Anyone flown Lufthansa Frankfurt to Orlando

[paulm]

hello all,

I live in Midlands and for March 2010 wanted to fly from Birmingham to Orlando rather than face a long trek down to Gatwick.
Usually with Virgin I have to get up very early for a flightlink coach to Gatwick or book hotel/parking overnight which incurs additional cost.
For a similar lowish cost (as I booked whilst on offer)I have booked with Lufthansa Birmingham to Frankfurt to Orlando as overall home to Orlando time was similar length.
I can now get up 3 hours later for a short drive to Birmingham, then drop off the cases and not see them again until Orlando (hopefully)
I get similar legroom, meals/drinks, baggage allowance, entertainment as Virgin.

Has anyone else flown Frankfurt to Orlando with Lufthansa recently, If so what did you think ?

Paul

[Sniff]

I'm based in Munich, so I fly LH a lot.

I tried the MUC-FRA-MCO route in Feb 2008. I missed the FRA-MCO flight due to delays on the MUC-FRA leg, thanks to LH, and they sent me to JFK instead where I had to stay overnight at their expense and fly JFK-MCO the next day. Not great, especially as I had tickets to Daytona and almost missed the start of the race.

However I'd say that was a one-off, and they did at least try hard to get me to USA. I generally fly MUC-CLT (Charlotte) and then CLT-MCO. The flights are generally on time, aircraft are clean and well maintained, food is OK, seat pitch and legroom OK. Flights are busy though.

Frankfurt is a pretty busy airport, especially early in the mornings. I'm not sure how long of a connect time you've got but I'd hope a couple of hours at absolute minimum.

I would have recommended you fly from Birmingham to somewhere else in USA, and then connect internally to Orlando. That way you clear US Immigration in a (hopefully) quieter location and your trip to Orlando is then purely domestic. That's exactly why I go via Charlotte. But I am sure you won't have any issues going via Frankfurt.

Edit: One thing to check is baggage allowance. Transatlantic on LH is 2 pieces, but I am sure last time I flew to UK the European allowance was only 1 piece.

[paulm]

Hi Sniff

Thanks for the info

I have 1 hour 50 minutes between landing at Frankfurt and take off for Orlando, should be enough as the bags will have been checked through to Orlando.
As I have booked Lufthansa Birmingham to Orlando I have the 2 bag each allowance for the European flights as well as the transatlantic flights. ( I rang Lufthansa before booking to confirm this)
Tried this route as the American airlines seem to be cutting back on their services.
I am used to the busy immigration at Orlando Airport as have been many times before.
It's Miami Airport that you MUST avoid for diabolical Immigration.

Paul

[Sniff]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by paulm
Hi Sniff

Thanks for the info

I have 1 hour 50 minutes between landing at Frankfurt and take off for Orlando, should be enough as the bags will have been checked through to Orlando.
As I have booked Lufthansa Birmingham to Orlando I have the 2 bag each allowance for the European flights as well as the transatlantic flights. ( I rang Lufthansa before booking to confirm this)
Tried this route as the American airlines seem to be cutting back on their services.
I am used to the busy immigration at Orlando Airport as have been many times before.
It's Miami Airport that you MUST avoid for diabolical Immigration.

Paul


[/quote]
I think 1:50 should be enough, and that's good news on the baggage allowance. Ask them if they will issue your boarding card for the FRA-MCO leg while you are checking in at Birmingham, to save a bit more time. I am not sure if they do this, but it's worth asking.

Enjoy your trip!

[LongLeaf]

Paul,

I do not want to make you sick ... but a few years ago we got from Brussels to Frankfurt and had 2 hours for the change...

In Brussels we took off with 1 hour delay, and in Frankfurt, we had to wait 1 hour for landing (very buzy)... so guess what ... we missed the "big plane to Orlando"...

We had to stay 1 night in Frankfurt (beuaarkkk!)... and were put on another route (Frankfurt to Miami... then to Orlando)

While our luggages were following the original trip... so we got them in Orlando after 4 days later... and as they arrived "alone" they where all broken open by the customs (with iron mine bars !!!)...

Last point as we got in Orlando 1 day later (at night), the villa keys where removed from our rental villa lock box and we had to wait one day more to get in.

This has been our badest trip to Orlando (a real nighmare !)

From then we do not accept any " European internal flight " and prefer a small jump to Orlando in the US (not in Europe)!

Sorry, but this is our story... hope it will be better for you !

[Sniff]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by LongLeaf
From then we do not accept any " European internal flight " and prefer a small jump to Orlando in the US (not in Europe)!

Sorry, but this is our story... hope it will be better for you !
[/quote]
Well to be fair, the last time I did a "small jump in the USA" via Philly, I ended up having to spend the night in Philly, then got routed to Pittsburgh, and finally ended up in Orlando 2 days late

All airlines and routes have their issues, but LH are not a bad airline in my opinion.

[LongLeaf]

Sniff,

No doubt, our problems had nothing to do with Lufthansa...(who must be great)
(anyway with all their "alliances" you book company "A" and service is done by company "B")

Our experience is that small internal flights in Europe have less priority,
so the risk to be delayed are I think more important... so you miss the "big bird".

Up to now our "main" plane to US never took off late (14 trips) and I agree, you can have some
troubles in the US for the "last miles" but then, there, you often have a plane each hour...
so possibilities to have a "push" and be helped out are greater.