Flight Connection and Layover Time Calculator

Who this is for

Connections worked out across time zones. Enter each flight's local times and the UTC offset at each airport, and the sheet shows how long each flight takes, how long you wait between them and the whole journey door to door.

Anyone booking or checking a journey with one or more connections, especially where the flights cross time zones and the printed times do not add up at a glance.

What this helps you track

• Each flight's real length, allowing for the time zones
• The layover before each onward flight
• Where a connection involves a change of terminal
• Total flying time and total waiting time
• The whole journey from leaving home to arriving at the door

How to use it

1. Write the journey, the passenger and the booking references at the top, with the hours you expect to spend getting to the first airport and from the last one.
2. Enter each flight on its own line in order. Use day 1 for the day the journey starts, day 2 for the next and so on.
3. Write local times in 24-hour decimal form (14:30 is 14.5) and the UTC offset of each airport on that date, such as 1, -5 or 5.5.
4. Tick terminal change where the onward flight leaves from a different terminal.
5. The hours, layovers and journey totals are worked out in the browser and the workbook; compare each layover with the minimum connection time your airline or airport gives.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Where do I find the UTC offset?

From your airline's timetable, the airport's website or any world clock for that date. Remember that offsets change when clocks go forward or back, so use the offset for the day you fly.

How long should a layover be?

The sheet does not say. Airlines and airports set their own minimum connection times, and your own needs matter too. Check what your booking allows and compare it with the layover the sheet works out.

Why use day numbers instead of dates?

They keep the sums simple across midnight. Day 1 is the day you leave; a flight landing the next morning local time is day 2. The workbook then counts the hours between any two points.

What does door to door include?

The flying and layover hours plus the two header figures you enter: time from home to the first airport and from the last airport to where you are staying.