Hello,

I have never traveled from U.S. to Europe on Lufthansa or United. Do you recommend these airlines as positive experience? They seem to have the most flexible times coming out of Italy getting back to the states. Also is an hour enough time at Munich to switch planes if you have never been there before? Thanks

We have travelled on United/Lufthansa to Europe 3 times and have always found it to be a good airline to fly on. An hour is a bit tight, particularly if your other plane is a bit late, or you need to change terminals but it is not impossible. We were just in the Munich terminal last weekend, flying Lufthansa, making a 1.5 hour connection and had to change terminals. We made it with time to use the facilities and get some food for the kids.

I also wanted to mention that 2 years ago we flew them to and from Italy. On our way home, our flight out of Florence left very late due to some weather conditions so we missed our connecting flight back to the states. We found the Lufthansa agents to be very nice and helpful and put us up in a nice business hotel for the night including food coupons, etc. There were several other people who missed the flight as well and we were all pleased with how they handled it.

If you are travelling on one ticket then go with the one hour stopover - if your plane is late they will rebook you on the next flight.

I far prefer a connect at Munich as opposed to Frankfurt

Check-out http://www.seatguru.com/ to compare the seats

I have used United/Lufthansa the last two times I've flown to Italy, including a trip one year ago. I would recommend the airline and had a positive experience but allowing only one hour for a connection might be a little tight; I had to run frantically to make my connection last year because we were a little late leaving Rome. The previous time we were also delayed due to weather and everyone missed their connecting flights. As jgg mentioned, the agents were all very helpful in rebooking everyone.

I had a similiar situation to jgg, only a completely different outcome. Because of weather delays, connections were missed, understandable, but Lufthansa had so few people available to handle the customers, that people were missing flights left and right, because of the long lines not the weather. Also we were given a nights hotel(we had to really fight for it), but there were others who were not. If you fly them, I would recommend a long transfer time and not expect great service.

We used United/Lufthansana in Sep coming back from Venice. Echo to the other good comments. No problems. Only thing I found is that when you leave your oiginal debarkation point, and assuming it's the Lufthansa leg, don't assume their boarding passes are what you use in changing planes in Munich. We actually had to trade in our boarding passes at the gate and get "United" boarding passes. Good news for us was the upgrade to economy plus.

I flew United/Lufthansa twice to Italy in 2006, once through Munich and once through Frankfurt. On the way over, it was United-operated flights for the US to Europe leg, and then Lufthansa-operated flights to Rome. On the way back, Lufthansa-operated flights the whole way.

I'm a huge United FF junkie, so it was worth it to me to get the miles. And I've always thought United was a decent airline with good FF bennies. That said, the Lufthansa folks and flights were a cut above even United's generally good service. And boy, those German airports rock!

I had way more than an hour on all connecting flights.I think it might be tight in Munich with an hour. In Frankfurt, it would be impossible (they literally have airport staff riding bicycles there to get most expeditiously from one part of the airport to another!). In Munich we had a very long line to go through security (and yes, we had to go through it even though it was a connecting flight because we had to switch terminals, I guess). And those German security guards are WAY into the body searches, by the way (as I mentioned to my travel partner, it had been years since I'd had sex that early in the morning!).But I digress...I think an hour will be very tight. Have you talked to United about this/looked into other flights?