Is this enough time/flight connection ??

Are they considered valid connections? In other words, if your first plane is late, do they assume responsibility for getting you there? Can you check baggage through (whether you intend to or not)?

If the answer is "no", then be suspicious although of all 13 of our European trips, I don't know of any that were noticeably late.

Need more info "as in are you trying to make a connecting flight within the EU or to the U.S". Checked bag (no way). Don't know anything about Air Dolomiti but Luftansa is bang on the money unless you're taking a flight via Heathrow in which case all bets are off. Frankfurt airport is huge but organized. If you are not checking baggage you're ok. Otherwise 2 hours is a better bet (making allowances for not on time departures etc.)

Whoops, should have included more info. I will be traveling home from Milan to Boston, USA via Frankfurt. At this point, I am not expecting to check bags - I hope to just bring the RS convertible bag and a small carry-on (perhaps the Civita bag).

Frankfurt airport guarantees a minimum connection time of 45mins if connecting within the same airline group (Air Dolomiti is a Lufthansa partner and even partially owned by them) and same terminal (all Star Alliance flights get into Terminal 1) thanks to German efficiency and our famous organization skills ;-)...

I've also booked a flight with El Al Israel into Frankfurt from Israel to Chicago on American Airlines with 1 hr. and 30 mins. connecting time and am now panicking with what I am reading.

Teralee: Yes, 1hr 30 minutes connection time would make a lot of people nervous. If your first plane is late, does the connecting airline assume responsibility and rebook you without extra charge--that is the key bottom line question, and you may want to ask the 2nd airline.

Would it be a problem for you if you arrived in Boston a day late? Would you miss something important? Personally, on a flight home I would risk the tight connection and take the cost savings ... but then I am always looking for an excuse to stay longer:).

I've missed connections a couple of times (although usually at Heathrow and always coming from the States). Each time I was put on the next flight and arrived at my destination within a couple of hours. I've also been on some delayed flights where they have held the connecting plane and airline agents have escorted us from the arriving plane to make sure that we made the flight.

Note that I am assuming that you are buying a single ticket. If you have concerns, I would call Lufthansa.

Andreus, Last June we flew into Rome on a Air One flight from Brindisi, Italy, a Luft partner. We had aloted 3 hrs for our transfer to a Luft flight to our final destination; Frankfurt, and we almost missed the flight. Our flight into Rome was a little late, but the Luft people in Rome just could not "get it together".

On our XMass trip this year, we tried again. We flew on a Luft partner from Lisbon into FRA, and gave them 1Hr:40. They screwed this up, and we almost missed our flight home.

Next time for our return flight I will make sure that I allow MORE than 3 hours!

I don't have much faith in Luft and their partners when it comes to inter EU "return" flights.

But.....we customarily make connections of less than 1 hour on our flights into FRA from the states. And we love flying on Lufthansa!

Thanks so far, but now I have more comments/questions. I was going to the buy the ticket from www.kayak.com (a consolidator). From Boston - Milan (connecting in Frankfurt) I would be flying United. From Milan - Boston (connecting in Frankfurt) I would fly Air Dolomiti to Frankfurt and them Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Boston.

Andreas, considering I'm probably buying on kayak.com, will this impact me if I DO miss the connection? Or, because they are Star Alliance partners, can I assume they will still honor the 45 minute rule at the Frankfurt airport?

Laura, it would not be awful if I got back to Boston late (I'm a teacher, so I will probably not be working summer school this summer anyway). But, then I would have to pay for an extra days' accommodations, so the $145.00 I would save on the cheaper ticket would somewhat be eaten away.

THANKS for all your help so far!

A problem can be: if you miss your connecting flight because the first flight was late, and the connecting flight is a different airline without a relationship or affiliation with the first airline, does the 2nd airline re-book you on a later flight at the same airfare, or are all bets off regarding airfare?

Thanks, Kent

gretchen,
kayak simply directs you to the websites of the entity offering the tickets. sometimes this is the airline webpage itself, and sometimes this is another website like cheaptickets.com etc. see to what website you will be directed to purchase this fare and read their policies on making connections/forwarding you onward if you miss a connection. this will tell you the info you need.

I recently flew Chicago-Munic-Venice with 45 minutes between flights in Munich.We were concerned but it went well.On the way home we also had 45 min.and when our flight was 3 minutes later they changed our flight as they said we could not have less then 45. It went well both times.I believe Frankfurt also has short times sop I wouldnt worry about it.