Not true. When we were choosing flights, we had connections in large airports (Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago) that were 45 minutes amongst the choices.
Even domestically, we want 2 hours for connections.
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That’s a personal desire but it’s not necessary. As I noted, they won’t sell a ticket that is not scheduled to make it. Even cross terminal.
Your two hrs is a personal desire. But it’s not necessary unless the airline deems it. I fly regularly and I’ve had the 25 min connection and the 3 hour ones. I’ve made and missed.
Of course not all flights arrive on time and that’s why misses happen.
I don’t know about Intl flights but US airlines all show on time stats - % of flights within 15 mins of schedule etc. if one is on time 20%, then you have issues. 85% likely ok.
Yesterday I was watching a Youtube about a couple who were denied boarding a cruise ship from England to the US (and points beyond) because they didn’t have the NEW US required visa. I’d heard about some EU countries requiring a visitor’s visa but didn’t know that the US was now requirement them coming the other way. The Youtube host said that the visa requirement are changing every day. He’s going on a trip the right now, in 2023, doesn’t require the visa but when he actually travels in Jan one will be required.
Get 'em while they’re hot!
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Some airlines are rather aggressive with the connection times, so that the connection would be doable only in best case circumstances.
How much risk of a missed connection the traveler is willing to take depends on the cost of missing the connection, like when the next flight to the destination is, what the cost of delay getting to the destination is, etc… Booking a risky connection is less of a risk when at the connection airport there are many flights to the destination shortly afterward than if your flight to the destination is once per day.
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If you have never been to Europe, err on the side of more time. Heathrow, Frankfurt and Munich all have their pros and cons.
Heathrow is a hoof. You will land in terminal 2 and likely walk at least a mile to your connecting flight. And possibly take a tram to another terminal, depends on where you are headed. It’s not a difficult airport and the signage is great. Just a lot of walking. Immigration is usually efficient.
Frankfurt is a more manageable size but the immigration line is stressful. I have sweated it out here on a few occasions. Decent shopping and stuff to keep entertained if you have a longer layover
Munich is tiny in comparison and they are pretty efficient. I’ve had odd experiences with security—they are super strict and have their ways, but maybe I was unlucky. Less stuff to do or eat but fine. I spent 8 hours there once and managed to stay fed and awake.
In Europe, they don’t care about shoes in the security line, but they are waaay more strict about toiletries than we are in the US You won’t get away with a bottle of perfume or anything more than the 100ml limit.
All things considered, I’d chose Munich, for size and simplicity. But won’t pay a ton more for it. The others are fine and it’s all part of the adventure. I’m sure she will do well and have a blast
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My older daughter flew through Munich this summer and said the same thing about their security.
If you get delayed it’s much better to be in the EU—their consumer protection laws are much in your favor. We had a flight delayed until the next day with Aer Lingus in Dublin, and they took us all 20 of us into a room, gave us our boarding passes for the next morning, told us where the hotel courtesy phones were, and how to put in a claim for our expenses. Got a hotel 2 minutes away that had an airport shuttle, had a nice dinner there. Aer Lingus refunded our expenses within a month.
Same thing happened in Canada. Air Canada gave us no help, but did give us a runaround, and denied our expenses, claiming it was not their fault (wasn’t weather, it was that they did not have a flight crew available). Got paid by travel insurance. 3 months later, after pressure from the Canadian government, Air Canada was forced to do the right thing and pay us. Trip insurance payout had to be returned, of course.
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I disagree. One of our worst attempts at flights was with Turkish Airlines. They told me 45 minutes was plenty of time to make a connection in IST. This, based on a flight coming from Athens which was rated as +30 minutes late over 50% of the time.
I’ve had US airlines try to book connections with less than an hour buffer…and I don’t take those either.
Heathrow is known to be SLOW going. And they are horrendous sticklers on liquid carryons. As far as transfers to EU destinations, via LHR…not sure how that works these days.
I’ve always found Frankfurt to be quite manageable. But as a ‘if it can go wrong it will’ kind of traveler I leave at least 2 hours - preferably 3 as a buffer.
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Again that’s preference. I’m not denying your preference and yes flights do get missed - even some with three hour layovers.
But back to my point - if they sell it schedule wise , it’s possible.
