SFO to FRA to Venice

Frankfurt is Lufthansa's hub airport so their terminal will be big. I recommend checking the airport map [http://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/Lufthansa-at-Frankfurt-airport] and a then asking the flight attendant on your flight (or the agent that meets the flight) what gate you need to go to meet your connecting flight. 1 hour and 25 minutes is usually enough time to make your connection, however flight delays do happen so if your connection is missed or you think you will miss it, find the airline representative and they will assist you in getting to the next flight they will have booked you onto. Happy Travels!

I have traveled through FRA from SFO a couple of times and can say you will have to hustle to the next gate. It is far away. There is a tram that will take you part of the way after passport check. I take the 3 hr layover to be on safe side. FRA is huge and crowded but I found the airport to have good signage and Lufthansa has people (in yellow blazers) to direct you wherever you need to go.
Just a few suggestions: Go to restroom on the plane before you land, after you get off the plane, don't dawdle, go directly to passport check and on to your next gate. Bring some snack food with you as I found the gate area to be devoid of it. Good Luck!

Thank you Rebecca and Sara. We are traveling on an Airbus 380-800. Our seats are almost at the back which may make things even more delayed. Do planes have rear doors on that large of a plane? I am hoping to change seats at check in since they do most of their seat assignments at that time.

I can't remember how we exited. Sorry.
Changing your seats sounds like a good idea. Depending on your departure date, you might still be able to change your seats now instead of waiting to do so at the gate. Look up your plane on SeatGuru.com for the seating plan.

Lufthansa didn't allow seat selection online. I had to call and had hardly any choice. I was told that if I check in 24 hours ahead of the flight, most of the seats are released at that time. I have never run into that in the past but this was the 3rd time I called about this. The first two times I tried to get a seat assignment I had difficulty understanding due to heavy accents. This was a new one for me. I have never NOTt been able to select seats before.

Claire, maybe this is a Lufthansa thing? Flying using United miles SFO-CDG we got assigned seats, returning FRA-SFO the reservation said seats would be assigned at the gate. Called Lufthansa and got seats about 8 months before flight date. (But we won't absolutely know for sure until we get on the plane in January. )

You are right. I have never encountered that.

Lufthansa changed their seat policy this year. You used to be able to select your seat anytime, but as of mid-April you now pay $35 per seat to select long-haul seats in advance, and $15 for short-haul. If you bought your tickets before, I believe, April 14, for a later flight, and had selected seats before then, your selection was still good.
They will still allow you to choose your seat for free when check-in begins 23 hours before your flight. If booked through United but on Lufthansa metal, then that may explain an United assigned seat, which you would be able to change when you check in.

This is no different than the policy BA has had for some time. A disappointment to us, as we flew Lufthansa this past summer, having purchased in January, and will be flying PHL-FRA again this April, needing to make a connection in FRA to London, and we could be stuck back. Yes, FRA is big, but since your transfer is Lufthansa-Lufthansa, this will all be in T1, and your walk between gates should not be too bad.

THanks Larry. My flight originates in Sacramento to SFO to FRA to Venice. If I check in 24 hours before the Sacramento flight, would I be able to change my seats on all the flights? They are all on the same ticket United/Lufthansa. Again, my concern is being able to get off the plane and connect in time for the next flight.

Have you checked the FRA arrival and departure boards to see which gate your flights usually arrive and depart from? This might be helpful. Using Flight Tracker will also give you this information. If both flights are using the same gate, or neighboring gate, this will make it easier for you.

http://www.frankfurt-airport.com/content/frankfurt_airport/en.html

Thanks Ms. Jo. I will check that out. Right now it looks like all is in Terminal 1 and 1B. I will look at a map.

Lufthansa always uses Terminal 1.

Using Google, type in your flight and number, for example: LH 432. This will pull up several Flight tracker websites, and you can use those to see how often your flight was on time and which gate it landed at in terminal 1. The gates can always change of course, but some flights seem to use the the same general gate, like A-1 or B-2.

Claire: Who is your ticket - not the metal - from - United or Lufthansa?
If it's bought on Lufthansa, then on their site it will say you may check in 23 hours prior and select seats. If you bought the Lufthansa flight from United and under a United number, then you need to see what United is allowing. But since the long-haul is a Lufthansa plane, I can't see how United could let you have a choice of seats that Lufthansa's customers have to pay $35 for or wait until 23 hours before-hand.

