Minimum Connection Time FRA
Apr 30, 2015, 2:50 pm
#16
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@Reifel, whose question(s) are you answering? Since you mention transfer from T1 to T2 and flying US Airways are you answering two-year-old questions?
Apr 30, 2015, 3:55 pm
#17
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 244
Haha, good point 
To answer to Soph, 45 minutes are cutting it a bit short even from LH to LH, but it's a legal connection.
As said earlier with the new layout in Terminal 1 you can go to the Z gates without reclearing security. But you will still need to reclear immigration. Also, Frankfurt is still heavy bus boarding. I guess from MUC it's more seldom, but if you are unlucky you will need to debark your MUC flight by bus which will make loose you time. And finally, there is no room for delays of any kind. Also, consider that you might make your connection, but your bags don't.
Keep in mind: basically at the time you arrive they start the boarding for the longhaul flight. FRA-MUC is flown quite a lot per day, and if you have the possibilty try to look up an earlier FRA-MUC flight and you will be fine.
If you still opt for the 45 Minutes connection and miss your onward flight, Lufthansa will reprotect you, but that always require that there is a later flight that day, and also that space is available, so better avoiding that altogether.
To answer to Soph, 45 minutes are cutting it a bit short even from LH to LH, but it's a legal connection.
As said earlier with the new layout in Terminal 1 you can go to the Z gates without reclearing security. But you will still need to reclear immigration. Also, Frankfurt is still heavy bus boarding. I guess from MUC it's more seldom, but if you are unlucky you will need to debark your MUC flight by bus which will make loose you time. And finally, there is no room for delays of any kind. Also, consider that you might make your connection, but your bags don't.
Keep in mind: basically at the time you arrive they start the boarding for the longhaul flight. FRA-MUC is flown quite a lot per day, and if you have the possibilty try to look up an earlier FRA-MUC flight and you will be fine.
If you still opt for the 45 Minutes connection and miss your onward flight, Lufthansa will reprotect you, but that always require that there is a later flight that day, and also that space is available, so better avoiding that altogether.
Jun 8, 2015, 7:19 am
#19
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: LBA
Programs: KLM FB Gold, LH M&M
Posts: 454
I booked this flight direct from the Lufthansa web site:
MAN-FRA-NUE
Has 60 mins transfer time.
I expect this will be do-able as both flights are Lufthansa, and I will have hand baggage only.
Downside is that arrival to gate at FRA is usually by bus. Also, I believe this is a non-Schengen to Schengen transfer.
Piece of cake -- just follow the transfer signs?
I hope so, anyway. On the way back, transfer time is 45 mins!
MAN-FRA-NUE
Has 60 mins transfer time.
I expect this will be do-able as both flights are Lufthansa, and I will have hand baggage only.
Downside is that arrival to gate at FRA is usually by bus. Also, I believe this is a non-Schengen to Schengen transfer.
Piece of cake -- just follow the transfer signs?
I hope so, anyway. On the way back, transfer time is 45 mins!
Jun 11, 2015, 4:03 am
#20
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I booked this flight direct from the Lufthansa web site:
MAN-FRA-NUE
Has 60 mins transfer time.
I expect this will be do-able as both flights are Lufthansa, and I will have hand baggage only.
Downside is that arrival to gate at FRA is usually by bus. Also, I believe this is a non-Schengen to Schengen transfer.
Piece of cake -- just follow the transfer signs?
I hope so, anyway. On the way back, transfer time is 45 mins!
MAN-FRA-NUE
Has 60 mins transfer time.
I expect this will be do-able as both flights are Lufthansa, and I will have hand baggage only.
Downside is that arrival to gate at FRA is usually by bus. Also, I believe this is a non-Schengen to Schengen transfer.
Piece of cake -- just follow the transfer signs?
I hope so, anyway. On the way back, transfer time is 45 mins!
Flights to NUE usually use bus gates so you can expect scenic tours of FRA.
Aug 27, 2015, 7:36 am
#21
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: LBA
Programs: KLM FB Gold, LH M&M
Posts: 454
I booked this flight direct from the Lufthansa web site:
MAN-FRA-NUE
Has 60 mins transfer time.
I expect this will be do-able as both flights are Lufthansa, and I will have hand baggage only.
Downside is that arrival to gate at FRA is usually by bus. Also, I believe this is a non-Schengen to Schengen transfer.
Piece of cake -- just follow the transfer signs?
I hope so, anyway. On the way back, transfer time is 45 mins!
MAN-FRA-NUE
Has 60 mins transfer time.
I expect this will be do-able as both flights are Lufthansa, and I will have hand baggage only.
