Flight Times and Time Zones Explained: Read Your Itinerary Correctly
Quick answer
Every departure and arrival time on a flight ticket is shown in the local time of that airport, not in your home time zone. To find the real flight duration, convert both times to the same time zone (or read the duration the booking site prints). An arrival marked +1 means you land on the next calendar day, local time.
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The one rule that explains everything
Airlines and booking sites print times as local time at each airport. If you depart at 22:00 from one city and the ticket says you arrive at 06:00 in another, you cannot simply subtract to get the flight time, because the two clocks may be several hours apart. Once you accept that each time belongs to its own airport, most of the confusion disappears.
A worked example
Imagine a flight that leaves at 22:00 and the ticket shows arrival at 06:00 +1 in a city five hours ahead. On the clock that looks like eight hours, but five of those hours are just the time difference. Converting to the same time zone, the real flight is three hours long. The +1 tells you the landing is on the next calendar day locally.
A simpler, safer method is to look for the printed duration on the booking page. Reputable booking pages show a total journey time, including layovers, so you do not need to do the sums.
Reading the details on an itinerary
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Departure 09:30 | Local time at the departure airport |
| Arrival 13:45 | Local time at the arrival airport, in its own time zone |
| +1 (or +1 day) | You land on the next calendar day, local time |
| -1 (rare) | You land on the previous calendar day, local time, which can happen crossing the date line |
| Duration 7h 15m | Actual time in the air plus any layovers, independent of clocks |
| Layover 2h 10m | Time between landing and the next departure at the connecting airport |
Connections add another wrinkle. The layover time is calculated using local times at the connecting airport, so it is reliable, but the clock on your phone may not update until you land.
Why some flights seem to arrive before they leave
Flying west across many time zones can make the local arrival time earlier on the clock than the departure time. For example, a long flight heading west may seem to land only a few hours after take-off by the clock, or even on the same calendar day it left. Nothing strange is happening; you are gaining hours because the destination clock is behind.
Mistakes to avoid
- Booking a hotel for the wrong night. A +1 arrival means your first night at the destination might start the following calendar date. Check your check-in date carefully.
- Misjudging connections. Always use the layover shown on the itinerary. Do not calculate it from your home time zone.
- Arranging pick-ups by the wrong clock. Tell whoever is meeting you the local arrival time and date at the destination, not the time on your phone at home.
- Trusting a phone that has not updated. Some phones switch time zones when they connect to a local network. If you land and the time looks wrong, check the airport clocks.
- Daylight saving changes. When clocks change, the same route can appear to have a different scheduled duration for a few weeks. The flight itself is not longer; the clocks moved.
If you are travelling across many zones, the change can also affect how you feel. Our guide to beating jet lag covers how to adjust.
How to sanity-check your journey
- Write down the departure city, its local time and date.
- Write down the arrival city, its local time and date, including any +1.
- Look up the time difference between the two cities for that date.
- Convert one time to the other, and subtract to get the journey length.
- Compare with the duration printed on the booking page. If they differ, re-check daylight saving.
Use the tracker on the day
On the day of travel, the tracker helps too. It shows the scheduled and estimated times for your flight in the airport’s local time, so you can see at a glance when it is expected to land and whether it is running late. Open the ScanFlyGo flight tracker to look up any flight, and use the routes page to compare journey times before you book.
Frequently asked questions
Are flight times shown in local time?
Yes. Departure and arrival times on tickets and boarding passes are shown in the local time of each airport, so the two clocks may be several hours apart.
What does +1 mean next to an arrival time?
It means the flight lands on the next calendar day in local time at the destination. Check your hotel and pick-up dates carefully when you see it.
How do I calculate how long a flight really takes?
Convert both times to the same time zone and subtract, or simply use the total duration printed on the booking page, which already accounts for time zone changes.
Why does the same flight show a different length in winter and summer?
When clocks change for daylight saving in one place but not the other, the difference between the two local times shifts by an hour. The flight itself takes the same time in the air.
The bottom line
Flight times only make sense when you remember that each one belongs to its own airport. Read the +1, trust the printed duration and check your hotel and pick-up dates against local time. Search and compare flights on ScanFlyGo, see popular routes, and follow your flight on the live tracker.
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