US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - PIT - FRA -TXL

I'm trying out the LH alliance later this week. Flying US metal from PIT to FRA, then US code share on LH metal to Berlin. Any tips or insight? How long does it take to clear customs/immigration in FRA? Do the flights from PIT usually arrive early? I have a tight connection, but just a carry on bag so I'm hoping to scoot through. There are plenty of flights to TXL throughout the day, so I assume if I miss my flight I can go standby on the next. Any other gotchas I should be aware of?

I did TXL-MUC-PHL a little while back and it worked no problem. I took a train from MUC to TXL, so I don't know what it's like inbound, but outbound it worked pretty seamlessly. If you're in Envoy or you have a Gold or Chairman Preferred card, you can use the LH first class checkin at TXL. If you're in coach, don't bother showing up to TXL more than an hour early. The ticket counters for the flight don't open before that. Besides that for my friends who were in coach, there were no problems at all.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kreeft:
I did TXL-MUC-PHL a little while back and it worked no problem. I took a train from MUC to TXL, so I don't know what it's like inbound, but outbound it worked pretty seamlessly. If you're in Envoy or you have a Gold or Chairman Preferred card, you can use the LH first class checkin at TXL. If you're in coach, don't bother showing up to TXL more than an hour early. The ticket counters for the flight don't open before that. Besides that for my friends who were in coach, there were no problems at all. </font>

I ditto the above poster's comments about the return via TXL. I did ORF-PHL-FRA-TXL R/T two summers ago and it worked quite nicely. Back then US arrived at Term 2 in FRA which is quite a hike to T1 for the FRA-TXL segment. That aside the bags transferred without any problems and I was using combined award and paid ticket (award was ORF-PHL-FRA in Envoy and paid ticket FRA-TXL). Upon arrive at FRA I went to the transfer desk to check in for my FRA-TXL flight. The agent captured my checked luggage serial number at that point. That's probably very helpful to them when interlining bags.

Arrived in TXL fine and the return out of TXL was easy, but VERY early. It was a weekday morning and gate was quiet.

Enjoy TXL. I love Berlin, but of course I'm a bit bias as I was born there.



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US CP; UA Prem; AA Gold; Hilton Honors Diamond

i just made a 45 minutes connection in FRA from a UA international flight to a LH domestic with no problems. try to get out of the plane quickly... if US also docks at a C-gate, follow the signs for A-gates, catch the free intraterminal monorail to the A gates. after you get to the A, there is passport control. less than 1 minute to wait, for me - but if the whole US-Air flight transfers to LH-domestics and are in front of you it might be different. it took like less than 10 minutes from leaving the plane to arriving at the A-18 gate.

Thanks for all the info

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by madstop:
There are plenty of flights to TXL throughout the day, so I assume if I miss my flight I can go standby on the next.</font>

Not sure about this - depends on your fare, and why the conection is missed. LH is very strict about sticking to the rules on lower price fares, particularly if you want to standby for an earlier flight on a non-flexible ticket.

If your incoming flight is late they will make every effort to accommodate you on a later FRA-TXL.

Happy travels!

Madstop wouldn't be for the famous University of the North Country would it?

I graduated from Potsdam in 1981

Madstop wouldn't be for the famous University of the North Country would it?

I graduated from Potsdam in 1981

1980, comp sci ;)

I have returned from my trip. For those wondering how things turned out...

The info provided here was all correct and very helpful. (Thanks again).

Apparently 45 minutes is the minimum connection time for FRA/TXL (I overheard a ticketing agent in Berlin tell another customer this).

I had no trouble making the connection on the way to Berlin. On the way home, the plane was put in a holding pattern around FRA due to traffic. That left me with only a half hour to catch my next flight. Had to hussle, but still made it.