Airport transfer advice
Concerning airport transfers, I have a few tips that can help.
First, when choosing your flights, pay attention to flight number changes. It could be a simple stopover or plane change or it could be code-sharing where you actually check in at another airline’s counter or have to move across the airport to another concourse.
Second, watch for the airport codes. For example, one thing you should know is LON and RIO are codes for the cities of London, England, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, respectively, but these designations do not indicate particular airports. LHR (Heathrow), LGW (Gatwick) and STN (Stansted) all are London airports but are hours and a small fortune in taxi fares apart. Rio has both GIG (Galeão-Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport) and SDU (Santos Dumont, the domestic airport); they are about 20 miles apart. A mistake in booking the wrong one can cost time, money and missed connections.
In late May and early June 2007, I was working on a trip to Brazil and Venezuela (to hit both Iguazú Falls and Angel Falls in one trip) for November. The trouble was I couldn’t get from one to the other directly. (I didn’t have time then to finalize the arrangements.)
I wanted to fly from Seattle to Iguazú Falls, Brazil, and Rio. When I entered SEA to IGU to SDU to SEA in www.orbitz.com’s multicity flight search engine, I received dozens of options, including one that had me flying from Seattle to Washington, D.C., to Rio de Janeiro’s GIG airport, with a 5- to 6-hour layover before going on to Iguazú Falls. The next leg was from Iguazú to Rio’s GIG airport, with an almost 5-hour layover, then to São Paulo and back to Rio’s SDU airport. The last leg went from Rio’s SDU airport to São Paulo, back to Rio’s GIG airport, then, after an 11-hour layover, departed GIG for Atlanta and Seattle — total price, $2,629.
Using the wrong code forced the search to route me to another city and suffer nine hours’ travel before I could get from Iguazú to Rio, when a direct flight is only two hours. Then, when leaving Rio, I would have traveled for 13 hours to get back to the correct Rio departure airport. This is an extreme case but not all that rare.
When I asked Orbitz for a routing of “Seattle-Rio (GIG)-Iguazú-Seattle,” the price was $1,808 and the routing almost direct: Seattle-Atlanta-Rio, Rio-Iguazú, Iguazú-São Paulo-Atlanta-Seattle.
When planning a multicity trip, play around with the sequence of cities and try pricing single legs to get an idea of what is available at different prices. The websites www.worldairroutes.com/airline.html and www.flyaow.com list many airlines and routes, and AOW includes ground transportation.
Third, after your routing is settled, if it includes any code-sharing legs, ask for the other airlines’ confirmation numbers, their 800 telephone numbers and the flight numbers and at which airline you must check in.
Always ask which terminal and concourse each leg will depart from and arrive at. Some mega-airports have miles between terminals and almost that between the ends of different concourses.
Some airlines do not want to commit to saying at which concourse they usually land (in case of a change, they do not want to be blamed), but if you tell them you realize it isn’t carved in stone and you just want a “probable-maybe” about which concourse they usually get, they may tell you.
Compare the time between planes, the probable distance and your normal speed to see if you should ask for a later flight.
Fourth, look on the Internet to see if your desired airports have websites. Try www.worldairport guide.com or www.gofox.com/flights/airportmaps.php or www. amadeus.net/home/airports/en/index.htm.
Many airport websites not only will give you a map of the airport but can tell you which airlines fly there and sometimes even what concourses they usually use. Some list local transport companies, show you where the money changers and ATMs are and tell restaurant hours.
Pay attention to the possibility of separate maps for arrivals and departures. Note dotted lines between concourses/terminals that may indicate shuttles.
If your desired airport does not have a website, your airline may have maps of its favorite airports on its own website. I collect the airport maps included in the in-flight magazines.
Lastly, when I am routed through Frankfurt, Germany, in the midst of a long trip, I overnight at the Steigenberger Airport Hotel (Unterschweinstiege 16, Frankfurt, 60549; phone +49 [69] 69750, fax [69] 6975 2505), which, on the night of Nov. 3, 2006, through www.united.com Hotels E-Special double room rate, was $114.24. They have an excellent restaurant and a free airport shuttle. I have been very happy with the hotel in all respects.
KIT STEWART
Sequim, WA