Lufthansa/United - conflicting info on check-in
 

I called both United and Lufthansa and received different answers.

I have an e-ticket for the following trip: Sacramento - Chicago - Frankfurt - Istanbul. The Sacramento-to-Chicago leg is on United, and the rest of the legs are on Lufthansa.

Here is my two-part question:

a) when I check-in at Sacramento with United, will I receive my boarding passes for the rest of the legs all the way to Istanbul? One operator said no; I will have to check in with Lufthansa in Chicago to get the rest of the boarding passes. Another operator said yes; I will receive all the boarding passes in Sacramento because the two airlines are code share partners and therefore United will be able to give me the boarding passes for Lufthansa.

b) If United is able to give me the boarding passes in Sacramento for all the legs of the trip, will Lufthansa accept them? I had a bad experience last year with Delta and Royal Air Maroc who are partners. I was going from SFO - JFK - Casablanca. Delta gave me all the boarding passes at SFO. But once at JFK, the R.A.M. people looked at my boarding pass and said I needed to go check in at the R.A.M. counter and get the "real" boarding pass. I couldn't understand that, since they are code share partners, but for some reason, R.A.M. wouldn't accept the Delta-issued pass. I still managed to make the flight, but it was close.

Lastly, once landing in Frankfurt, will I have to go through immigration before getting on my connecting flight to Istanbul? The airlines have given me conflicting info on that, too.

Thanks so much for any help.

You should be able to get boarding passes in Sacramento for your entire trip. Don't know why you had trouble with the DL/RAM trip. We did somewhat the reverse last year and took LH from FIR to MUC then connected for flight to ORD where we then connected with UA to IAH. We got all boarding passes in FIR. We had no problems. I would think your schedule shouldn't be any different.

In FRA you will go through immigration/passport control (probably 2 times and maybe 3), but you should not have to go through customs [unless there is some special rule about Turkey that I'm not aware of]. Immigration/passport is not the same thing as customs - some people use the terms interchangeably and shouldn't.

I've never had a problem with United being able to give me boarding passes for Lufthansa when I check in for the first flight. Interestingly, though, last time LH did re-issue our boarding passes when we got to the gate in Munich and changed one of our seat assignments.

Your connection in Frankfurt is a non-Schengen to non-Schengen connection. I've done similar connections (not Turkey, but other non-Schengen destinations) at FRA a couple of times in the last two years and did NOT have to go through passport control.

Thank you both for your responses. So whether or not I have to go through immigration/passport control in Frankfurt seems to be questionable. Luckily, I have a 4 hour layover at Frankfurt, so I'll have the time.

Thanks again.

With a 4 hr layover there is no need to stay confined to the secure non-schengen area. It's pretty sterile, just a few duty free shops.

Outside security, in the general terminal area are a wider range of shops, restaurants, etc where you can pass the time, then you just need to get to your gate for departure.

ms - wondering outloud: any ideas about why you didn't have to go through passport/immigration and we've had to do it two years in a row?

dfr4848--where were you traveling from/to? If from the US to a Schengen destination (e.g., Italy or France), then you will go through passport control in Germany, as that is your point of entry into the Schengen area.

I've also had several connections through FRA or MUC in the last couple of years to Italy or France; in those cases, we did go through passport control. But, when I was traveling non-Schengen to non-Schengen (e.g., Chicago-Frankfurt-Warsaw or Moscow-Frankfurt-Chicago), I stayed within the non-Schengen area at FRA and, thus, did not go through passport control.

ms - thanks. Frankly, I didn't notice or pay attention to Schengen/non-Schengen areas at either FRA or MUC. We were going from US to Italy one year, then US to Austria the next. Guess that explains it.

Liquid - looks like you won't have to hassle with the passport controls.

Thanks, you two! Now I can relax and actually hang out in the shops since I have the time.

I'm very grateful for the folks on this board. It's a little aggravating to get conflicting information from the airlines, so when I come here, I always know I'll get the correct information. It gives me such peace of mind. Thank you again to those who responded.