Flight Times and Time Zones
How to read departure/arrival times on tickets, flight duration, and connections without missing a leg.
Ticket times are almost always shown in **local time** — departure in the origin zone, arrival in the destination zone. A 12-hour flight may advance the clock by only 3 hours because you crossed zones westward. Confusing this causes missed connections and wrong pickup times.
Three time concepts
- Departure local time: origin city IANA zone
- Arrival local time: destination zone — date may differ
- Block/flight time: airborne duration, independent of clock change
Connections and the date line
Multi-leg trips need each segment converted separately. Crossing the date line can land you on a different calendar day. During DST transition weeks, layover math may shift by an hour — see DST Guide. Use the Convert to map every leg to your home zone before booking ground transport.
Booking tips
- Trust the airline itinerary over third-party aggregators when times conflict
- Arrive 3 hours early for international departures
- Hotel and visa dates should use destination local dates
- Check Countries for live UTC offset and DST status at destination