Connection time in berlin?
Apr 8, 2012 | 9:11 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: SPG gold lifer
Posts: 54
Connection time in berlin?
Hi all,
I'm looking at a trip from Budapest back to New York in August, and the award travel option was an Air Berlin flight from Budapest at 6am with a 5 hour layover in Berlin. I could purchase a really cheap ($75) ticket on Lufthansa for the Budapest to Berlin leg at 10AM instead, but it lands at 11:20 and the Berlin to New York flight leaves at 1pm.
Question is - is 1 hr 40 mins enough time to safely do a connection in Berlin with a switch from Lufthansa to Air Berlin? We would likely have checked luggage but could avoid it if we could do this without it and couldn't do it with it.
Thanks!!
I'm looking at a trip from Budapest back to New York in August, and the award travel option was an Air Berlin flight from Budapest at 6am with a 5 hour layover in Berlin. I could purchase a really cheap ($75) ticket on Lufthansa for the Budapest to Berlin leg at 10AM instead, but it lands at 11:20 and the Berlin to New York flight leaves at 1pm.
Question is - is 1 hr 40 mins enough time to safely do a connection in Berlin with a switch from Lufthansa to Air Berlin? We would likely have checked luggage but could avoid it if we could do this without it and couldn't do it with it.
Thanks!!
Apr 8, 2012 | 11:32 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: HAM
Posts: 556
Normally this should be enough and the "offiicial" minimum connection time for flights connecting to AB in Berlin is 90 minutes. Checking the luggage thru from BUD to JFK should work as well.
But there are a couple of risks with that:
- As you will have two tickets, you will bear the risk of any delay
- The new Berlin airport will open in June, so nobody has experience as of today
- The airlines schedule might change until August
- If you miss the first leg of your AB ticket, they might cancel the rest of it. However AB is much more tolerant on that compared to other airlines, but you never know...
But there are a couple of risks with that:
- As you will have two tickets, you will bear the risk of any delay
- The new Berlin airport will open in June, so nobody has experience as of today
- The airlines schedule might change until August
- If you miss the first leg of your AB ticket, they might cancel the rest of it. However AB is much more tolerant on that compared to other airlines, but you never know...
Apr 8, 2012 | 12:03 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: BER
Programs: Hilton Diamond, SAS Gold, BA Bronze
Posts: 15,758
actually, it's hard to say right now because no one took the new Berlin airport which will be opened this summer. why don't you just use the 5h to enjoy breakfast in the city, you'll have no luggage and then go back to the airport?