I'm in the early stages of trying to plan a holiday to Japan. It won't happen for at least another year. It is my understanding that the only direct flights to Tokyo from the UK are from Heathrow. I assume this is also the case for other long-haul destinations. In my case, I live on the other side of the country from Heathrow, so I would be traveling from Manchester Airport. The only flights to Japan from MCR are non-direct, or connecting flights. I've also seen them referred to as "layover flights". For example, there are flights that go from MCR to Dubai, then you get off the plane at DXB and board another plane onwards to Tokyo Haneda.
I would personally much prefer to have a direct flight without needing to change planes, just as I do when travelling on trains, but that wouldn't be possible due to my geographic location. I've only ever been to destinations where the departure and return flights were direct flights. I am wondering if anyone on MN has experience of trips where they have needed to change flights on a journey (whether on the departure flight, return flight, or both). What do you do in the airport while waiting for the next onward flight? I was looking at the layover flights on Skyscanner, and there is around a 10-hour wait at the airport between arriving in DXB and the arrival of the next onward flight to Tokyo. I'd have some anxiety about things possibly going wrong during the changeover. I know things can go wrong with direct flights, but I've got this idea in my head that adding extra flights to the equation increase the chances of things going wrong - especially if the flights are with different airlines.
I'm aware that this is all moot at the moment with the current events taking place in the Middle East, but I'd like to know in the hope that things will calm down a bit by next year, and air travel in that area will return to some level of normalcy.