In Transit

Whenever someone talks about flight connections, the first thing that comes to mind is long queues. For security. Immigration or passport control depending on the airport. In some places for transit from one terminal to another.

Then there’s the waiting. Waiting for your flight to be announced while strolling aimlessly through the endless aisles of duty-free things. Silently willing the clock to tick faster. The same old ambience. The same view. A large glass wall overlooking the tarmac interspersed with boarding gates. A seating area parallels that the glass. Rows of shops and restaurants selling more or less the same things. Liquor, perfumes and chocolates. The occasional bookstore with souvenirs. An electronics store. Just the name changes. In some places, it will be Heinemann Duty Free while somewhere it might Dufry or World Duty Free. But all this only if you are sensible enough to book a connecting flight with enough gap to account for eventualities like a delayed flight 

If not, then the experience of transit is one of high stress. You won’t realise duty-free shops even exist in that airport. Your only wish would be the clock should tick slowly. You run through the terminal area pushing people and shopping carts away. If you are fortunate enough, then the airline might arrange for a quick transit. If not, its run, run, run. The airline won’t do more than calling out your name several times. You will hate the queues and you will hate the shoppers clogging the way with their carts. The sign with your gate number will seem to be the best signboard you’ve ever seen.

Then there are overconfident people like me for whom the airline has to worry. But then, who in their right mind will book an international connection with a transit time of just 20 minutes? We were travelling from Stockholm to St Petersburg via Tallinn. My only justification for booking this ticket was that since it’s available on the airline website, we can make it. But a few days after booking, I got a call from the airline requesting me to take an earlier flight from Stockholm if I wanted to make the connection! Of course, the airline transferred my booking at no additional cost. And I ended up spending quite a few hours at Tallinn. 

So no matter what you do, keep at least 2 hours between flights. If you have more time, better. There’s plenty to do at an airport. You can have a cold one in one of the numerous bars or a hot coffee in the numerous cafes. You can write something online using the airport Wi-Fi like I am writing this post. Stroll around. Interact with other fellow travellers. Catch up on sleep. Or you just might get bored to death.