Here we are, days before our departure to Europe, and I just got an email notifying me that for our return trip from Germany, set for 11:15 AM May 28, was suddenly 5:50 AM!!! That night, we were set to go to a late night concert/other events for a music festival, which was the very reason I chose an 11:15 AM flight, so we could at least get a few hours of sleep.

Since the flight was booked on Orbitz, I called them to see if we could be bumped to a later flight, and after 2 hours on the phone, found that there were NO later flights that connected to the US, save for my 11:15 AM one (I had assumed it was cancelled).

They told me that even though the 11:15 AM flight was still running, that we couldn't be put back on it because it would get us into Frankfurt just one hour and 15 minutes before our international flight.

They explained that it is required that you be there at least one hour and 30 minutes before an international flight. They explained that their system made the error when it booked me on the later flight.

15 minutes!!! On top of that, since no other flights have changed, we are now in Frankfurt for 6 hours.

Any hope of being able to actually use our hotel for that night is gone (so we're just paying for the ability to come back to change and shower before we fly), and that means that we need to leave for the airport around 3:30 AM, when we would have been going to bed otherwise.

I just can't believe that because of 15 minutes,the result of a system error within Orbitz, we can't make the connection we should have been able to make.

So, for anyone booking international flights on Orbitz, make sure that the connecting time listed allows 1.5 hours before an international departure, or else you'll find out that you've been bumped to a possible inconvenient time.

hi, rachellia,

hard cheese! [sorry, the smilies have gone to my head - blame Ira].

is there a private airport lounge [possibly attached to your transatlantic carrier] at frankfurt that you could use to relax for a few hours?

regards, ann

You are actually going to cancel out on the concert, etc.?

Pull an all-nighter and use that 6 hours in FRA to get some sleep or a nap or something.

Why does FRA have this 90-minute rule and CDG does not? Is this an official FRA rule, or an Orbitz rule?

Aren't these "rules" usually airline specific? (I know there are in the US. Delta's minimum connection time in ATL is different from AirTran's for example)

You might try calling the airline directly and appealing to them. Option two is to call the airline AFTER your flight to Germany. Generally the airlines take "control" of the reservation once the first segment is flown (I am assuming this was all booked on one ticket)

I hope there's a lounge, although I'm afraid that we'd just fall asleep if we cat down so long. Do you think 6 hours is enough time to go into the city briefly and get back in time for the flight?

I sympathize. It would be nice if the search engines would automatically "weed out" connections that are too short, so you don't inadvertently reserve a flight that will end up being cancelled anyway.

Hey Carol, yes it was all booked on one ticket. I think I will do what you suggest and call Lufthansa once I'm in Europe to appeal to get on the later flight. After all, the paper tickets I have, in-hand, are for that flight!

But for those of you who've made tight connections, shouldn't 1 hr & 15 min be enough time to get off the plane an onto the US-bound one (luggage will have been checked through)?

We're in the same boat or rather with the same airline! We now have a 5hour layover in Frankfurt instead of 1hr 15 mins. Maybe the 'rules' changed after booking the tickets?

Have you tried calling Lufthansa to verify that its minimum connection time in FRA for a Schengen-to-US flight is really 1:30? That doesn't sound right...I found an announcement from last fall that says it was increasing the MCT to 60 minutes for such flights, but perhaps there's been a more recent change???

Call Lufthansa now. As long as you have proof of the later flight, they might honor it.

Hi R,

My sympathies.

If it turns out that you are stick with the 05:50 flight, I suggest that you just stay up all night.

>They explained that it is required that you be there at least one hour and 30 minutes before an international flight.

That sounds odd.
Call Lufthansa

Frankfurt is a great, great airport with tons of things to do..even a movie theatre. It is easy to take the train into the city from the airport, if you do end up having the long layover.

Hey Ira, yeah, the plan right now (unless Lufthansa heeds my plea), is to stay up all night and try to make it, 24 hours, until we board the Frankfurt flight. We will them promptly pass out...but jeeze, it's a lame way to end a vacation and a waste of hotel cost (can't cancel a night anyway since it was made through Expedia).

