My wife and two daughters will be traveling from Chicago O'hare to Bangalore, India. I am using my United miles for the travel. We could not get a 1-stop route since we are kind of late for using miles and the travel is in the busy summer season. They will be flying into Ottawa, taking Air Canada to Frankfurt and Lufthansa to Bangalore. The questions I have are:
1) How easy or hard is to go from domestic terminal/gates in Ottawa airport to international? 2) I understand Air Canada will arrive in Concurse B in Frankfurt and Lufthansa is out of Concourse A (both in Terminal 1). How do you go from B to A? How easy or hard it is?
My wife being a paranoid she is, is worried and concerned about the changes of gates/concourses/terminals with two girls. I would like to hear from those who have done this in Ottawa and/or Frankfurt so I can prep her or assure/comfort her. Appreciate the help.
Hi there, Welcome to Slow Travel. I am sure that others will offer information and welcomes as well.
I personally find the Frankfurt airport one of the most confusing places on the planet, but that is just me. I go through there twice a year and I am always lost. I think the helpers have red jackets.
Here is a link with maps and other information that may help ease the worries.
I hope someone that is knowledgeable about Frankfurt can provide some information on going from concourse B to A with little or no difficulties for someone (my wife) that is not a seasoned traveler and is not the most "brave hearted"
I've traveled in and out of Frankfurt airport for about 5 years and I don't find it anything difficult. You literally just walk from Concourse A to B and follow the signs...which have a big A or B on them. There are moving sidewalks but I don't remember a tram or walking for miles or anything. Each concourse has a big info deks in the middle and they speak English as do the Lufthansa folks that check you in. She will be fine.
1) How easy or hard is to go from domestic terminal/gates in Ottawa airport to international?
Very easy. It is all in one building. The Ottawa airport is a smaller airport and quite easy to move aorund in. I'm curious though - if you are coming from the US won't you be in the international part of the terminal already?
Jerry
The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. ~G.K. Chesterton
I've traveled in and out of Frankfurt airport for about 5 years and I don't find it anything difficult. You literally just walk from Concourse A to B and follow the signs...which have a big A or B on them. There are moving sidewalks but I don't remember a tram or walking for miles or anything. Each concourse has a big info deks in the middle and they speak English as do the Lufthansa folks that check you in. She will be fine.
Ahsley97
This is one of the things I wanted to find, if you need to take a shuttle train from B Gates to A. If it is walkable, she should be fine. Thanks for your help.
1) How easy or hard is to go from domestic terminal/gates in Ottawa airport to international?
Very easy. It is all in one building. The Ottawa airport is a smaller airport and quite easy to move aorund in. I'm curious though - if you are coming from the US won't you be in the international part of the terminal already?
JDeQ
I haven't flown into Canada from the US (only driven). I assume if they are coming from US they will be in international. I was not sure as I believe when you fly from Canada to US you sometimes preclear immigration in Canada and arrive in domestic. If that's not the case I presume they will be arriving in international, so I assume they should go from arrival on lower level to departure on upper level if everything is one building?
Ottawa is a small airport but it is being renovated right now.
If your family isn't going until summer I will try to find out what the connection situation is in Ottawa the next time I'm there which should be within the next few weeks. I'll see if you can avoid officially entering Canada (and thus having to clear customs and immigration) when travelling through from the U.S. to Europe.
Thanks for your offer for help. I would certainly appreciate if you could find the customs/immigration siutation transiting Ottawa to Europe from the US. My family is traveling the first week of June, so there is still a lot of time.
I'm finally going to Ottawa on Thursday and will try to find out for you if your family has to clear Canadian customs even if they are in transit to Europe.
I personally find the Frankfurt airport one of the most confusing places on the planet, but that is just me. I go through there twice a year and I am always lost.
I have to agree. I've connected thru FRA several times and it's always terrible. It's a HUGE airport and the signage is very poor. I hope you have a long connection time, and I would advise you to hurry to find your connecting gate, then go to the toilet or get a snack once you get to your connecting gate. Wear comfortable shoes, as you'll be doing a lot of walking!
Good luck!
Posts: 57 | Location: NC | Registered: 19 September 2006
I just came back from Ottawa and the news isn't the best.
When your family arrives from the U.S. they will have to clear customs and pick up their luggage which appears to be one floor down from the arrival level. They will then veer to the left i.e. follow the signs for passengers who are transferring and give their luggage to the attendant who will put it on a conveyer belt to be transferred to the Lufthansa flight. I'm told the signs are there, but people often miss the Transfer signs and exit the secured area without giving their luggage back for transfer to their next flight, so tell your wife to look for the signs after customs and picking up their luggage.
Then she has to go back upstairs and reclear security to get back to the gates to leave on her Lufthansa flight.
