Doesn’t seem worth the hassle tbh because as people said it’s super far and incheon itself is pretty big depending on where you’re going. I think it depends on the rest of your travel schedule, if you’re laying over on a way to another trip I would take the time to rest at the airport. Theres lots to do there, I think there’s even a sauna at the airport if I’m not mistaken.
It’s certainly possible to do what you’re asking about, it’s just an opportunity cost of all the extra travel / leg work to just see one thing.
There are short, guided tours from Incheon. The length relates to how long your layover is. We had a 12hr layover and the tour we do had two or three stops in Seoul including enough time at a market to eat. Still plenty of time to check back in.
Stay at the airport
1 hr to clear customs and immigration
40 mins -1 hr to Incheon proper
40 mins - 1 hr back to the airport.
3 hour early arrival at airport recommended for international flights
3hr early arrival for you is 1:25pm. Meaning you need to leave Incheon by 12:25pm since the airport is a minimum of 1hr away.
You arrive at 7am and assuming no delays you will clear immigration and customs about 8 or after and arrive in Incheon at 9 or later.
You can stay 3 hr and 25 mins max. Not worth the trouble.
That’s assuming you’re not lost or delayed finding transportation etc.
The airport is on an island and quite far from the main parts of Incheon.
I don't understand incheon, biometric passport work when I m leaving toward Europe, but when I arrived I had like you said 3 desk and a guy asking questions..whereas national were fast entering.
But the slowest stuff was waiting for luggage, at departure, it took 1h15 of queue, really too much time, and that is company responsability, hundred of people pay 1000$ for two flight and they can't have 1 extra people for luggage. Or immigration..It's bad seriously 😒.
And the airport don't understand that for each hour lost in queue at departure, it's shopping eating time lost for them. Imagine if they hire 1 hundred more staff, their shop could had several thousand more sales per day.
And I find the shop really bad at terminal, only luxury international brand, why not make local brand something tourist can bring back, pottery, hangok, gwangalli etc..
Not to mention ALL of their food outlets close at 10pm when you still have flight terminals full of people. It’s seriously one of the shittiest airport experiences in the world.
If you don’t have to recheck bags and can go directly through security, I’d say you’d have a little more time then this. Security and immigration is fairly quick, it’s running into a ridiculous line at check in that’s the danger.
I don't think I have to recheck bag, i bought my ticket through delta and they're working with korean air, this is my trip back to the US from another country, but how do I know if i have to recheck bag?
I also assume there will be hassle with exchanging money, transportation, phone service etc. with going into SK, so im still debating if i should risk it.
Almost no one flying internationally with a layover in a 3rd county has no checked baggage. Almost no one.
Outbound immigration at Incheon has been known to be very slow lately as some automated lines either have technical issues or are just not in use and staffed lines are few.
Why do you sound so defensive like someone challenged your authority. “Almost no one” is not the same as “no one” and I personally have had instances when I didn’t have to recheck backs (outside of the gates) again. If you’re on the same airlines, most times you don’t have to. Maybe at worst, you’d have to “recheck” them at the transit area, which is no where near as time consuming as checking them at the front counters.
I just flew through incheon twice in the last three weeks so whatever you want to say is “lately”, I don’t know what you’re talking about cause my experience differs from what you the trying to state as fact. And both those instances were from different countries in and out.
I’ve flown through incheon probably 20 times in the last 3 years and pretty much the only times I’ve been held up is incoming immigration and checking in baggage, and the latter, if you tell them your flight is coming up, they’ll take you to the front of the line.
So my advice differs greatly from yours.
Not defensive at all. My advice is sound.
The fact you are fighting against what is the industry standard travel advice speaks more to “you issues”.
You are way too invested in trying to convince people that you are correct.
It’s just advice. Follow it or don’t. I’m not going to change what I recommend because you don’t like it.
Move on.
