Can I leave an airport during long connection period?

S

Salvadore

Registered User
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I don’t do much travel involving connecting flights so forgive me if this seems like a stupid question.

I may have to travel to India in the coming months and will probably be traveling on Ethiad via Abu Dhabi. I’ve no particular interest in exploring the various delights the city has to offer but I would like to break up the full journey if possible.

If I choose a flight to India with a long connection time (say 12 hours) in Abu Dhabi, am I free to leave the airport and check into a hotel overnight?

The alternative is to choose a much shorter but manageable connection time (2.5 hours) and complete the entire journey in one (long) go.

Any cons to breaking up the journey as proposed?
 
Is the layover in a country you’d need a visa for?
Is the visa easy to get?
Is the airport far from somewhere with something to do or a nice hotel with say a pool where you can relax?
Can you book your bags through?

A friend broke a journey in Taipei, got a visa there at the airport, went sightseeing, had a meal, came back to the airport and had a shower and a massage and then got on the next flight. 10 hour layover was well filled. He sleeps well on freights so sleeping wasn’t on his list. I’d go to a nice hotel, have a snooze, a swim, a meal then head back. If I had the cash of course.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Hadn’t thought about the visa for Abu Dhabi but on inspection it turns out that none is needed.

I’ve discovered there’s a hotel on the airport premises that I’d be happy enough to kip over in but I presume I’d still have to go through passport control to get to it.

I’m not really looking for stuff to do - just sleep. I can’t sleep on planes unfortunately.
 
In Abu Dhabi (and also in Dubai and, I expect, Doha) there's an airside hotel — it's in the transit area; you don't have to "land" to use the hotel.

I have stayed in the transit hotel in Dubai; they meet you at the door of your aircraft; you're in your room about 20 minutes later. And a similarly quick trip back to your departure gate for the next flight. It's not expensive.

I would do it every time, if the flight schedules worked; I have reached an age where avoiding a night sitting up in an economy seat and spending it lying flat in a bed in a darkened room instead makes a big difference to my form on arrival at my destination.
 
Do you really need to fly with Ethiad through Abu Dhabi? I did both.....never again.

I can't sleep on planes either. On Ethiad, they turned up the heating to make everyone sleepy. I felt I was being slow cooked in an oven. It was so claustrophobic.
 
I also reached this age, on my first birthday.
 
Salvadore said:
Any alternatives you’d recommend?
Click to expand...
Fly with Turkish. Flew to Dub - Istanbul- Manila business class
Spanking new planes and spanking new Istanbul airport - 10$billion spent by all accounts.
2hr overlap time going and returning home
Main reason - Chose Turkish as did not wish to fly over missiles going back<-> forth between Israel, Iraq,Iran or any other *stan for that matter.
2nd , do not wish to support countries which treat women as furniture.
3rdly Turkish airlines have beautiful stewardess as well, they even have a chef on board for the business class anyway!.
 
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In terms of taking the pain out of intercontinental travel and making the trip better, overnighting in the airside hotel delivers a better outcome (in my experience) and costs only a fraction of even the cheapest business class ticket. The downside is that it adds 12 hours to your journey time each way, give or take; if your trip is relatively short, that may be time you don't want to spend in transit.

So its a question of balancing the financial cost of the business class ticket versus the time cost of overnighting en route.
 
I struggle to see how if you’re flying long-haul, that going Economy and overnighting in an airport hotel delivers a better outcome than simply flying Business, noting that you deal with the cost differential as a separate point.

With, say Emirates, I can get chauffeur driven to/from my home and to/from my destination, I have Lounge access, I can actually enjoy the flight, and I’ve a bar to sit at on the A380 leg.

Versus adding 12 hours to my journey, overnighting in an airport hotel, and being forced to sit in a cramped seat for a long period of time.

Hard to see how the latter could be better on any front other than cost.
 
Obviously this is subjective; different things will work for different people, so your mileage may vary. For me, it's all about the sleep.

I have done both the business class thing and the overnight-in-the-airside-hotel thing many times, on different occasions. In terms of feeling ready to hit the ground running on arrival, there's no substitute for spending the night sleeping flat, in a bed, in a silent, dark room. The business class seat that turns into a flat bed is great, but still a very distant second to a hotel room. And I certainly wouldn't give up the hotel room in order to get a lift to the airport, or access to the onboard bar on the A380.

Of course, in an ideal world, I'd get the hotel room and travel business class. But all my strategies for winning the lottery have failed so far. Given that, I'm fortunate that the approach that works best for me is much cheaper than the approach that works best for you.
 
It's been a few years but the last time I flew through Abu Dhabi I choose a long lay over and a hotel room was part of the ticket so I got a great night's sleep
 
While others have provided their experience with long flight connections....

To answer your question directly, yes you can leave the airport during connections. I have done so multiple times by accident (getting lost in airports) and deliberately to stretch my legs, get out of aircon, delayed flights etc.

Mostly in the US where I personally find getting through security is pretty quick in general. If you don't need to check in bags have your security routine down to a tee it's totally fine.
 
The US is a special case; most US airports don't have clearly defined separate landside and airside areas, and if you're transiting through a US airport en route to a third country you need to pass through US immigration control (which, if your flight originated in Ireland, you'll have done before boarding, in Dublin or Shannon). Given that, there's no great issue about you leaving the airport, if time permits.

However in most other countries, it's different. If you are transiting through, say, Dubai and you want to leave the airport to sample the fleshpots of the city, you'll have to "land" (meaning, pass through immigration control, with whatever visas may be required for a person of your nationality entering Dubai) and on returning to board youre next flight you have to pass through passport control again. None of this happens if you stay airside, going from your arrival gate to your departure gate and using only the many merchandising, dining and accommodation options that are available on the airside.
 
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