MrPie

Hi all,

What would be your minimum connection times if transiting FRA when on 2 different PNRs and on non affliated airlines?

IE. BA to ANA flying in J with checked luggage (UK-FRA-HND, HND-FRA-UK)

SK AAR

I wouldn't do it with less than 2 hours at FRA.

For the outbound I would plan around 3 hours to make sure that you get on your NH flight.

NH @ HND checks bags to LHR?

arttravel

I am even more conservative -- with separate tickets no less than 4 hours at FRA especially if one has to recheck luggage. I do not think BA will check luggage through to ANA on separate tickets. The security lines at FRA can be slow. The last time I did this I had an overnight in FRA before the transatlantic flight. The long haul was discount J and I really did not want to miss it. The security wait was over 30 minutes.
Cost of a hotel was less than change fee.

zebranz

I go with 4 hours. Besides UK flights sometimes late- immigration can be a bear if you have some countries flights ahead of you. I also got stuck for an hour trying to get back in through security in November. Not sure how it is now although I will find out on the 9th. I book the HI at the airport not to take the risk. I always have separate 4-7 tickets on a trip.

If all goes right -on time arrival, reasonable immigration, bags, check in, and security could probably do in 2-2.5.

chris63

In UK you can buy travel insurance for failed connections but you would need to demonstrate that you were following guidelines for checkin, so minimum of 3 hours before departure on a longhaul flight, which is normally the earliest opening of the checkin desk.

MrPie

Thanks all. My outbound connection I'm thinking of is 3 hrs 50 mins and inbound (back) would be a 3 hrs 15 min connection off the top of my head planning.

My outbound travel is during the week (would be thurs evening 1755 transit at FRA) and inbound Sun afternoon (1540)

I was planning to ask NH at HND to see if they'll check through to LHR since I'll have have the full luggage allowance back but I doubt it since they're obviously not in the same airline alliance.

Was going to check out the insurance thing as a just in case (will read T&Cs!).

Can you guys advise on the best route for transiting? I will need to go via baggage claim unless I can convince NH to check luggage through on the inbound.
Am I right in thinking the best is probably to go through normal arrivals/baggage claim then up to Level 4 to take the Skytrain? FRA's website says BA is T2(E) and NH is T1(B).

SK AAR

There is a dedicated thread in the LH forum about FRA transfers - I suggest that you seek advice there.

arttravel

I have never changed from Terminal 2 to 1; the FRA thread may have people experienced with that transfer,

Link to thread

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luft...t-fra-384.html

I have also had some long waits at FRA immigration -- non EU passport. I transfer at least twice a year through FRA and still find it confusing.

Often1

It all boils down to your personal risk tolerance. By separate PNR's, I presume that you mean separate tickets as well. If so, is there a reason not to book this travel on one ticket as BA and NH have an interline ticketing agreement?

If there is a good reason, I would definitely allow an overnight at FRA as it is not only about checking in at FRA, but about collecting bags, Customs and then dragging oneself to NH to start a second journey. Not just weather, but ATC and any little thing can turn into a problem for you.

LondonElite

This. On separate tickets you don't have a connection. If your BA flight to FRA is very late or cancelled, you may miss your NH flight, meaning you'd have to buy a new return ticket at walkup prices (since your ticket will auto cancel), which will be expensive. There are many decent overnight options at the airport or in town.

Unterwegs

Assume that you cannot check your luggage thru - I know from my own experience that BA will not check luggage thru on different tickets.
You need to go thru immigration, then baggage claim, customs. This should take around 1/2 hour, possibly longer.
Then you need to take your luggage upstairs to the sky train over to Terminal 1 and then walk to the ANA counters. Calculate around 15 min for this.
You need to check in before the deadline, not sure but usually around 40 min before the flight.
If everything goes well 2 hours should be enough.
But as mentioned if there are delays and you miss the ANA flight ANA has no obligation to transport you and (if you are not on a changeable/flexible ticket) you might need to buy a new ticket, otherwise there could be a change fee and you could need to pay the fare difference.

NewbieRunner

Is there any reason why you don’t want to fly LHR-FRA-HND on LH/NH on one ticket which will not only allow you to check you baggage through but also protect you in case of a missed connection?

If you are trying to save on UK APD check the price to fly LH/NH via FRA (or MUC) vs flying FRA-HND or MUC-HND alone. Fares from the UK to Japan via Germany used to be very competitive but have unfortunately gone up since the JV between LH and NH started. You can still find business fares ex-UK which are similar to fares ex-Germany even including UK APD. If you want to fly NH to Tokyo fares via DUS are usually lower but you’ll fly to NRT rather than to HND.

Often1

The cost of a hotel and meals at FRA is likely to ouweigh the cost of the long-haul, even premium, APD difference. The sole issue really is ticket cost. Worth putting total costs, not just ticket price, on a spread sheet and then evaluating the risk and cost of time (e.g. extra overnight) and hassle (claiming bag and checking in with NH).

A reminder that the check-in deadline for your NH flight is T-60 (as you have bags to check). You must allow for a wait as the deadline is for the bag check, not getting into the line.

R.O.

I would assume he has a rationale such as cost saving for this (e.g., UK-TYO being significantly more expensive than FRA-TYO + pos flights).

But I would suggest to the OP to book the pos flight on LH. I fly LHR-FRA often and usually, the price differential between LH and BA is small.

I'd much rather have the pos flight op. by LH, as there is a good chance that LH will interline with NH even on separate tickets. There's also the time saving from LHR-FRA landing in Frankfurt's T1 (where NH departs from) as opposed to T2.

Flying Lawyer

With collecting baggage and checkin in baggage and coming from the UK I would never plan for less than four hours in Frankfurt. Check-In, Security and Passport. Three lines that can result in massive delays. Frankfurt is good for real transfers - Yesterday I made it from B19A to A69 in less than 15 minutes. But as soon as it involves one of the three lines, it becomes dangerous.