I just had an email giving rescheduled timings for my flight to San Diego in March, London via Houston on Continental. The new timings gave me 1 hr 20 mins transit (with checked luggage and a UK passport)

Gulp - running shoes on.

I contacted Continental who assured me that was plenty of time. Of course: all planes leave LHR on time, all planes get their landing spot without circling, immigration queues are short and uncomplicated, baggage rushes itself onto the belt in time for a speedy check by customs, before re-checking for the domestic flight from a different terminal. Oh, and another batch of security before that plane.

Have now spoken to a much more helpful agent who has put me on a later flight - things can still go wrong, but I didn't want to be anxiously checking my watch over the Atlantic and then running off the plane!

I don't blame you for getting a later flight, even though I think the international arrivals in Houston is one our our better ones.

Life is too short to run through airports!

I have exactly the same worry with a Milan connection on the way to Sicily only this time only FIFTY minutes between flights (both Lufthansa).

Does anyone have experience of Milan airport and know if this is going to be a big problem?

I worry about our bags not making it (we are a three hour drive from the airport on Sicily) but I reckon if they schedule the flights like that, they must be confident that they can fulfil.....or NOT??

Felicity,

Which Milan airport? Are you flying from the U.K. on a U.K. passport? Don't EU passport lines just call for a quick flash of your passport?

Felicity--first, I would check on what gates they are using for arrival and departure. Since it is the same airline they may be close together. Then try to find a map of the airport to plot your route to the boarding gate.

My recollection of connecting at MXP to Sicily(Palermo) and transfering from Delta to Alitalia is running down a long moving sidewalk to an intersection in the airport with no directions, upstairs to a large room with many ticket windows. I found the correct window and got a boarding pass, through more doors onto a balcony over looking several gates with a big scrum at each one and chaotic boarding. but we made it. Someone else may have had a better experience.

Andrew - Thank you. Milan Malpensa. Didn't know there were others. Yes, have EU passport (Irish - they like us in Italy so that may help although also have British husband tagging along....)

Jhd. Good point on gates but you only get to know that just before, don't you, so perhaps I will print out map before I travel with gates marked (hoping one exists like that...)

If my airport is MXP (I should really know my acronyms shouldn't I) the no directions bit doesn't fill me with confidence but at least it is the devil I now know. Thanks!

MXP is Milan/Malpensa; the other airport that serves Milan is Linate/LIN. I have never been to Linate but others on this forum have.

Usually airlines know which gates they use most of the time so you might call them and ask. A foreign carrier, Lufthansa, coming into MXP or LIN may have only 1 or 2 assigned gates.

If you are flying into Palermo there is a separate room for foreigners to pick up luggage adjacent to the luggage carousel. I recall that several of us were watching for our bags until someone told us that they were arriving in the next room.

Sometimes, when I get what I think is an unrealistic connection time, I make several calls until I get a sympathetic agent.

Have a great trip

Panda, why are you needing to recheck your luggage? You should be able to check it all the way through. In Houston you would pick up the luggage, go through customs and then after you go through the custom doors there should be a conveyor belt to put the luggage on which will then mysteriously get it to your next plane.

Several years ago, we were checked through from CDG in Paris through Heathrow to San Francisco, with a 90 minute "window" at Heathrow. We asked the booking agency about this, and were reassured.

After missing our flight to San Francisco (there turned out to be almost no chance at all that we could have made our connection, and delays in our flight from CDG to Heathrow made things worse), we were extremely fortunate to have the counter people at our airline rebook us on a flight to LA, the last flight to the states, at no cost, and then find someone who helped us avoid checkpoints; we barely made the flight.

So you can guess how we feel about connecting flights, unless the layover is much longer than the minimum.

With no sleep in way too many hours, we screwed up at LAX and missed the first flight to SFO or OAK, but did manage to get home that incredibly long day.

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A foreign carrier, Lufthansa, coming into MXP or LIN may have only 1 or 2 assigned gates.

This would be Lufthansa Italia, which has a hub at Malpensa, although their total fleet is nine aircraft. I don't know Malpensa that well, but if this is a flight from London, I believe it would arrive at the non-Schengen concourse (and it might be a code-share operated by BMI), so it would call for going to a different concourse for the domestic flight. As said before, it would call for quick passport control; I'm not sure if one can stay airside and not have an additional security check. Anyway, presumably it's a legal connecting time, but it doesn't allow for much of a delay on the first flight. A question would be whether there's a later flight to the destination in Sicily in case of a missed connection.

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If you are flying into Palermo there is a separate room for foreigners to pick up luggage adjacent to the luggage carousel.

May I guess that rather than foreign citizenship, what matters is whether the bags were checked from outside the EU and are subject to customs inspection? If the bags were checked from the U.K., that is intra-EU so they aren't subject to customs, even if the passengers needed to clear passport control at MXP because they came from outside Schengen.

Thanks all for your comments. I had assumed that since I was flying Lufthansa all the way (no code share) I would have no contact with my checked in baggage until I was reunited with it at Sicily (yes, flying Heathrow-Milan-Sicily) and it would only be us trying to find where to go to get the next plane and perhaps having to break into a run and a mild panic if no directions? Jane, I also thought this about Panda as if she is flying Continental all the way, surely they look after the luggage problem on their own, so to speak.

It is so long since I have experienced a transfer, with increased security, everything may have changed? I thought I would come off one plane and get on another with no checks, apart from boarding card and passport getting on next plane and stay 'airside' all the way. My priciple worry was that our bags would not make it in time for unloading and loading. I think I will ring Lufthansa for reassurance!

Within Europe or going to Europe, if your baggage is checked through, you don't need to claim it until it gets to your final destination, so that's what you have, Felicity. If going to the U.S., you need to claim your baggage at your first arrival point in the U.S. and take it through customs, then put it on a belt for the next flight; it should already be tagged for the final destination. That's what Panda has, and it's a question of semantics whether needing to do this is "rechecking"; the wait at baggage claim can be unnerving in a tight connection.

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Panda, why are you needing to recheck your luggage?

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That's what Panda has, and it's a question of semantics whether needing to do this is "rechecking"; the wait at baggage claim can be unnerving in a tight connection.

As you said, Andrew.

What I didn't mention in my original post was that I emailed customer services in Houston Airport to ask about the timing before I recontacted Continental. They responded very quickly and thoroughly - said they normally suggest at least 90 mins when booking a flight, preferably two hours or over if possible (they diplomatically said that if Contintental had given this time, it was up to them to deal with it as they made the change, but that I should double check with Continental what other plans they had if I didn't make the timing!). Customer Services used the phrase 're-check your baggage' - it is not the same as having to line up again, but it's at least half the botheration, waiting for the luggage to appear and grab it!