Sorry if this is a dumb question but we've always flown from the U.S. direct to our final destination in Europe.

Next May we're flying from Charlotte to Frankfurt on US Airways, then connecting to Venice on Lufthansa.

My questions:

Are our bags checked through to Venice?

Do we go through immigration and/or customs in Frankfort?

Is a 1 hr 15 min layover long enough in Frankfort?

Thanks,

Jim

Assuming both legs are booked as one ticket, your bags will be checked through to Venice, and you will not need to go through immigrationand customs in FRA, only upon arrival in Venice. Unless you have a big delay, 1 hr 15 min should be plenty of time.

You will go through immigration and security in Frankfurt; customs in Venice. Germany and Italy are both in the Schengen zone, so Frankfurt is your point of entry.

I would be worried about your connection time.
Nowadays anything under 2 hours connecting time for international flights is asking for trouble - too many variables.
I would rather sit at the airport for an extra hour than worry the entire trip about missing the connection (and ALL that goes with that).
Hopefully Venice is your final destination. If you are connecting to a cruise, try to arrive 1 day early.
This is just my advice and take it for what it'as worth.

In the last 3 yrs we've connected through FRA 3 times (and MUC twice - I mention that only because both are LH hubs). Agree with ms_go and Jen - although we've actually gone through immigration/passport controls twice during each connection. Still not a problem.

Assuming you land on time, 1.25 hrs should be enough. FRA is very spread out, but easy to navigate and signage is very good. I wouldn't waste time, but we've made connections in less than 1 hr.

Don't worry. In 95% of flights your connection will work.

Immigration in Frankfurt is nothing compared to immigration into the U.S. It usually takes just a few minutes.

If you are somewhat late, Lufthansa staff will escort you to your connecting flight. Usually the connecting flight will even wait for you.

And if your incoming flight is really late, a two hour layover would not help. If the plane is really late Lufthansa will book you on the next available flight to Venice. Star Alliance is responsible to bring you to Venice, and they will do.

This is all good if Venice is your final stop - you'll get there on your original or later flight.
Our friends had a LH connection just under 1 hour to Istanbul.
They made the flight but cruised without their luggage the ENTIRE cruise (1 piece was looted as well, as they found out after the cruise in Istanbul).

Thank you all for your replies. Venice is our final destination and (we hope) we plan to arrive a day before our cruise leaves.

Jim