I am going to be flying from PHL to Nice taking US from PHL and LH from Frankfurt to NCE, with a 2-1/2 hour layover. Am flying Envoy to FRA and Y on LH. Similar coming back.

A couple of questions:
Looking at the FRA terminal map it is not clear whether I have to exit security between the US gate and the LH gate, do I?
How long will it take to get to the outbound gate?
Can I use the LH lounge in FRA?
What is the likelihood of my luggage getting lost between airlines?

I am going to be flying from PHL to Nice taking US from PHL and LH from Frankfurt to NCE, with a 2-1/2 hour layover. Am flying Envoy to FRA and Y on LH. Similar coming back.

A couple of questions:
Looking at the FRA terminal map it is not clear whether I have to exit security between the US gate and the LH gate, do I?
How long will it take to get to the outbound gate?
Can I use the LH lounge in FRA?
What is the likelihood of my luggage getting lost between airlines?


Intra-Europe LH gates are PREDOMINANTLY just one floor below the international in the A and B concourses. You should take (just walking/monorail time only) anywhere from 10 to 20 mins to get to these "domestic" gates (US ends up at the C concourse, or sometimes you get bussed in from a parking spot on the apron in which case you get in at the join of concourses A and B)- unknown here is the length of immigration counter lines - the longest I have seen around that time of day is around 30 mins - others might have better estimates....

Security depends on which gate, I presume - I have never had to go through security a second time - advice from anybody local to FRA might be better :confused:

Lounge: You should be able to - but if the plan is a shower, the lines are pretty long at that time of day and might not fit your timeline (try the business class lounge at the end of B concourse - this is where I have had the most success....).

Luggage should make it, no problem (if it doesn't go elsewhere from PHL in the first place!!:rolleyes:)

...my 2c worth.....

The two times I've transited FRA, I've had to reclear on connections both times.

The process is very quick and un-TSA like.

The two times I've transited FRA, I've had to reclear on connections both times.

The process is very quick and un-TSA like.

German efficiency... maybe we should put them in charge of TSA.... :D

A couple of questions:
Looking at the FRA terminal map it is not clear whether I have to exit security between the US gate and the LH gate, do I?
I believe it depends on the departure gate -- a majority of the time I have had to re-enter through security (as McFlyPHL says...very smooth process) for connections.
Can I use the LH lounge in FRA?
If you are Star Gold, you can use the lounges - they are crowded and get your name on the wait list for showers immediately upon entry.
What is the likelihood of my luggage getting lost between airlines?
I have not had my luggage lost on US to LH connections (10 instances over the past 2 years in Frankfurt). Good luck.

I've connecting in FRA on a # of international flights and the security waits have always been fairly minimal. The biggest problem that I have is that they don't usually post what gate your FRA-NCE is until an 1 hour before the flight and the airport is confusing enough as it is.

I do like the lounges. Especially when I can have Leberkase for breakfast.

I've only had bags lost on a connection to MUC. They arrived at the hotel 2 hours after us, so it wasn't a big deal. It was probably US' fault anyway.

Rich

If you are Star Gold, you can use the lounges - they are crowded and get your name on the wait list for showers immediately upon entry.

Just be sure you have your current valid US DM card showing Star Gold status, at least if you want to use an LH lounge. They generally want to see it, even if your status is on your boarding pass.

We took this very trip in August - turned out the advertised 21/2 was not enough - big delay at PHL -so we missed our FRA connection -when we arrived at FRA we were met by a US rep who had our new booking -turned out we had a two hour layover.
LH NCE flight leaves from the lower A Gates - so you will have to clear immigration (took us about 2 minutes) and did go through security again at the entrance to the A concourse (no lines and no delay) about the only downside is that it is a long walk.
As a previous poster mentioned the gate was not posted until about 1 hour prior to departure however if we had made our original connection we knew what gate that the LH flight left from before leaving PHL. (we were on a codeshare ticket)
US/LH did a good job with baggage and it arrived with us at NCE (one hint -if you are rebooked because of a missed connection, make sure you check in with one of the LH agents to get new seat assignments and to get your bags redirected to the correct flight.)
We did not use the lounge- one on A concourse was at the other end and the others involved going in and out of security.

NCE is a great city -Enjoy

My thoughts...

1) It is likely you will have to go through security (twice). Once to get into the main terminal area and once to get to your LH short distance gate. It does depend upon gate though as pointed out by the others.

2) Security can take forever or it can be really fast. It all depends who is doing it as everyone gets manually screened. My last flight I almost asked the screnner what the fee was as it was almost like a 10min xpress spa backrub.

3) LH lounges in FRA are gross - too small, terribly overcrowded and very dated. This said - the food is pretty good.

4) Try, Try, Try to get your boarding passes for the full outward leg if you can. If you do not, you will need to go to the LH transfers desk which is slow, slow, slow. Even the *gold line creeps.

5) The whole place smells like an ashtray.

1) It is likely you will have to go through security (twice). Once to get into the main terminal area and once to get to your LH short distance gate. It does depend upon gate though as pointed out by the others.


That's not true. If you connect from the US to a non-schengen Country you don't have to clear security at all, and neither clear immigration. If you go to a schengen country you have to clear security once. There are connections between A and B in the schengen area (the tunnel) and the non-schengen area (the skytrain people mover) so you can decide in which part you want to clear security. In doubt you want to clear it as fast as possible after a arrival and then go to a lounge close to your gate.


4) Try, Try, Try to get your boarding passes for the full outward leg if you can. If you do not, you will need to go to the LH transfers desk which is slow, slow, slow. Even the *gold line creeps..

It's much easier to get the BP at the lounge desk, which is a lot less crowded.

That's not true. If you connect from the US to a non-schengen Country you don't have to clear security at all, and neither clear immigration.

With all due respect, it was true very recently.

Just 3 weeks ago as I had to clear security twice.

I even stopped before security to ask the information assistant if there was a way to avoid passing the checkpoint. I was told no.

FRA is a bit of a mess with all the construction and maybe this had something to do with it.

As HCH points out - I did not have to clear immigration.

With all due respect, it was true very recently.

Just 3 weeks ago as I had to clear security twice.


The only reason you'd ever have to change security twice in FRA is when you either start your journey in FRA or go landsite and then go to the B2X USA-gates or B3X/B5X England-gates. Of course there are chances you accidentally go landside if you don't know the airport very well, but there's never been a requirement to do so. Trust me, I've been travelling something like 8 times a month through FRA for quite a while now.


I even stopped before security to ask the information assistant if there was a way to avoid passing the checkpoint. I was told no.

FRA is a bit of a mess with all the construction and maybe this had something to do with it.


I rather suspect it has something to do with the clueless information assistant ;-)

I recently flew SFO-PHL-FRA on US, connecting to MXP (Milan) on LH. At checkin at SFO, US was able to give me the LH boarding pass as well (with a seat waaaay in the back of the plane). On arrival at FRA, I got dumped into the arrivals hall, went upstairs to the LH check-in, and re-checked in at a kiosk -- no line, no waiting. As a bonus, I was able to change my seat to an aisle near the front of the plane. For my flight to MXP, the only security was at the entrance to the A gates.