Transfer/transit passengers

[Dim Sum]

Hello folks,

Does anybody know the difference between transfer and transit passengers?

These are the definitions my lecturer gave:

"Transfer - people flying into the airport on one aircraft and departing on a second aircraft without breaking their journey"

"Transit - people flying into and departing from the airport in the same aircraft, which stops to pick up additional passengers or cargo, or to re-fuel"

Are these correct?


Thanks

[AircraftOperations]

Sounds about right to me.

Sometimes an aircraft with transit passengers on board might only be stopping to clear customs/immigration/security, rather than refuelling or taking on more pax.

[jerboy]

Are these correct?

More or less correct. Here's my take on the situation:

Transit passengers do not necessarily need to be on the same aircraft inbound and outbound, however they usually are. All that matters is that they're on the same 'flight' - which usually means the same flight number. The journey as treated as a single sector.

Transfer passengers arrive on one flight and leave on another (totally separate) flight. The journey is treated as two (or more) sectors.

For example, traveling LHR-Australia:

Transit flight:
BA15 LHR-(SIN)-SYD. You are ticketed LHR-SYD, it is effectively one flight. Bags are checked to SYD etc etc. During the transit period you have to stay within the transit area.

Transfer flight:
BA15 LHR-SIN
QF10 SIN-MEL. You receive two boarding passes for two flights. The ticket as treated as two sectors. Bags may be checked to SIN (for collection and subsequent drop-off), or all the way through to MEL. Depending on time between your flights you are free to do what you like whilst you are in SIN.

[welly3000]

Transfer or indirect transit passengers
Passengers arriving and departing on a different aircraft within 24 hours, or on the same aircraft bearing different flight numbers. They are counted TWICE: once upon arrival and once
on departure. On some flights with intermediate stops, the flight number changes at an airport to designate the change between an inbound and outbound flight. An example is a flight from Barcelona to Hamburg where the flight continues to Frankfurt before returning to Barcelona. Where passengers for an intermediate destination continue their journey on the same aircraft in such circumstances, they should not be counted as transfer or indirect transit passengers.