Advice on flights

My gut says Munich. I have transferred there a few times and is very efficient. No recent experience with FRA. Either case, if you miss your flight, you will have to wait till the next day.

My instinct would also be for Munich. It's a smaller airport than Frankfurt although by no means is it a small one. And my experience is that it is more efficient at getting pax where they need to go. You should be able to stay airside the whole time, even if you have to change terminals. Frankfurt might need every minute you've got if you have to bus to the terminal, and then have a long walk to Passport control and security before another long trek to your next gate.

I would choose Munich; it is a much more efficient airport.

Thanks for the input. We are leaning more toward Munich as a layover but boy, connection times make me anxious! Appreciate the advice.

First off, if you are talking about October 2024 for your travel, the chances of the schedule you
see now being the schedule when 10/24 rolls around is right at 0%. So all the research and
forethought you are putting into this now will most likely be tossed into the wind no matter
what connection you book, as a revised schedule won't have any obvious correlation to the
previous one.

Having said that, the connection times you show are more than adequate for either airport.

Once you book, just check every so often to see if the flights have changed. You'll have the
option to change if the airline reschedules to something you don't want.

You don't give exact dates and I don't want to add to your stress, but Oktoberfest ends October 6th and it tends to put a lot of extra pressure on the airport. (My worst experience at an airport was in Munich, on Lufthansa during Oktoberfest. The circumstances were different than yours.since I was departing not transiting through. I have used the airport many trips and it is extra busy during Oktoberfest). I would go with the one that reduces your stress the most. I have transited through Frankfurt on Lufthansa several times and found it easy. It also appears you arrive at your destination earlier even with a longer layover. While I don't like long layovers, I'd rather sit in an airport than on a plane!

FYI: I just returned on Turkish air where I had a 1 1/2 hour layover in Istanbul. I knew it was tight and our arrival was 25 minutes late, It took forever to get to the gate and we had to bus to the terminal, but we made it. I knew it would be tight the whole trip, but chose not to think about it. Once you make your reservation, put it out of your mind. You will be fine.

Thanks for the addition advice. While I was creating this post I did realize how far away next October is and the fact that changes to these flights will likely occur. The dates that we are looking at are approximately 9/30 to 10/12 ish.
We are both dual citizens and hoping that may expedite things in Munich/Frankfurt in case flights are late.
I tend to overthink everything and appreciate the advice offered here. I’m a bit of an anxious flyer ( my daughter would say very). After we book our flight I will periodically check them and TRY to put it out of my mind. Whatever happens happens.
Again, advice is much appreciated!

Yep, agreed in general MUC will be easier than FRA, smaller airport so hopefully less busy. I've been through MUC & FRA numerous times in past few years, it seems on the Forum complaints about FRA are way up, for what it's worth. I'm flying through MUC mid December.

I would choose Flight 1 (Monday) has a 2:05 layover in Munich and arrives in Catania at 5:50 PM. By dual citizenship I assume you mean US / Italian? Assuming one of your passports is a Schengen country & it has a chip in it, you will use an automatic gantry to go through immigration, so yes that will probably be quicker.

According to a recent poster, if you're traveling carry on only, Lufthansa has an 8KG limit per bag or 80 Euros to check a bag in economy class, unless you have UA or LH privileges (Star Alliance privileges). Good luck!

One other small consideration, since you want to overthink everything :+),
is the frequency of flights MUC-Catania vs FRA-Catania. If there is some
delay on the inbound flight, then the airport with more flights gives you a
better chance of being able to be rebooked the same day.

As has been noted, Munich is definitely the more well laid-out airport from
a passenger perspective. One does not have to work that hard to get lost
in Frankfurt Airport.

Yes to being dual citizens of US/ Italy. We looked at other flights to Catania should we miss the connecting flight from both Munich and Frankfurt and other than flying to Catania via another city/layover (Stuttgart, Frankfurt, etc. and taking 4 hours) each had a non stop the next morning.

After reading all your posts Munich seems more attractive to us. Good advice to remember that a lot can happen in a year and while I want everything to go as planned my more rational side knows that I will have no control.