My husband and I are going to Spain in December. I just booked our flights on Lufthansa. For the flight home we will be going from Madrid to Frankfurt to Los Angeles and I just realized that our layover in Frankfurt is only 1 hour and 15 minutes. Since it's a through ticket and our luggage will be checked do you think that will be enough time? I assume we'll go through customs when we arrive at LAX, but will we also have to do anything time consuming in Frankfurt? From your experience, do you think 1 hour and 15 minutes will be pushing it too close? Thanks for your input.
Posted by
PA
2858 posts
As long as you are flying on Lufthansa flights you should be fine, their gates are in the same general area. We connected twice through Frankfurt on Lufthansa the last two years, nominal times were under two hours,and in actual time we had over an hour to kill each time. There is an extra level of security to enter the Z level for US flights, and that added about 2 minutes. We did note that if you are hungry you have a lot more choices to grab a snack before you go up to Z level, that concourse is pretty sparse. Also be prepared to be bused from gate to plane, that has happened to us now on 3 of our 6 flights landing/departing in Frankfurt.
Posted by
Portland
3643 posts
On several trips, we have had to change at FRA; and sometimes, the layover time has been very short. Most recently, we flew from Zagreb for our return to San Francisco, with a 1 hour 15 minute layover. My heart sank when we arrived at the Zagreb airport and saw the notice that our flight was 15 minutes late. We were down to 1 hour. However, we not only made our plane; but our luggage did, too. The same has been true every time we've flown through FRA.
Posted by
Seattle
544 posts
That's plenty of time, nothing to worry about.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4088 posts
Small tips:
Once you step out of the plane, check the departures monitor for your nest gate, in case there has been a change. Do not stop for anything, including food, and certainly not duty-free, until you are at the departure gate. There may well be additional security at that gate and many trans-Atlantic flights want you inside the plane a half hour early, or more.