Connection time advice

[CILCIANRQTS]

20 hours ago, oskidunker said:

Bilbao Spain to Frankfurt on Lufthansa. Frankfurt to San Francisco on United. Oct 20, 2023. Thursday. Have one hour connection. Prepared for the worst. Do you think we will make it? I know they are both in the same terminal. All checked luggage. 

Since you’re soliciting guesses, I’d say no way in the world.

They publish 45 minutes, but they’re not the ones running for the plane!!

[FlyerTalker]

I would agree.

 

That "same terminal" is a bit deceptive for wherever you are reading that.  FRA is large and sprawling.

 

In addition, how are you in any way knowing flights for October of NEXT year?  Schedules have not been released, so anything would be nothing more than huge supposition at this point.

[CurlerRob]

4 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

I would agree.

 

That "same terminal" is a bit deceptive for wherever you are reading that.  FRA is large and sprawling.

 

In addition, how are you in any way knowing flights for October of NEXT year?  Schedules have not been released, so anything would be nothing more than huge supposition at this point.

 

I suspect the OP had looked at an FRA terminal map, and noticed that United and Lufthansa check-ins are both in T1 - Lufthansa in Hall A, United in Hall B. That, of course, does not provide any insight into the  arrival / departure gates for the actual flights.

 

I too would take the "nope" side on this bet. 🍺🥌

[gowilk]

On 8/26/2022 at 4:09 PM, oskidunker said:

Bilbao Spain to Frankfurt on Lufthansa. Frankfurt to San Francisco on United. Oct 20, 2023. Thursday. Have one hour connection. Prepared for the worst. Do you think we will make it? I know they are both in the same terminal. All checked luggage. 

we just connected thru frankfurt international to international and even though our gates were 100 feet apart we were forced to go back through security which takes at least 45 minutes from business

[donaldsc]

On 8/24/2022 at 12:30 PM, FlyerTalker said:

 

Only if you are arriving at an airport in the Schengen zone and your next flight is to another airport within the zone.

 

For example, these routings would NOT go through passport control:

 

JFK - London - Rome

JFK - London - Istanbul

JFK - Paris - Zagreb

 

And yet all those cities aside from New York are in "Europe".

 

Although it is not totally relevant, my granddaughter just returned from a trip to Dublin through Heathrow with 3 flights going and 2 coming home.  Every one of her flights was delayed.  You better have a good plan B and maybe also a plan C and D,

 

DON

[traveljkkk]

We are flying from Auckland to San Francisco for a plane change (same airline - United) to Washington DC.  They allow only 1 hour and 20 minutes to disembark, clear customs and reboard at another gate (another terminal?).  Is San Francisco an airport where you clear customs with your bags, redeposit your bags and go to your new gate without leaving the security zone?  Or, will we have to leave security zone and reenter through the normal TSA security lines for the next flight?  Basically - can we do it all in 1 hour 20 minutes in San Fran?

[FlyerTalker]

Every time you can touch your checked luggage in the USA, you will be required to go through a full security screening.  So since you retrieve your bags to go through customs at SFO, you will then have to be re-screened before you are allowed to go to your gate.

 

Folks ask why.  Here is a hypothetical.  You can check any number of knives in your checked bag.  You leave customs, but before you drop off your bag, you open then and can retrieve those knives.  Since you can access your luggage, you are not "sterile" and thus are not deemed safe for the concourse area.

 

So there is no such setup as you describe above.  Always security screening after customs.

[Twitchly]

Yesterday we flew from Bergen to Amsterdam to the US. Due to weather conditions in Amsterdam (fog?), our flight out of Bergen was delayed initially by an hour, then once we boarded it was delayed another 45 minutes. Our comfortable 3-hour layover in Amsterdam shrank to just over an hour. 
 

We made our connection just as it was boarding. Not bad with a sprained knee, but not fun either. (We only had carryons so no luggage issues, thankfully.) 
 

But if there’s a next time, we will try hard for a direct flight home. I’d rather take a train from Bergen to Oslo and fly from there if it meant we could avoid taking a connecting flight.

 

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Twitchly

[CurlerRob]

5 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Yesterday we flew from Bergen to Amsterdam to the US. Due to weather conditions in Amsterdam (fog?), our flight out of Bergen was delayed initially by an hour, then once we boarded it was delayed another 45 minutes. Our comfortable 3-hour layover in Amsterdam shrank to just over an hour. 
 

We made our connection just as it was boarding. Not bad with a sprained knee, but not fun either. (We only had carryons so no luggage issues, thankfully.) 
 

But if there’s a next time, we will try hard for a direct flight home. I’d rather take a train from Bergen to Oslo and fly from there if it meant we could avoid taking a connecting flight.

 

Glad you made the connection without too much additional knee pain!

 

I haven't done an exhaustive search, but the only direct flight from Bergen to North America I found was UA to Newark (and it seems to be seasonal). Normal connect points are AMS (as you experienced), KEF, FRA or LHR.

 

If you do go again at some point, and want to fly, you may wish to consider Icelandair - it routes through Keflavik to many NA destinations, is good value and will often wait for an inbound delay. Cheers! 🍺🥌

Edited September 30, 2022 by CurlerRob
Correction

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

If you do go again at some point, and want to fly, you may wish to consider Icelandair - it routes through Keflavik to many NA destinations, is good value and will often wait for an inbound delay.

And often not! They often have tight connection times through KEF—like an hour—because they’re used to being a throughway to Europe. We have used them several times because it’s generally an easy trek straight from Seattle to the Continent, except when it isn’t! We’ve given up flying economy during Covid—hard seat and no food (until recently). We will only do Saga Class with them now.

 

Our first poor experience with connection times was when we were booked from Seattle to Bergen with Viking Air+. Got a notice about a week before that our flight from KEF to Bergen (the day before the cruise) was now leaving an hour before our flight from Seattle was due in—no other direct flight to Bergen that day either. So Viking was able to get us on the next flight to Oslo, put us up overnight, then got us out on SAS the next morning to Bergen.

 

Second poor experience was at end of another cruise: Our flight out of Bergen was delayed for an hour (with no communication to pax and no explanation). With only an hour connection time at KEF, we didn’t know if we would make the flight and sweated it all the way. We landed with 10 minutes to spare, but then had to go through passport control (argh!!!) & had to ask the agent where our flight was leaving from. Then with 5 minutes left, we’re out to the transit hallway, where another agent directs my husband Dave and I in different directions, but Dave doesn’t see where I’ve been directed. I was whisked around the corner and into a small room with two “security” agents for a “random” pat down and check of my carry-ons! I was livid and screeched that I had seconds to make a flight and my husband didn’t know where I was. They were clueless about why I was mad—but thankfully they were quick. I raced out and saw Dave nearby and we raced to our gate and made it just as they finished boarding. They were not holding it for us. That was an awful experience and I’m still pissed off about it! 🤯😠😡😖