Stupid Flight Question

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Stupid Flight Question

Postby Osiris » Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:37 am

Let's say I'm flying from Toronto to Beijing and I need to arrive on Saturday, August 25th. I'm looking at a 20 hour flight that leaves on Friday, August 24th. Knowing that there's a one day (13 hour) difference between Minneapolis and Beijing, will I actually show up on Saturday evening as planned? Or will I be showing up on Sunday, much to my embarrassment (and probably pissing off the guy who's supposed to pick me up)?

Basically:
Leave Minneapolis at 6am Friday?
Stop and change planes in Canada afternoon
Arrive in Beijing at 7pm Saturday? or Sunday?

I've never traveled halfway around the world before, just all over the Americas, so dealing with big time differences is new to me.

Quick help would be appreciated. Thanks folks!
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby buffybot_in_beirut » Thu Aug 02, 2012 9:34 am

All flight itineraries give local times. So if you need to be in Beijing at a certain time, you only need to read the itinerary. No need for calculations. Search for flights on any flight booking website. If all connections shown get you to your destination too late, start over with a departure date one day earlier.

All this means you always know when you leave and when you arrive. You do NOT necessarily know how many hours you will be in your air, or at a transit airport. But nowadays most computer-generated itineraries give you all four figures. Departure time, arrival time, length of each flight, time between flights (transfers).
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby Osiris » Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:55 pm

Yeah it tells me the time but not the date.
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby buffybot_in_beirut » Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:13 pm

Then it's the same date on which your flight departed.
Only if it says "+1" after the arrival time it's the following day.
(To preempt clever questions, yes, there's also a "-1", if your flight crosses the date line in the correct direction.)
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby ReptilianKittenEater » Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:12 pm

I'm guessing you will be arriving Monday morning local time.
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby Osiris » Fri Aug 03, 2012 5:54 am

Thanks yo! I guess I'll either end up on time or show up two weeks late with a great story about getting lost in a wormhole.
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby buffybot_in_beirut » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:25 am

Habibi, why don't you make a test enquiry for a flight on skyscanner.net or checkfelix.com or another air ticket search engine? Copy and paste the resulting itinerary here and tell us which part you don't understand. Then we'll help you to interpret it.

For example:

OUTBOUND - 24 August 2012
17:45 MSP Minneapolis St Paul Delta DL41
19:25 SEA Seattle / Tacoma International 3h 40
Connect in airport 1h
20:25 SEA Seattle / Tacoma International Delta DL129
23:20 (+1) PEK Beijing Capital 11h 55
(--->>> "+1", SO YOU ARRIVE SATURDAY NIGHT)
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby Osiris » Sat Aug 04, 2012 1:42 am

...It didn't occur to me. I'm not the brightest bulb in the toolshed sometimes. Thanks though.
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby coldharvest » Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:28 am

Osiris wrote:I'm not the brightest bulb in the toolshed sometimes. Thanks though.

......just being a bulb puts you in the top 10%.
I know the law. And I have spent my entire life in its flagrant disregard.
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Re: Stupid Flight Question

Postby media » Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:34 am

Usually when booking the flight online there is an icon and text telling you something like ** flight arrival next day**
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