IAHworldflyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2012, 99 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 1987 times:
This seems very short to me. I would be arriving on LH from BCN and departing with UA to IAH. From what I can tell, the LH usually arrives at T1 B and the UA/CO flight always leaves from the T1 Z gates. What worries me is that the LH flight could arrive at a hardstand and would require a bus to terminal, slowing things down. Plus would there be a passport check to exit the Schengen zone? If it matters this is a mid-day connection and would be on 1 ticket since they are Star Alliance carriers.
The other option is taking the next earlier flight from BCN, which leaves me with a 3.5 hour layover. What do you FRA people think?
LOWS From Austria, joined Oct 2011, 981 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 1957 times:
Last August, I arrived on LH 447 from DEN and connected to SZG in 65 minutes with a cat, and a stop for a coffee. However, I also, to use a turn of phrase, hauled ass to customs. Later that month, I did SZG-FRA-LHR in 30 minutes from a hardstand (we were running late) but had to sprint through that tunnel. I made the connection. My fellow sprinter missed his to YVR. On the return, again with about 30 minutes, I missed my connection and had to wait 4 hours for the next flight.
So, my point is that it's possible if risky. But given that FRA is not the best place to spend more than an hour, I'd take the hour connection and not dally.
mickey90 From Sweden, joined Nov 2011, 65 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1922 times:
Last summer I had just 40 minutes to connect from 1A to 1C due to a small delay so I arrived at the gate when the last people were boarding. It was a pretty tight connection so my bag had to take a different flight into JFK.
It's better to be in the air wishing you were on the ground than being on the ground wishing you were in the air
reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1126 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1911 times:
Should be possible if there are now delays, but you do not have a lot of buffer.
I guess this will be on one ticket, right? If it's not , better forget it right away.
RamblinMan From United States of America, joined Oct 2010, 1080 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1910 times:
Yeah I did this once, had about an hour and we parked at a remote stand on the inbound and it was still fine, despite the fact that I was pretty drunk.
IAHworldflyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2012, 99 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1815 times:
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I won't buy the ticket for another month or so, but I'm inclined to take the 8am departure from BCN and sit at FRA for over 3 hours rather than having to run, and possibly have my luggage stay behind for a day. It does sound like LH handles their passengers with efficiency though. Nice to hear!
aklrno From United States of America, joined Dec 2010, 682 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1797 times:
If both flights are on one ticket and you get sent to a hardstand on the first flight, LH should meet you at the plane with a car or minibus, take you to the special fast connection passport control, and then drive you as close as possible to security for the flight to the US. If they don't, (e.g. you are on separate tickets, or they are all busy) there is little hope. If they do, you will still be in a mighty big hurry. Sometimes they can't drive you very close to the gate so you end up in a forced march being led by an LH employee hurrying you along. Better to just enjoy a couple of more hours at FRA. On top of the hours you are already spending on that trip it won't matter much.
rwsea From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 3014 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 1728 times:
Frankfurt is a huge airport and it's very common to board via remote stands and be bussed to the terminal (frankly, I don't think that I have EVER boarded through a jetway at this place). Security lines for international connections can also be long. I would not personally recommend an hour connection.
IAHworldflyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2012, 99 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 1694 times:
Quoting aklrno (Reply 9): you end up in a forced march being led by an LH employee hurrying you along
AF does the same thing at Paris CDG. I once had what I thought was a comfortable 2 hour connection there, but due to a late arriving aircraft at my origen city, we were over an hour late into CDG. An AF rep met us at the gate and walked us from 2F to 2E, but when we got to the 100+ person queue at security he said "sorry, this as close as I can get you", smiled and walked off. Most of the other passengers waiting at security were other Americans trying to get to US bound flights, so I felt comfortable they would hold the planes, and they did!
HT From Germany, joined May 2005, 6471 posts, RR: 27 Reply 12, posted (1 year 2 months 2 weeks 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 1655 times:
As you can see there are mixed feelings & opinions whether the connection is viable or not.
Taking the earlier flight from BCN at 0815h means to get up early.
OTOH, if you miss your 1350h departure to IAH, there are only two other options for a re-routing on *A:
#1 LH 0470 to YYZ at 1410h (which is only 20 minutes later so no real alternatitve).
#2 UA 0933 to IAD 1700-1953h and then after a 2 hour connection UA5218 2149-2359h to IAH.
(I have been disregarding the 1410h departures to DTW and MEX as alternatives.)
No sure what to recommend in this situation.
-HT
Carpe diem ! Life is too short to waste your time ! Keep in mind, that today is the first day of the rest of your life !
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