Now some miss flights in places like Atlanta or Dallas because a terminal change is required and they don’t move fast. Of course some of those people take carts. I had a flight in Dallas 20 mins late and while I was there at the next b4 leaving, they had closed the door. Had I landed on time, no issues.
The comment wasn’t about tightness. Or a pot things that could go wrong - from delays to long customs lines to I needed to hit the restroom and had no time.
The comment was simply - if they sell you a ticket it is possible - and for anyone to say otherwise clearly doesn’t travel regularly.
Anyway, it’s not related to OP and choice of airport so there’s no point in continuing.
Even if it is possible, for a college junior traveling for the first time abroad alone, I would err on the side of caution.
I’ve booked trips with short layovers when the price difference was extreme, or if missing a flight wouldn’t be THAT big of a deal. (though it probably would be in any case for me). But, if the price is close, I would choose a longer layover. I like people watching in airports.
The October trip to Quebec City, we had 2 segments on the way up, 3 on the way back. Each layover was between 45 min - 1:15. I was so nervous the whole trip, I didn’t sleep the night before either way. We did make it, but we had to book it and every single flight was on time or even early. We got lucky. But the flights were already double what I thought they would be, and the only other options were about triple my planned cost.
But sending my kid abroad for the first time alone? Nope. Definitely err on the side of caution.
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I fly a lot and could venture opinions but I have found the folks at Flyertalk to be completely knowledgeable about many things (frequent flyer programs and meals served on flights and lounge quality) but always post there to find out about layovers. I recently asked if 1:45 was a safe layover time in Doha and got a number of very helpful answers (all say yes). But one said,
“DOH is a rather compact airport, it is only 850m from the Bear to the Orchard. With the moving walkways and the train, the furthest points are within 20 min. In contrast, the ends of Concourses B and C in DXB are separated by 1800m, and EK also operates from Concourse A.”
Those folks are just really, really knowledgeable and helpful, though they can be a bit snarky as they sort of assume that certain things are obvious. Anyway, I have flown enough on OneWorld that I am Emerald for Life and am usually top tier elite on at least one other airline and I find the FlyerTalk folks incredibly knowledgeable.
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IST is huge and can have a lot of walking.
I like to allow 2-3 hours. It’s enough time to take care of security and all that stuff, plus enough time to find your next gate, use the restroom and get a bite to eat. I’ve been to Munich but I’ve never been in the airport so can’t offer advice there.
I’ve connected in Frankfurt and it went pretty well, but the airport was so crowded and we had to walk quite a way to our next gate…
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is there any way she can take a direct flight?
→ even drive further in US to a larger airport? -
avoid Heathrow.
→ changing terminals takes long
→ with Brexit, passport control (immigration) takes longer. -
if her ultimate destination is a Schengen country, connect Schengen.
-
pay extra for a seat towards the front of the plane.
→ this could save 20 minutes …
Every airport is different. We just connected in Zurich with an hour (slightly stressful), but had 20 minutes to spare.
imho…
ZRH > MUC > FRA > LHR
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A Hamburg-based friend advised me to try to go through Munich instead of Frankfurt when possible. She said it’s much less crowded and easier to navigate.
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Agreed. She is flying home with her bf, so I’m not as concerned for the way back because she won’t be alone.
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Schiphol (AMS) is the best European airport, imo, but I agree with the rest of your rankings.
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@CollegeNerd67 Another piece of advice - I’d recommend flying a European airline over an American one (if you are wavering between the two). Also, if the flight you are looking at is a codeshare flight (for example, a Delta flight operated by Airfrance) just book with the European airline.
We did D20’s flight that way and she had a very seamless, trouble free experience. Other students in her program had issues with their codeshare flights that they’d booked with the US airline.
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No need for passport control when connecting to a destination outside the UK, just a security check. However, the system strictly enforces the cutoff time, and won’t let you enter security unless you get through the boarding pass scan more than 35 minutes before the scheduled departure time of your connecting flight. That scan is after the bus connection between terminals, so assume a minimum of 30-45 minutes after your incoming plane arrives at the gate, especially if you are down the back in economy. It is therefore very unwise to have a connection time at LHR of less than 2 hours with a terminal change or less than 90 mins within the same terminal.
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good point. I haven’t connected through LHR since Brexit, but I was in Norway recently and the Brits were complaining they are stuck in the “everyone else” line and it takes longer to clear immigration (passport control) than it used to.
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