flight anyway - but at least I had a chance at the first earlier flight.

Also depends on whether it is one airline for both legs that means more notice about you as a passenger.

I often see ground agents at NRT standing with a pole with names and a Flight number on it to intercept arriving passengers and shepherd them quickly to their connecting flight.

Even if you make the connection, your checked bag may not.

As Wombat says, it just depends on how quickly you have to get back, what the later options are, and if you don't mind your luggage coming later.