It is also possible that at the initial check-in you will only be able to select your seat on the Sacramento to SFO flight, and that the seats on the flight to Frankfurt might not be selectable until 23 hours before that flight.

Larry, the tickets I bought are from United.The printout says it's a UA flight but operated by Lufthansa. And for that leg (SFO to FRA to VCE), I couldn't get a seating assignment until check-in but I did get seats on the United part (SMF to SFO) and on my return. I bought the tickets mid March. A friend also flew Lufthansa last month and she said she called Lufthansa and was able to get seats that way so that is what I did. Very little choice was available since the agent told me that most of the seats would be released at check in. These seats are in the next to last row so unless there is a back door on the plane, we're in trouble for meeting our flight. And they didn't charge me for choosing seats.

Clare, I had a 1 hour and 20 minute layover last month at FRA on Lufthansa flights and I made the connection with time to spare. It was a lot of walking and I moved fast, but it was enough time. I had checked my bag, so I didn't have to deal with dragging a wheelie bag through the airport ... I just had a small daypack.

Claire: My take on this. In 2011, we flew a Star Alliance hook-up from Philly to Budapest, via Boston and Zurich, returning Krakow->Munich-> Dulles-> PHL. The first leg out was on US Air, and that is what we were booked under., even though we were then to switch to Swiss Air in Boston, and I don't recall who to get to Budapest. This was bought via Expedia, they put this together on a search. Didn't know enough then. Coming back, we were on an Augsburg flight from Krakow, then a Lufthansa plane, and finally United from IAD. I was able to arrange seats well in advance by getting sufficient information that I could then enter each airline's booking site and access, although if I recall, I had to call Lufthansa to do this. But here's the thing, and what you are running afoul of. Back then, you could request seats in advance on all of these, no charge. And United still lets you pick seats, no charge. But you can't do that on Lufthansa. So, yes, seats were reserved for you, but they were at the back of the plane. I am certain if you get the code for your Lufthansa flight you could pay 435 per seat to select now. Or, wait until online check in opens and select a better seat then.

I doubt there is a second exit being used for deplaning. I've not flown a389, but we were on a 747 a year ago, similar capacity and seating arrangement. As best as I can recall, there was only one door, and I doubt that the 380 is different. You could call Lufthansa and get a definitive answer. But unless it is unloading on the tarmac to a bus and is opening an emergency exit, it seems unlikely that two jetways could be in use.

If your flight out of SFO gets out without much delay you should be fine. From our experience so far, there is extra time figured in to the scheduled ETAs. And FRA really is not that much of a problem if you are staying in Lufthansa's terminal. We just did this in reverse, and I had some concerns. We arrived from Copenhagen timely. From the moment we walked out the door to the time we arrived at our outgoing fate was about 14 minutes. That included walking casually, stopping to ask directions, and then clearing through the passport/exgtra security check as we went up from the arrival level to the departure level.

We were so happy with this that for our upcoming trip this spring going to London and returning from Amsterdam that we booked a full Lufthansa ticket both through Frankfurt, even though both these locations have non-stop flights to/from here via BA/American/USAir. And saved almost $300 per ticket doing so.

Thanks to all of you. This is reassuring. I checked for the timeliness of previous flights and it actually seems like they get in early if they leave on time. If they are late, they will get us on another flight. I already checked that out and there are more flights that day. I'm just trying to think ahead since we are meeting the owner of our pensione at a vaporetto stop in Venice but we have PHONES so even that is not a problem. I just like to take care of whatever I can before leaving and then I never worry once I get there. A month in Italy/Sicily--should be great.

Again, thanks for clearing up these new airline regulations and practices.

This question was asked before, I followed these instructions to get my seat assignment on Lufthansa.

Posted by Michael Schneider
New Paltz, NY
03/18/13 01:43 AM
7059 posts

If the partner airline happens to be Lufthansa then you can select your seat after you've purchased your tickets. When you pull up your reservation on the United web site you'll see an option that will display the partner airline's confirmation code. You can use that code at the Lufthansa site to select your seats immediately after your United ticket purchase. I've done it twice, no problem; was even able to select bulkhead seats no extra charge.

Lufthansa changed their policy a few months ago, so now it depends on the type of ticket you have as to whether you can book a seat in advance through their website. It depends on what fare class you have:
http://www.lufthansa.com/online/portal/lh/de/info_and_services/partner?nodeid=1167843163&l=en

Interesting. I'm glad I already reserved our seats!

Again, thanks to everyone who took the time to reply with help.