Sort flights by total travel time first, not price. To save RM130 I once swapped a 7-hour nonstop for a Penang–Kuala Lumpur–Bangkok–Tokyo combo that ran 21 hours 40 minutes, including a 9-hour wait at Kuala Lumpur. My floors: 90 minutes for international-to-international, 3 hours international-to-domestic, and 5 hours on split tickets.
Let me start with a trap I walked straight into. To save about RM130, I swapped a 7-hour nonstop for a Penang–Kuala Lumpur–Bangkok–Tokyo combo. The fare was genuinely lower — but total travel time went from 7 hours to 21 hours 40 minutes, including a 9-hour wait at Kuala Lumpur. I landed wrecked, and the next day's plans were gone.
Airline search pages sort by price by default, and they never tell you how many hours the trip will actually consume. What follows is the screening method I now use every time: total time first, connection time second, price last.
1. Look at total travel time before the fare
Total time is not "flight time". It runs from the moment you enter the departure airport to the moment you reach your accommodation at the other end. At minimum it has four parts:
- getting to the airport, check-in and security;
- the first flight;
- all the waiting in between;
- immigration, baggage reclaim and the trip into town.
Most people compare fares only and ignore the fact that layover hours convert directly into cost. My rule of thumb: once a single layover passes 5–6 hours, the saving stops being worth it. Here is a real comparison I logged — prices are tax-inclusive totals, for reference only:
| Dimension | Nonstop | Cheap combo |
|---|---|---|
| Sample routing | Penang–Tokyo (nonstop) | Penang–Kuala Lumpur–Bangkok–Tokyo |
| Fare | About RM980 | About RM850 |
| Total duration | About 7 hours | About 21 h 40 min |
| Layover time | None | About 9 hours |
| Outcome | Rest as soon as you land | Save RM130, lose 14 hours |
The RM130 you save buys about six simple meals at RM20 each. The 14 extra hours cost you an entire waking day.
2. Connection time: find a floor, then add a buffer
Airports and airlines publish a Minimum Connecting Time (MCT) — the shortest connection that is theoretically achievable. Theoretically is the key word: it does not account for your first flight running late.
I screen against these two floors:
- International to international (one through-ticket, same terminal): allow at least 90 minutes. If the legs use different terminals and you need a shuttle bus or the airport train, I stretch it past 120 minutes.
- International to domestic (immigration, then re-check the bag): allow at least 3 hours, and 4 hours with children or heavy luggage.
There is a crucial distinction here. On a through-ticket (one order, one ticket number), bags are usually checked all the way, and if a delay makes you miss the connection, the airline rebooks you. On separate tickets you built yourself, you collect and re-check the bags, and a single delay kills the second leg outright.
MCTs vary a lot between airports and between terminals, and the shuttle between terminals is often counted separately. Check the airport's own published minimum before you book, and measure your itinerary against it rather than guessing.
3. Crossing midnight: the easiest flights to get wrong
Crossing midnight comes in two forms, with different traps.
- The date simply becomes +1. On many long-haul tickets the arrival date is a day later than the departure date. Work it out in departure time and you will book the wrong day for your airport pickup. Across time zones, do all arithmetic in local time.
- Arriving between 00:00 and 05:00. Airport trains, buses and some shuttles are not running at that hour, taxis charge a night surcharge, and hotels will rarely let you check in early. In that moment, no transport is worse than a long connection.
There is a third case that is easiest to miss: the overnight layover. If your connection falls in the middle of the night and the onward flight leaves the next morning, you are not "waiting at the airport for a while" — you are sleeping there. Three things to check: whether the airport has anywhere to rest, whether you must clear immigration (some countries require it even for transit), and whether your visa allows entry.
| Arrival window | Usual ways into town | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| 05:00–23:00 | Airport train, buses, ride-hailing | Normal service |
| 23:00–00:00 | Some buses, ride-hailing | Noticeably fewer departures |
| 00:00–05:00 | Basically taxis and ride-hailing only | Night surcharge, counters may be closed |
4. Split tickets: cheaper, with all the risk on you
"Splitting" means not buying one through-ticket but assembling two separate ones — sometimes issued separately by a platform, sometimes bought in two different places. It is often cheaper, and the saving has a price.
