jags

After booking flight offered by LH website, We realised connecting time will be challenging. Arriving from Heathrow at 9.10 pm and departing for Rio De Janeiro at 10.15
Now I am stressing as this is the last flight to Rio and the next flight in the morning will reach Rio late in the night. That means we miss the whole day and our transfer from Rio to Ilha Grande and hotel booking. We will also have to find hotel in Rio for that night at an awful time.
We are not young enough to sprint our way through the gates and security. It is making us nervous now.
Any advice would be appreciated.

schrodingerdog

1h05min is more than enough. You are doing a non-Schengen to non-Schengen transfer from a clean country so no need to reclear security* and no need to go through passport control. When you arrive, simply follow the signals for flight transfer, look for your gate (Rio de Janeiro seems to depart from C gates) and follow the signals to the gate.

In the event of a delay, LH may set a personal transfer for you. When you deplane check if there is any employee holding a signal with your destination and talk to him/her. He/she will drive you directly to your gate.

If still you find yourself unconfortable, Lufthansa offers a personal transfer service for a fee (75€). They will meet you at your gate and transfer to the new one

https://www.lufthansa.com/online/myp...956853346&l=en


*Sometimes you may need to reclear security even if arriving from UK due to the layout of the airport

vbroucek

I do not agree with the above poster that 1h 05mins is "more than enough". It is OK, but honestly I personally would probably not risk it on such a connection. FRA can be tricky for people who do not travel a lot or who "are not young enough to sprint our way through".

OP, if you have a chance to change to earlier LHR-FRA flight, I would suggest to do so.

Then again, I am guessing that you will be arriving on LH917, and this flight has been slightly late 5 times out of last 100 flights, and at all the other times it was in earlier than scheduled... On the other hand LH500 did not depart at 22:15 in the last 100 flights.

jags

Thanks for the prompt response from both of you.

"On the other hand LH500 did not depart at 22:15 in the last 100 flights." Does it mean it always departs late ? That is helpful. This seem to be the last flight of the day from concourse C looking at departure schedule. Does that mean less time at security?

Looking at LH website LH 917 probably arrives at concourse Z. How far is Z to C ? Does it need to go by sky train ?

SK AAR

There is no need to upset/worry the OP with such statements. 1:05 is sufficient and amble time for a non-Schengen to non-Schengen connection at FRA. I would certainly not book the previous LHR-FRA as it is rather unlikely that the OP will not make the connection. The inbound LHR flight needs to be very late before the OP will misconnect if the OP proceeds to the C gate with reasonable pace. As you already point out the incoming LHR flight has no history of arriving late.

To the OP: there is no need to stress/worry about this connection. Follow the signs once you arrive at FRA and you should face no issues. In the unlikely event that your LHR flights arrives late, ask the crew or ground staff for advice/assistance.

Yes, LH500 and other longhaul flights will often depart a bit delayed (but have to take off before the curfew at 23h) sometimes waiting for connecting pax or the last bags to be loaded.

Yes, if you arrive at a Z gate, it is a fair walk to the C concourse. You may consider taking the sky train but it will not take you all the way to C concourse; I would take the walk. You have to pass immigration and security check but both should work seamlessly. Pls look for further info in the dedicated FRA connection thread in this forum.

Good luck!

YuropFlyer

If you're unlucky with the Gates - ie, highest Z to C gate as others described it, and your incoming aircraft is just a bit late (say, doors open 10 minutes after schedule) you'll still make it, but it won't be much fun. Ways in FRA can be long, and if you're unfamiliar with the layout, will even look longer. Probably best to simply follow the signs and not trying to have every eventuality in your head.

I'd rate the chance of making the connection at over 95%. And if you see your flight in LHR already delayed (check the inbound flight LH916 FRA-LHR.. if that one is coming on time, you should be fine.. if there is some significant delay there already, you'll know ahead)

So.. if you're in LHR, LH916 is on it's way on time, I would simply do as every other Non-FT traveller does. Enjoy the flight, walk as reasonably fast you can in FRA following the signs, and you should be fine.

The biggest risk in the past was that LH indeed couldn't get the bird into the air before 11pm, since they've an extremely strict night ban regime there.

So they've adjusted and they'll close the gate not extremely late (they might wait a bit, but will not wait till the last second) - not really going to be a problem here, but if someone has a delayed incoming flight, the "computer says no" to the connection being possible, they might close the gate earlier than needed even if he makes it to the gate in a rush.

vbroucek

I don't see anything upsetting or worrying in my post. I was just reacting to OP's own concerns and suggested that perhaps on flight earlier (LH915 departs 60 minutes earlier than LH917, giving 2h 05 mins for the connection in FRA) might be option...

jags

Thank you all for your kind support. We did try to change flight from LHR but it was coming with heavy penalty. Ł130 each admin with price difference.

I looked at today's schedule. LH 917 delayed from Heathrow but reached in time. LH 500 was delayed by 35 minutes.

Our flights are in December. We will watch both the flights actual arrival and take off. Yes we can walk fast if can't sprint. Hopefully, with all wishes everything should be fine. Will definitely come back to the post and let you guys know how did it go.

Thanks once again for the encouragement.

NYC1

I'm considering doing something similar: BRU-FRA LH1013 (15:05--16:05) connecting to the FRA-JFK at 17:10 (LH404). "Should"/"could" be OK but I see, for example, that the flight on April 17 was delayed and landed at FRA at 16:49. I assume that's too late?! Not sure what LH1013's record is beyond this 1 sample.

LondonElite

Is this on one ticket or two?

quaxpilot

LH1013 should arrive at A and LH404 leave from Z. Changing from A to Z is convenient, however can involve quite some walking depending on exact gate locations. Of course passport control and additional security checks.
With an on-time arrival of LH1013 it can be done, LH sells tickets with even shorter connections for flights into US. However there is not that much safety and LH404 is the last flight of the day.
I would most likely pick an earlier flight and use the time in the lounge to work.

NYC1

One ticket.

NYC1

Yes, problem is late meeting in Brussels and have to get back to New York for early meeting next day...

quaxpilot

Well, on-time performance of LH1013 overall is quite good. On the other side LH404 also leaves the gate often pretty on-time, so I wouldn't count too much on that they wait long time to have everybody on board (to save hotel accommodation etc.).
So in principle it should work out most of the times pretty well (otherwise they won't sell it). The decision IMHO will depend on the question how bad you'll be affected (in terms of business etc.) in case it hits you on the day of your flight.

NYC1

Thanks. Seems like a (too) risky proposition to me.