A 75-minute layover can feel leisurely at a compact airport and impossible at a hub where you change terminals, clear immigration and ride a train to the next concourse. The useful question is not 'is two hours enough?' but 'what must physically happen between these two gates?'
Map the connection as a sequence
Write it down: deplane, walk, immigration if applicable, security if required, terminal transfer, gate walk and boarding cutoff. Only then judge the clock.
Arrival time is not gate-exit time
A flight marked as arriving at 10:20 may still require taxiing, door opening and a long walk. Sitting in the last rows can add more time when hundreds of passengers are leaving.
One ticket changes the consequence, not the walking distance
A protected connection can improve your position if disruption causes a misconnection, but it does not make an airport smaller. You still need a realistic physical connection.
A calm connection has value
Travelers often optimize for the shortest total journey and then spend the trip watching the clock. An extra hour can buy lunch, a bathroom break and resilience against a modest delay.
When a long layover becomes too long
Six or eight hours airside can be exhausting if lounges, seating and food are poor. At that point compare an intentional stopover or different routing.
Build buffer around uncertainty
Add more margin when checking bags, crossing borders, traveling with children or reduced mobility, changing terminals, or flying during disruption-prone seasons.
Never confuse minimum connection time with personal comfort
An airline selling an itinerary does not mean the connection matches your stress tolerance or mobility. Legal/sellable and enjoyable are different questions.
Before you commit
Open the actual itinerary and test the weak point of the plan. Check the exact times, transport or booking conditions that matter for this trip, and verify time-sensitive rules with the airline, airport, accommodation or relevant authority. The goal is not to remove every risk; it is to know which risk you are accepting before money becomes non-refundable.