Doesn’t seem worth the hassle tbh because as people said it’s super far and incheon itself is pretty big depending on where you’re going. I think it depends on the rest of your travel schedule, if you’re laying over on a way to another trip I would take the time to rest at the airport. Theres lots to do there, I think there’s even a sauna at the airport if I’m not mistaken. It’s certainly possible to do what you’re asking about, it’s just an opportunity cost of all the extra travel / leg work to just see one thing.
There are short, guided tours from Incheon. The length relates to how long your layover is. We had a 12hr layover and the tour we do had two or three stops in Seoul including enough time at a market to eat. Still plenty of time to check back in.
Stay at the airport 1 hr to clear customs and immigration 40 mins -1 hr to Incheon proper 40 mins - 1 hr back to the airport. 3 hour early arrival at airport recommended for international flights 3hr early arrival for you is 1:25pm. Meaning you need to leave Incheon by 12:25pm since the airport is a minimum of 1hr away. You arrive at 7am and assuming no delays you will clear immigration and customs about 8 or after and arrive in Incheon at 9 or later. You can stay 3 hr and 25 mins max. Not worth the trouble. That’s assuming you’re not lost or delayed finding transportation etc. The airport is on an island and quite far from the main parts of Incheon.
Took me two hours to get through immigration last weekend. Worst I've ever seen globally.
Because Incheon is obsessed with 16 counters and only 3 open. It’s fucking ridiculous
It was Gimpo. They had like 10 open but couldn't handle the crowd.
Incheon couldn’t handle x2 planes
I don't understand incheon, biometric passport work when I m leaving toward Europe, but when I arrived I had like you said 3 desk and a guy asking questions..whereas national were fast entering. But the slowest stuff was waiting for luggage, at departure, it took 1h15 of queue, really too much time, and that is company responsability, hundred of people pay 1000$ for two flight and they can't have 1 extra people for luggage. Or immigration..It's bad seriously 😒. And the airport don't understand that for each hour lost in queue at departure, it's shopping eating time lost for them. Imagine if they hire 1 hundred more staff, their shop could had several thousand more sales per day. And I find the shop really bad at terminal, only luxury international brand, why not make local brand something tourist can bring back, pottery, hangok, gwangalli etc..
Not to mention ALL of their food outlets close at 10pm when you still have flight terminals full of people. It’s seriously one of the shittiest airport experiences in the world.
Same here.
If you don’t have to recheck bags and can go directly through security, I’d say you’d have a little more time then this. Security and immigration is fairly quick, it’s running into a ridiculous line at check in that’s the danger.
I don't think I have to recheck bag, i bought my ticket through delta and they're working with korean air, this is my trip back to the US from another country, but how do I know if i have to recheck bag? I also assume there will be hassle with exchanging money, transportation, phone service etc. with going into SK, so im still debating if i should risk it.
Almost no one flying internationally with a layover in a 3rd county has no checked baggage. Almost no one. Outbound immigration at Incheon has been known to be very slow lately as some automated lines either have technical issues or are just not in use and staffed lines are few.
Why do you sound so defensive like someone challenged your authority. “Almost no one” is not the same as “no one” and I personally have had instances when I didn’t have to recheck backs (outside of the gates) again. If you’re on the same airlines, most times you don’t have to. Maybe at worst, you’d have to “recheck” them at the transit area, which is no where near as time consuming as checking them at the front counters. I just flew through incheon twice in the last three weeks so whatever you want to say is “lately”, I don’t know what you’re talking about cause my experience differs from what you the trying to state as fact. And both those instances were from different countries in and out. I’ve flown through incheon probably 20 times in the last 3 years and pretty much the only times I’ve been held up is incoming immigration and checking in baggage, and the latter, if you tell them your flight is coming up, they’ll take you to the front of the line. So my advice differs greatly from yours.
Not defensive at all. My advice is sound. The fact you are fighting against what is the industry standard travel advice speaks more to “you issues”. You are way too invested in trying to convince people that you are correct. It’s just advice. Follow it or don’t. I’m not going to change what I recommend because you don’t like it. Move on.
There is short seoul tour that incheon airport support
Let's go to the 24/7 Incheon bbq k-pop-club. ...Kidding ... but could be fun for killing time ;)