- A delay on leg one leaves leg two unmanaged. Two tickets are two separate contracts of carriage. If the first flight is three hours late, the second airline simply says you missed it; rebooking and re-buying are on you.
- No through-checked bags. You clear immigration, collect the luggage, re-check it and go through security again. So on split tickets, leave the 3–5 hours of an international-to-domestic connection, not the 90 minutes of a through-ticket.
- Some "transits" actually require entry. A number of countries require immigration formalities even for a connection. Miss that step in your planning and you will never have enough time.
My accounting rule: the saving from splitting must exceed "the cost of re-buying the second leg after a missed connection × the probability of it happening". Say splitting saves RM200 but the onward leg costs RM600+ to re-buy; if there is more than a one-in-three chance of missing it, the maths does not work.
5. One table: connection floors by itinerary type
| Connection type | Suggested minimum | Baggage | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| International → international (same terminal, through-ticket) | ≥ 90 minutes | Checked through | Inbound flight delay |
| International → international (terminal change / airport train) | ≥ 120 minutes | Checked through | Wrong terminal, shuttle queues |
| International → domestic (through-ticket, immigration) | ≥ 3 hours | Usually collected | Immigration queues |
| International → domestic (split tickets) | ≥ 5 hours | Collect and re-check yourself | Missed connection, your cost |
| Overnight / crossing midnight | Budget a full night | Depends on fare | No transport, lodging and visas |
6. The routine I use to screen tickets
- Switch the search sort to total duration and ignore the price sort at first.
- For long-haul, consider only itineraries with one connection or none; skip anything with two or more.
- Check the time at every connection point against the floors in section 2.
- Check whether a connection crosses midnight and whether it changes terminals.
- Confirm whether it is a through-ticket or a split, and whether bags are checked through.
- Add all of it to the fare and compare the real total cost.
7. When to pay more and fly nonstop
Not every trip is worth optimising. I default to nonstop when:
- travelling with children or elderly relatives — hours of connection are expensive in energy and patience;
- there is something you must make on landing day, a meeting or a registration, with a fixed check-in time;
- the connection sits right on the minimum, or the itinerary is split;
- it needs two or more connections.
The arithmetic is simple: put the extra cost of the nonstop against "the hours the connection adds + the possible airport hotel + the risk of missing it". If the nonstop costs RM300 more but saves 12 hours and a night in an airport hotel (about RM200), the money is well spent.
8. Pre-booking checklist
- Sort by total duration, not by price.
- Check the connection floor for every leg.
- Confirm whether it crosses midnight and whether transport exists on landing.
- Confirm through-ticket versus split, and whether bags are checked through.
- Add fare, lodging and missed-connection risk together before you pay.
A cheap ticket is a good thing, but "cheap" has to be judged across the whole journey, not by the number on the search page. Five minutes spent checking total time and connection times often saves a dozen hours — and a night you would otherwise spend at an airport.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I just sort by price?
Price sorting says nothing about how many hours you will spend at airports. Layover time is a real cost, and once one connection passes 5–6 hours the saving usually stops being worth it. Screen by total duration first.
How long should international-to-international and international-to-domestic connections be?
For a same-terminal international-to-international through-ticket, allow at least 90 minutes, and 120+ if you change terminals or use the airport train. International-to-domestic needs immigration and re-checking, so at least 3 hours, or 4 with children and heavy bags.
What should I watch for on flights that cross midnight?
First, the arrival date is often a day later than departure, so do all maths in local time. Second, landing between 00:00 and 05:00 usually means no public transport and no early hotel check-in. Third, a night-time connection is really an overnight, so check where you can rest and whether you must clear immigration.
What exactly is the risk of split tickets?
Two tickets are two separate contracts. If a delay makes you miss the second flight, that airline owes you nothing, and bags are not checked through — you must enter, collect them and re-check. So leave 3–5 hours for the connection, or buy a through-ticket instead.