Travel question - connection times

What does a "guaranteed connection time" mean? For example, I have a connection in Frankfurt that gives me 45 minutes. 45 minutes is their guaranteed minimum. What does the guarantee do for me?

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

The only guarantees in air travel are inconvenience and irritation.

 

Pretty sure it means that if you book a connection with less than 45 minutes to spare and you miss it because your first flight is delayed, they're not on the hook to help you out.

If you leave 45 minutes or more and you miss the connection because your first flight is delayed, they're required to rebook you.

It's basically the line between which missing your connection would be your fault and theirs.

 

Deskslave is correct.

Are you connecting from an international flight? If so, 45 minutes is awfully tight to go through customs/immigration, etc. and get around a giant airport like Frankfurt's.

 

Agreed on that. I missed a connection in Amsterdam a few years ago -- opposite ends of the airport with customs in between. There was no way in hell I was making that without at least an hour between flights.

On the bright side, all I had to do was scan my passport through a little machine that apologized, informed me I had already been booked on the next flight, and gave me coupons for food. If every airport experience was like Schiphol in Amsterdam traveling would be a lot more pleasant.

 

Depending on how busy the Frankfurt airport is, it can be done. I went through there at an off-time, so I didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes or so to go through customs. I made it to my gate in about 20 minutes...just in time to have my connecting flight delayed 3 times, change gates twice, and get on and off a plane once.

But I wouldn't count on getting through that fast again...this happened 4 years ago.

 

Thanks to everyone here. But yes, it's international - I have a flight from Canada to Frankfurt, and then I have 45 minutes to get on a flight to the Middle East. This doesn't sound ideal.

 

Just to be clear: if my first flight is delayed and I miss my second because of it, they have to put me on another flight to my destination for free?

 

If you're flying through Houston, you'd better leave yourself two hours.