My sister and her friend are planning to meet my husband and I in Munich in March '07. She and her friend will be traveling ATL-DUS landing at 7:25 a.m. and need to go on to Munich that day. They booked the tickets ATL - DUS when they were on a great sale and can't be changed (we called Delta to inquire).

There are several inexpensive carriers that serve the route, but we are concerned about a delayed transatlantic flight causing them to miss their connecting flight. What would be the result if this happens? Do they lose the flight completely or would they be re-booked on a later flight? There are numerous flights that day. Air Berlin and DBA have the best rates and flight times (they may codeshare?).

If they land at 7:25, what would be a "safe" departure time for the DUS-MUC flight under average circumstances? Options include 09:55, 11:40, 14:30 departures.

I checked into booking through a skyteam member so the 2nd portion of the trip could be added to the first itinerary, but it wasn't feasible from what I could tell.

Also, they are a bit nervous about navigating a foreign airport on their own. Is DUS fairly easy to navigate? I'm hoping it's not anything like CDG!

Yes, they have to count on losing the flight completely if they miss it. I have travel insurance that provides compensation if I miss an unrelated flight at the same airport, provided I have left four hours in-between the flights. They could look into getting that. Or they could figure out a plan B - like if they miss their flight, they'll get the train. But the fact you say they need to be in Munich precisely that same day is a bit worrisome.

Under most circumstances, the 11:40 flight would be fine. Of course it does happen that people are delayed on their transatlantic flights for several hours - I've seen posts about that quite frequently. You could easily imagine a complication like a mechanical problem or a storm.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who seem to manage at CDG...they just don't post here.

To me the obvious choice would be wait until the 11:40 departure.

To find out the consequences of missing a flight I think you would have to check on the DBA website.

The train, BTW could take anywhere between 5 and seven hours depending on departure time and the connection would involve an S-Bahn trip between DUS and the RR station. Are your sister and her friend flexible enough for that eventuality?

To me a "several hour" transatlantic delay would be more the exception than the rule but who can say for certain?

Hi G,

You can find out about DUS at www.duesseldorf-international.de/