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Boarding pass confusion at Frankfurt airport

Living as I do in Australia, I am travelling in the opposite direction from most people who use this forum, but Frankfurt is a common connection airport for many of us.
So here's a cautionary tale about trusting connection information given by a crew member when it conflicts with a pre-existing boarding pass.

My LH TLS-FRA flight was delayed by fog. Cabin crew were advising connecting passengers which gate to go to. I showed my boarding pass issued by LH at TLS for the SQ
FRA-SIN 22.05 flight and was told "Your gate has been changed: it's now Z62." So, once the bus reached the terminal, I sped off to gate Z62, only to be told that was the gate for the LH FRA-SIN 21.05 flight. The gate for my SQ flight remained unchanged as B28, as printed on the boardig pass. Because it had been issued by LH it had their distinctive yellow band across the top. I presume the cabin crew member was misled by that, and did not look at the details of the flight to which I was connecting.

Those of you who know Frankfurt airport will know that from gate Z62 to B28 is a very long way indeed and involved using the connecting train. You will not be surprised that I failed to make it in time, and had to spend the night at an airport hotel. Fortunately, SQ were able (when their check-in desk opened next morning) to re-book me on the 12.00 noon flight with a fairly good connection through to MEL, at no extra charge.

I certainly hadn't anticipated that both Singapore Air and Lufthansa would have flights from Frankfurt to Singapore leaving within 5 minutes of each other. But in future I shall question connection information given by a crew member if it conflicts with the boarding pass I am holding.

Posted by
125 posts

I had a very similar misdirection on a US airline years ago in either Dallas or Atlanta; I don't recall which. Since then, I ALWAYS check the Departures screen between connections regardless of what my boarding pass or airline personnel tell me, and have not had a repeat event. The screen has not misinformed me yet, but I do also watch for updates when there is lag time.

Posted by
432 posts

Actually I did glance at the screen as we entered the terminal from the bus, but I now realize it was showing only Lufthansa flights. I did think it odd that the departure time shown for Singapore was 5 minutes earlier than I expected, and it crossed my mind that it might have been a codeshare flight, with only the LH number showing on the screen. But I didn't stop to think further as I knew I was running late and must hurry.