janinva

If I have only a carryon to contend with will I be able to make a 45 minute connection in Dusseldorf? Of course, I understand that the international flight must be on time. What will happen if it isn't?

nytraveler

If you are on a single ticket and don;t make the flight the airline is requred to put you on the next flight out. If these are separate tickets and you don;t make the flight you are onsidered a no show and will typically have to buy another ticket on the next flight at the walk up cost.

Assuming you are coming from the US or other non-Schengen area and Dusseldorf is your first landing you will have to go through Immigration - and how long that takes can vary.

I've never changed there - and have no idea of specific locations. But I would never take any connection less than 2 hours anywhere if they were separate tickets.

daveesl

I have a hard time believing an airline would do a 45 minute transfer on an international flight, I don't think that is even allowed. I then must assume you booked the legs yourself. If that is the case and you miss the connecting flight, then you may possibly find you will have to purchase another ticket if you miss the flight.

dave

Cowboy1968

Düsseldorf airport is fairly easy to navigate. Not a maze like Frankfurt. Plus flights from the US often arrive ahead of time due to the jet stream if they depart on time.
It is also quite common here that boarding does not start until 5-10 minutes before scheduled departure time.
Assuming you have all your flights on one ticket, it's not your problem. I would only refrain from booking if the connecting flight was the last of the day to your final destination.
From where to where will you connect in DUS?

janinva44

I will be flying from NY/NJ on Lufthansa and the flight out of Dusseldorf to Prague is the same aireline. Your answer is reassuring and I too thought the airline wouldn't book this connection if it couldn't work but that seems to close to me!

traveller1959

I assume your flight from Newark arrives at 6:10 and your flight to Prague departs at 6:50.

In 95% of the cases your flight from Newark will arrive on time. Most of the time these flights are even early (because of western tailwinds over the Atlantic). In Düsseldorf, you stay within concourse A, and the walk from the arrival gate to the departure gate takes not more than two minutes, so everything will be easy.

In the unlikely case, your transatlantic flight is a little late, the Prague flight will wait for you.

If your transatlantic flight is very late, you will automatically rebooked to the 15:15 flight to Prague.

So, no reason to worry.

However, it is always a good idea to pack fresh underwear in your carry-on baggage.

traveller1959

Oh, I have seen you have carry-on baggage only. So no need to worry whether baggage makes the connection. You won't have any problem with schlepping your carry-on to the connecting flight, since the gates are very nearby.

hetismij2

Don't forget OP will have to go through passport control and security at Düsseldorf .

lilla

We hd the same situation yesterday with international flights from Washington Dulles to Berlin connecting in Copenhagen with 45 minutes between flights. This was the airline's scheduling.

We made it at the last minute. However, the big hold-up was that we had to go through security as soon as we got OFF the international flight. I don't know what they think we could have gotten between security in Washington and getting off the plane in Copenhagen. The combination of security and passport control made it very iffy as to whether we would make our connection.

Cowboy1968

You always go through security when you connect in the Schengen common travel area in Europe.
Unless you come from a Schengen country and connect to another Schengen country.
If you had flown Rome-Munich-Oslo there would not have been security in Munich.
But if you went Washington-Munich-Oslo you would have gone thru security as in Copenhagen.

The reason is obviously not that someone expects you to build a bomb while sitting in seat 35A en route from Dulles to CPH. But that non-Schengen piers handle flights incoming from all parts of the world. Also from countries where the level and proficiency of airport security may be doubted enough to not let pax on an intra EU flight without sending them through security while connecting.

Jojonana

We tried once to have a close connection and it was a FAIL! Ended up staying 6 extra hours at Paris airport. Thank God for macarons!

lilla

Cowboy, Thanks for your explanation. Now I will be prepared when making connecting flights in Schengen countries and will try to make sure we have at least an hour between flights.

janinva

Thanks for all the info...I guess I'll just hope and pray we get there in timne....