I hate to tell you this, but your situation is a textbook example of why I would NEVER use with one of those booking engines. I cannot imagine not being able to cancel a hotel with weeks before my arrival!

Well, here's solid proof (along with another post from someone else earlier this week) that my instinct that doing these online bookings for important vacations just doesn't cut it.

When I'm investing thousands of dollars in a trip I want to talk to a human being, ask questions, get confirmations, etc. An online booking just doesn't do that for me. I'm willing to do it for domestic travel, where my schedule is more flexible and I'm not looking at being sleep-deprived, but for international travel - nope. I call the airlines, call my consolidator, take the best deal and then I have some recourse when something like this happens. And these types of errors just don't seem to happen except with online bookings.

Sympathies...

tttt

I've always booked through online sites before, and this is the first time I've ever had an issue. That said, it IS the first time I booked with Orbitz, but being a college student, I couldn't resist the 718.00 roundtrip fare.

But, after spending about 5 hours on the phone with people in India who seemed very confused by my predicament.

Well, I finally called Lufthansa and they basically told me that the people at Orbitz were crazy, that Frankfurt doesn't have any 1:30 international requirement- that it was just 45 minutes, and she told me to call them to fix the flight as soon as I got into Europe (which another poster suggested).

Ridiculous, I guess the 1:30 thing is an Orbitz policy...right along with the fact that I was forced to get paper tickets.

Rachellia:

I hope you can sort this out – good luck

I always plan for a 2 hour transfer through large airports, assuming my original flight will be delayed and there will be security line-ups, but have frequently made it through major airports in considerably less than that.

I am a frequent, yet nervous flyer and therefore very conservative, building in extra time, just in case of emergencies, as I can’t bear the stress. Therefore, I’ll play devil’s advocate and warn you of the things you must consider in making your decision.

I probably would be willing to risk the 75 minute transfer through Frankfurt (luggage may be iffy if your incoming flight is delayed, but it will catch up with you), if I had a boarding pass from origin, luggage was checked through, less than a 20 minute transfer from arrival point to departure gate, including security.

45 minutes transit??????? No way unless the gates are next-door to each other and no security/immigration is involved! Honestly, I can't believe that information is correct, assuming the 45 mins is the time between the incoming flight landing (can be 15 mins to disembarkation, even longer if you are parked on the field and have to take a bus) and the take-off time of the connecting flight (need to be AT boarding gate 30 minutes before flight time, sometimes 40 minutes for international). Then, what about security and immigration? Its rarely been a problem for me at FRA, but you can never plan for this. I really think this is BAD information and you should ignore it! Honestly, 90 minutes is probably the RIGHT amount of time to transfer from an internal flight to an international one.

Some considerations:

Where are you arriving FROM (within Germany?) and are your flights arriving/departing from the same terminal and are the gates close? Will you be given your boarding pass for the US leg at point of origin or will you have to check in at FRA? Consider the time elements involved in each transaction.

For what it is worth: I have been through FRA dozens of times and three times in the past three months, every time flying from FRA to LHR. There is a SECOND security check flying to LHR and you should find out if there is same for flights to the US. I have been delayed anywhere from 10 mins to 20 mins at this second security, so you need to build this in. On the plus side, the mid-morning arrival/departure tends to be a quiet time at airports.

I guess you need to understand what happens if, for some reason, your original flight is delayed and you miss your connection. I assume if you are flying LH all the way they will simply put you on the next flight and will probably get meal vouchers etc. but not sure ? Does booking though ORBITZ limit your rights or privileges in any way? For example, if ORBITZ dictates that you need 90 minutes to make the connection, even if LH say it is not required, and for some reason you do not make that connection due to late arrival of LH flight, can LH refuse to accommodate you because ORBITZ had warned you?

Regards Ger

As far as security within FRA goes - the TSA agents are sticklers for rules! The 'no liquid' ban went into effect right before I travelled with my then 10 week old daughter back to the states. I had to drink one of her 3 ounce bottles of formula to prove that it was formula so I could go on the plane with it...YECK!