Downside is that arrival to gate at FRA is usually by bus. Also, I believe this is a non-Schengen to Schengen transfer.
Piece of cake -- just follow the transfer signs?
I hope so, anyway. On the way back, transfer time is 45 mins!
Didn't make it on the way out. Left MAN on LH949, Saturday 22 Aug. Arrived at bus gate B65 or something, quick passport check, turned right and walked what must be the long way round to A48, no tunnel. But was still at security 50 mins before take off. However, security speed was was glacial. Only about 30 people, took me 35 mins to get through. The fast track queue just fed into one main queue, anyway. One security queue had a whole body scanner which was playing up, the other had elderly and wheelchair passengers going straight to the front. Security staff were totally disinterested, like they were on a semi-strike.
Worse was to come, when I had to go to the Lufthansa service center to get re-booked on the next flight. I had to queue for 30 mins to just get in the place, it was all very chaotic, not enough staff processing customers. LH staff seemed to think it was my fault I didn't make the connection. "The incoming flight was on time". Eventually, after waiting for 2hrs, they put me on the 12:30 to NUE.
But we were then sat on the tarmac for 60 mins while they changed a tyre on the plane. And I was sat next to a morbidly obese passenger. FRA-NUE was only a 25 min hop, thank God.
------
On the return leg, no problems. Through NUE security in about 60 secs. Left 5 mins early from NUE. Bussed to an A gate at FRA, LH rep told me to go to A15, then lift down, then through "the tunnel" to B. Quick passport check before going to B28. Only 15 mins transfer time, if that.
---------
On a positive note, I now know how to find "the tunnel". This seems a quicker way of getting between A and B.
On the minus side, FRA uses lots of bus transfers from tarmac to gate. These can really eat into your allowed transfer time.
Aug 27, 2015, 2:45 pm
#22
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Didn't make it on the way out. Left MAN on LH949, Saturday 22 Aug. Arrived at bus gate B65 or something, quick passport check, turned right and walked what must be the long way round to A48, no tunnel. But was still at security 50 mins before take off. However, security speed was was glacial. Only about 30 people, took me 35 mins to get through. The fast track queue just fed into one main queue, anyway. One security queue had a whole body scanner which was playing up, the other had elderly and wheelchair passengers going straight to the front. Security staff were totally disinterested, like they were on a semi-strike.
Worse was to come, when I had to go to the Lufthansa service center to get re-booked on the next flight. I had to queue for 30 mins to just get in the place, it was all very chaotic, not enough staff processing customers. LH staff seemed to think it was my fault I didn't make the connection. "The incoming flight was on time". Eventually, after waiting for 2hrs, they put me on the 12:30 to NUE.
But we were then sat on the tarmac for 60 mins while they changed a tyre on the plane. And I was sat next to a morbidly obese passenger. FRA-NUE was only a 25 min hop, thank God.
------
On the return leg, no problems. Through NUE security in about 60 secs. Left 5 mins early from NUE. Bussed to an A gate at FRA, LH rep told me to go to A15, then lift down, then through "the tunnel" to B. Quick passport check before going to B28. Only 15 mins transfer time, if that.
---------
On a positive note, I now know how to find "the tunnel". This seems a quicker way of getting between A and B.
On the minus side, FRA uses lots of bus transfers from tarmac to gate. These can really eat into your allowed transfer time.
Worse was to come, when I had to go to the Lufthansa service center to get re-booked on the next flight. I had to queue for 30 mins to just get in the place, it was all very chaotic, not enough staff processing customers. LH staff seemed to think it was my fault I didn't make the connection. "The incoming flight was on time". Eventually, after waiting for 2hrs, they put me on the 12:30 to NUE.
But we were then sat on the tarmac for 60 mins while they changed a tyre on the plane. And I was sat next to a morbidly obese passenger. FRA-NUE was only a 25 min hop, thank God.
------
On the return leg, no problems. Through NUE security in about 60 secs. Left 5 mins early from NUE. Bussed to an A gate at FRA, LH rep told me to go to A15, then lift down, then through "the tunnel" to B. Quick passport check before going to B28. Only 15 mins transfer time, if that.
---------
On a positive note, I now know how to find "the tunnel". This seems a quicker way of getting between A and B.
On the minus side, FRA uses lots of bus transfers from tarmac to gate. These can really eat into your allowed transfer time.
Security in FRA seems to be getting worse exacerbated by holiday traffic. What annoys me is arrivals from the UK should not need to clear security at German airports but FRA cannot manage this unless you arrive at a Z gate.
Dec 7, 2018, 10:03 am
#23
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: DTW
Programs: TK E+, WY, Radisson R
Posts: 2,360
Booked this deal and elected KEF-MUC-FRA-ORD in J as I really want to try 748 upper deck.
