Rachellia

Hey O'Reilly, you raise some important points, and I will consider those before I call Lufthansa once in Europe. But yes, I am taking Lufthansa from Leipzig to Frankfurt, then from Frankfurt to Philly. Also, It's all one boarding pass and the luggage should be checked through (though I'm not really concerned about delays on luggage coming home).
Also, I will have NO liquids with me on the homebound trip, which should make things go a little faster.

That said, I will call Lufthansa and see if that's a reasonable time to make my connection, and find out the time requirements for being at the gate before the international flight out.

I'm not sure about Lufthansa not protecting me with delayed transfers/etc. because I booked on Orbitz, BUT Lufthansa told me that THEY take control of my ticket once in Europe which indicates that that shouldn't be a problem and that Orbitz is irrelevant at that point.


Also, I'm seeing searches online that show a Leipzig-Frankfurt flight on Lufthansa that leave at 9:45 AM, which is do-able. For some reason, Orbitz didn't tell me--maybe it's booked--but I'm going to ask about that flight.

xyz123

Frankfurt Airport for transfers; especially for flights to the United States is one big zoo.....you will need at least 90 minutes for the connection believe me I've been through it and I know.

Flights to the USA, thanks to the insistance of the current climate pushed by the current administration, require special clearances and all sorts of searches and at Frankfurt Airport, there is a special section all the way at the end of the terminal for flights to the USA, and then they want you on board 15 to 20 minutes before flight time. Ouch ouch ouch.

These things, unfortunately, do happen whether you book on orbitz or even on the airline site although personally I use the orbitz search engine and when I find the cheapest fare, I do the actual booking on the airline web site if the fare is the same (it usually is) and this is less likely to happen.

But the situation is doable.....go to the concert..go back to the hotel shower and whatever and then catch the early taxi...it is hardly a catastrophy you will catch your connecting flight and you will get home...you can nap in the transit lounge, have a bit of breakfast, shop or whatever. People have had much worse things put on them including complete cancellations of flights being forced to come back a day later, weather related problems. It comes with the turf in today's world.

Frankly, knowing what a zoo Frankfurt Airport can be, I'd rather have the extra time and be able to relax.

Dukey

I'm not sure being able to speak to another human being is part of the problem in this case since the OP already DID that.

I'm not sure what good calling the airline and inquiring about legal connections is going to do since Orbitz is the entity you have to convince to do something, not the airline.

As I recommended at the beginning...pull an all-nighter and chalk it up to 'travel adventure.'

djkbooks

When we connected in Frankfurt (with Lufthansa), we had only 1 hour/20 minutes because our flight arrived 25 minutes late. We were sent all the way to the end of the terminal for special USA security, which was the slowest and most thorough I've ever observed. Had they not held that plane, we would have missed it.

I was able to cancel a hotel reservation on Expedia once for a reasonable cancellation fee.

I agree with that it's only worth booking with a third party if the savings is really significant - and I always expect contingencies.

Christina

I think it's good to be aware of what flights there are and at what times before you talk to Orbitz, just to know what's out there. However, just because there is a flight doesn't mean you can get Orbitz to book you a seat on it, they may not have access to that seat or it may not be the same price you paid.

I used to use Travelocity just for flight bookings when I wanted two different carriers going and returning, or something like that. It worked fine until the last year or two when Travelocity no longer functions just as an online airline booking agent, so to speak, as I was using them. They now will only list and book specific flights they have agreements to sell, not all the flights available. I know this because I couldn't get certain flights to show up that I knew were available, and when I called customer service to ask what was wrong that these wouldn't show in a search, he or she told me Travelocity doesn't work that way any more, and will only give you certain flights. Well, fine for them, I just won't ever use them again.

I have only prepaid hotel rooms once when I got a considerable discount for doing that, and it was just a couple nights within my trip. But, people do that because they think they are saving money. I wouldn't ever do it if I weren't saving money, and wouldn't do it a lot, but it doesn't seem to bother some people.

I've actually never had a problem with booking online in terms of mistakes, etc., when I have -- but I don't like Orbitz and won't use them. They seem to have more errors than some others, but I might just remember them. Even an airline's own website could make an error on the online booking part, I imagine, but they would have more control over your booking.