scheduling a touristy layover for myself

February 22, 2009 10:13 AM

I'm heading from the US to Cairo, Egypt in September. A lot of the flights have a layover opportunity in their respective airline hub (Air France in Paris, British Airways in London, KLM Royal Dutch in Amsterdam, Iberia in Madrid). I've taken long layovers as an opportunity to get out and explore a new place, so I'd appreciate some advice on doing this.

The pricing is pretty much the same for all the above flights.

I have been to Amsterdam before (and wouldn't mind going again), so I know that Amsterdam itself is a short hop from the city center on the train.

In any of the other above airports, is there a place where I can store my very small piece of luggage for the 10 hour or so layover that I would schedule for myself? Or any recommendations on where to store it otherwise?

Also, how easy do you find it getting to the city from the airport (and getting through any visa/customs issues?)

Lastly, i'd like to schedule a flight with layover (on one of these airlines), and return on another (with layover). other than fiddling with Kayak endlessly, I haven't really been able to find a way to do it other than randomly getting a result, or booking two 1-way trips (of course, very expensive)

posted by waylaid to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

ITA Software's trip planner can be very useful in scheduling flights across multiple airlines with great specificity. After you search for trips, be sure to try their "Choose flights (graphical)" option at the top, which will be most useful for your needs.

Often you will not be able to fly out on one airline and back on another for a price as low as a round trip on either. Sometimes you can get a cheaper price if they are combined on one ticket. You will need to buy the ticket from the same agent, either a real live travel agent, through a service like Orbitz or Expedia (ugh), or from an airline web site that can sell tickets for multiple airlines.

I think it would be better for you to pick some places and find out how long a layover you can get as it will definitely affect the answers to your other questions.
posted by grouse at 10:24 AM on February 22 [1 favorite]

Heathrow and Gatwick are pretty far from the centre of London, through the (expensive) Heathrow Express cuts down the travel time into Paddington to about 15-20 minutes. There are manned left-luggage desks (no lockers) at all the airport terminals for about £6.50 per item per day.

I've arranged half-day layovers in Amsterdam plenty of times: the self-service lockers in Schiphol and the ease of taking a train make it pretty easy, though I have the advantage of an EU passport to ease passport control. (Schiphol also offers bus tours -- and is about to offer amphibious tours -- for those in transit.)
posted by holgate at 10:42 AM on February 22

Hey, waylaid. At Madrid-Barajas, you can store a bag in a locker pretty easily. See here, under "consigna." Getting into the city from the airport is not bad. You can take the metro or a cab. I would certainly feel comfortable going into the city with a 10-hour layover here. How long you want to spend there is another matter. But it would at least be enough for a meal. Probably more.

As for the last part of your question, one way to do it would be to focus on a particular airline and its partners. This way you can, for example, fly from the States via Madrid on Iberia and then fly back on a ticket sold by Iberia but operated by another carrier with a different stopover city. Sorry if that's already blindingly obvious, but that's one good bet to find a way around getting stuck paying two, one-way tickets.

As to how to find those tickets, it may be that you have more luck once you eliminate a few variables. But definitely one place to start would be Orbitz, because you can see at a glance from the grid on top of the search results page which fares have you flying multiple airlines.

It might also pay to do a little research online about which airlines typically allow a free stopover. For example, I know Emirates used to make it fairly easy to stop over in Dubai for a night or two for no extra airfare.
posted by veggieboy at 10:47 AM on February 22

I've done this a couple of times with London as my layover city. I'm a US citizen and didn't have any problems at customs. As for getting into London, it's quicker to come in from Heathrow than Gatwick. Heathrow has a "Heathrow Express" train that brings you into Paddington and from there you can get on the Tube and go anywhere you want. I don't remember the exact time for the Heathrow to London trip, but I think it was about 20-30 minutes. All told, my flight landed in London at 7:30 am and I was sitting in a restaurant in London having brunch by 10:30.

With regard to luggage, Google is your friend.

I know there are left luggage places in train stations and I think Heathrow, but I've never used them. Everytime I've done the London layover, I've stayed overnight. It gives me more time in the city and a chance to shower, recharge and adjust somewhat to the time change before heading to Africa.

I think London is just a wonderful city, so my vote would be for London.
posted by cptspalding at 10:57 AM on February 22

This way you can, for example, fly from the States via Madrid on Iberia and then fly back on a ticket sold by Iberia but operated by another carrier with a different stopover city.

Yes! That's what I mean to try to explain. I'm not sure to how to specifically look for those other than luck and spending time combing through search results.

I think it would be better for you to pick some places and find out how long a layover you can get as it will definitely affect the answers to your other questions.

I could schedule a 10 hour layover for pretty much all those airports on this itinerary. That should be enough time - I've done it for San Francisco and Panama City, Panama before, and found time to do a pretty rushed tour of a lot of things. :)


Does anyone have thoughts for Paris?
posted by waylaid at 10:59 AM on February 22

I just found this: How to Plan a Layover in Your Top 10 Cities, which was helpful to just think about!
posted by waylaid at 11:01 AM on February 22 [2 favorites]

I dont have any layover experience in those airports, but if you asked me where i'd like to spend a few hours, CDG in Paris is it... it's quite pretty.
posted by 3mendo at 6:35 PM on February 23