UA,LH,LX BOS-KEF $1260+ r/t J
105 min in FRA (Schengen - non-Schengen [US]), would I be able to connect comfortably with this much time? If KEF-MUC is delayed they can put me in MUC-ORD instead, just hope MUC-FRA is not delayed.
FYI, specifically, I'll be connecting LH430 (typically at end of Z concourse) from LH97 (typically at the beginning of A concourse)
UA,LH,LX BOS-KEF $1260+ r/t J
105 min in FRA (Schengen - non-Schengen [US]), would I be able to connect comfortably with this much time? If KEF-MUC is delayed they can put me in MUC-ORD instead, just hope MUC-FRA is not delayed.
FYI, specifically, I'll be connecting LH430 (typically at end of Z concourse) from LH97 (typically at the beginning of A concourse)
Last edited by vincewy; Dec 7, 2018 at 1:25 pm
Jan 27, 2020, 4:43 am
#26
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Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: DE
Posts: 265
If the flight gets assigned a gate (which seems to happen in most instances for SK1635), you will be good. Arrival and departure gate will be one and the same. You exit the aircraft through the bridge and can simply remain in the gate area until boarding starts. Easy as pie.
If, instead, SK1635 receives an apron position, more can go wrong. You will be picked up at the apron position with a bus. This bus can be delayed for a variety of reasons. It ain't the norm, but if something goes wrong, it can take 30 min or more until the bus drops you off. The so-called bus gate at which you get dropped off can (and usually will) differ from the (bus) gate SK1636 departs from. It could happen that you have a 10-15 min walk from the bus drop-off point to your departure gate.
I think you would still make SK1636 in the majority of cases. But there definitely is a non-trivial risk in this case.
Jan 29, 2020, 8:20 am
#28
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Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: DE
Posts: 265
It depends.
SAS from/to CPH is certainly one of the lower-risk options. It's Schengen-to-Schengen. They don't have a base in Frankfurt. SK1635 has a good number of people connecting to the last wave of long-hauls out of FRA: GIG, BKK, SIN, JNB, GRU, CPT, HKG, and EZE. Except for HKG, those destinations don't have non-stop service out of CPH by SK. So again, SK1635 is really a feeder flight to a large extent.
It does get a gate positon a vast percentage of the time. SK also cannot run some of the games on you which LH sometimes is liable for (e.g., with LH, you might be coming in on a Schengen flight and receive a gate position, but still have to take a bus as the aircraft's next flight is a non-Schengen one).
SAS from/to CPH is certainly one of the lower-risk options. It's Schengen-to-Schengen. They don't have a base in Frankfurt. SK1635 has a good number of people connecting to the last wave of long-hauls out of FRA: GIG, BKK, SIN, JNB, GRU, CPT, HKG, and EZE. Except for HKG, those destinations don't have non-stop service out of CPH by SK. So again, SK1635 is really a feeder flight to a large extent.
It does get a gate positon a vast percentage of the time. SK also cannot run some of the games on you which LH sometimes is liable for (e.g., with LH, you might be coming in on a Schengen flight and receive a gate position, but still have to take a bus as the aircraft's next flight is a non-Schengen one).
Jan 29, 2020, 11:54 am
#30
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Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: DE
Posts: 265
I don't understand what you disagree with. Yes, there is a risk. That is not controversial. I indicated there is a risk in a post above your first reply to the question.
What's relevant is how much risk there is. Then the OP can decide based on his attitude towards risk.
In light of the argument I put forward above (and also in light of the history on Flightstats) I would guess the probability that SK1635 gets an apron position is 10% or less. And if it gets an apron position, there is still a good chance to make SK1636 as long as nothing goes wrong with the bus transfer (like, there being a huge line of buses at ASO/ASW, delaying the drop-off of the SK1635 busses). But normally, you should make SK1636 even when arriving on one of the bus gates in the root of A. This assumes user yauee is reasonably well on foot (as the departing bus gate may be as far as A69).
What's relevant is how much risk there is. Then the OP can decide based on his attitude towards risk.
In light of the argument I put forward above (and also in light of the history on Flightstats) I would guess the probability that SK1635 gets an apron position is 10% or less. And if it gets an apron position, there is still a good chance to make SK1636 as long as nothing goes wrong with the bus transfer (like, there being a huge line of buses at ASO/ASW, delaying the drop-off of the SK1635 busses). But normally, you should make SK1636 even when arriving on one of the bus gates in the root of A. This assumes user yauee is reasonably well on foot (as the departing bus gate may be as far as A69).