Indirect flights

[lynjowton]

So i am just torturing myself by looking at next summers flights So both Aer Lingus and KLM have routes and prices i like . Some of the indirect flights only have an hour between landing and take off again so does this mean if i book these tickets i will definitely make the connection . Surely they would only sell their own flights if it was possible to make connection?

[tspill]

Personally I wouldn't book a connection under 3 hours. It is a real pain and very stressful to miss a connection. We aim for closer to 4 hours if possible.
If flying through Dublin, then I would be going the night before. There are not as many flights from Dublin and if you miss a connection you can wait a couple of days for seats it flights are busy. Simply not worth the risk in my opinion. We use Dublin a lot and even without a connection we arrive 4 hours before flying.

On the way home, I dont care what the connection time is. If I miss this I am happy to wait for a new flight.

[asmidir]

We've booked flights with various connections at various airports from 1hr 25mins upwards.
Technically the airlines/airports have a minimum connection time which can be as low as 45mins, but it's all down to what happens on the day.
At the beginning of a holiday you're excited and want everything to go smoothly, so I agree that you want to look at connections that are a minimum of 2 to 2.5 hours - this is especially important if you're first stop is the first US stop as you would go through immigration and this is where the large delays can be.
If you're flying from dublin though you will have already done the immigration there, so the connection times are domestic US ones, and they tend to take much less time.
Sometimes you can have plane delays and this can be the real stress as if you have a 3 hours connection but your first flight takes off 2 hours late then suddenly you only have an hour.
Most carriers will let you fly on the next available flight, so to reassure yourself you can look at the flights from the second airport to your destination and if they fly every hour then you've got a good chance of being able to go on one of those instead.

[400ixl]

Depends where the connection is. If a KLM flight and at Schiphol then an hour is fine.

If it was in the US then a minimum of 2 hours and up depending on the airport for outbound. An hour would be OK for a return but more of a risk if you miss it you are on a 24 hour delay.

[pritch]

BA have some decent direct out indirect back, have a look at them, if you miss the connection normally your on the next flight as plenty of internal flights in the states

[Hornet1976]

We have a rule which is - always fly direct on the way out (a missed connection will get your holiday off to a stressful start) and if at all possible we make sure any connection coming back is somewhere close to being on the way ie New York, Philly, Boston etc rather than Miami or Chicago. We don't worry too much about the stopover length although anything under a couple of hours is a little on the tight side.

[Pinchy]

I often book last minute when a direct flight is not possible. It's usually via the airline's hub and you can get another connection fairly easily. I like to arrive in the evening so that makes it easier.