On the good side, Ottawa is a small airport and there should be lots of people to help if she gets a bit confused. Everything is contained in one building. Also, I left today on a 3 pm flight. I got there at 1:50, checked in and got through security - all in about 10 minutes. there were 7 security checkpoints open and no line up. Your wife should be able to get all her boarding passes at the beginning of the trip and so won't need to do anything after passing her luggage to the person after customs except go back out and reclear security.
Usually the airlines are pretty good about delaying departure a few minutes if they know people are checked in and transferring. Hopefully there will be no problems.
The recommended time for a transfer in Ottawa is 1 hour according to the Air Canada staff there.
I hope this is helpful. If it sounds confusing, just let me know and I will try to clarify.
I personally find the Frankfurt airport one of the most confusing places on the planet, but that is just me. I go through there twice a year and I am always lost.
I have to agree. I've connected thru FRA several times and it's always terrible. It's a HUGE airport and the signage is very poor. I hope you have a long connection time, and I would advise you to hurry to find your connecting gate, then go to the toilet or get a snack once you get to your connecting gate. Wear comfortable shoes, as you'll be doing a lot of walking!
Good luck!
Thanks Catnip, there's lot of time for the connection (5 hours). Hopefully my family will find the connection without too much hassle.
Originally posted by Yayoye: I just came back from Ottawa and the news isn't the best.
When your family arrives from the U.S. they will have to clear customs and pick up their luggage which appears to be one floor down from the arrival level. They will then veer to the left i.e. follow the signs for passengers who are transferring and give their luggage to the attendant who will put it on a conveyer belt to be transferred to the Lufthansa flight. I'm told the signs are there, but people often miss the Transfer signs and exit the secured area without giving their luggage back for transfer to their next flight, so tell your wife to look for the signs after customs and picking up their luggage.
Then she has to go back upstairs and reclear security to get back to the gates to leave on her Lufthansa flight.
On the good side, Ottawa is a small airport and there should be lots of people to help if she gets a bit confused. Everything is contained in one building. Also, I left today on a 3 pm flight. I got there at 1:50, checked in and got through security - all in about 10 minutes. there were 7 security checkpoints open and no line up. Your wife should be able to get all her boarding passes at the beginning of the trip and so won't need to do anything after passing her luggage to the person after customs except go back out and reclear security.
Usually the airlines are pretty good about delaying departure a few minutes if they know people are checked in and transferring. Hopefully there will be no problems.
The recommended time for a transfer in Ottawa is 1 hour according to the Air Canada staff there.
I hope this is helpful. If it sounds confusing, just let me know and I will try to clarify.
Thank you so much Yayoe. While this is not a great news, at least we know what's coming. This is very helpful.
While on the topic, I am wondering what's the best way for my family to call US while they are at the airport. They have a US cell phone and can certainly use that but that is usually pretty expensive. I was hoping there is some kind of international calling card or prepaid cell phone that I can order online which will probably work out cheaper.
I believe she can buy a long distance calling card at the magazine shops in the airport. It used be possible to buy one for $5 but the cheapest one might be $10 now. There are a variety available. I'm not sure they are available on line.
I can buy them here in Toronto from various places and they have toll free numbers good to call to get connected anywhere in the U.S and Canada, so perhaps you can find one like that locally before your family leaves. They might even sell them at Target or WalMart.
Thanks again Yayoye. I was not sure if the long distance cards that you get in Target and Walmart would work calling Canada or from Canada to US. I will check that. Thank you.
Yayoye - As you rightly said they did have to go thru immigration and customs which meant they had to get 6 bags that weighted 291 pounds and recheck them. The airlines kept saying that they wouldn't have to do this - tells me airlines don't know a thing.
In Frankfurt they had no trouble at all. Air Canada arrived at Gate B46 and Lufthansa left out of B45, so they didn't have to change concourse. The only issue was they were not given boarding passes for Frankfurt to Bangalore in Chicago because of different airlines, instead had to check in at Frankfurt, but at least they didn't have to go thru customs, immigration, get their bags etc. Again the airlines told exactly the opposite of this -that they will have to do this at Frankfurt - so much for airlines customer service. I am never going to trust airlines again - they just give wrong information.
Hi, My wife also has to travel from ottawa to delhi via frankfurt. Can you please tell me whether your wife have go from level 1 arrivals to level 2 departure. Does she has to check in again. Can you ask her whether from which gate frankfurt to delhi flight goes. Any help is appreciated as she is firt timer and she is bit nervous.
You don't have to checkin bags again in Frankfurt. My wife did have to checkin at Frankfurt because she flew three different airlines (United from Chicago to Ottawa, Air Canada from Ottawa to Frankfurt and Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Banglore). The first two legs were United and united code share flights, so they could check her in but United couldn't check her in from Franikfurt, so had checkin at Frankfurt. But if your wife is flying thru one airline or a code share she will checked in right thru to her final destination.
As far as levels luckily both the gates happened to be right next to each other, so she did not have to change levels. It all depends on what airline you are flying and the cities you are traveling from and to. The replies in this thread have detailed maps to help your wife prepare in case she needs to go from one concourse to another in Frankfurt.
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