Customs in Frankfurt & Train from Frankfurt to Munich

Customs takes no time at all. Normally you collect your bags from the luggage carousel and walk through the "nothing to declare" door to the arrivals hall. However FIRST you have to go through Immigration (Passport Control). This is where a delay may occur, and the time it takes depends on many factors : time of day, number of Immigration officers manning the desks, number of international flights that have landed in the hour or so ahead of yours.

Pre purchase of train tickets on arrival day is a big gamble, since you never know how long Immigration might take, or if your flight might be delayed. For this reason, it might be better just to buy your train ticket after arrival, for the next train. A rail pass would make little sense for only one train trip.

If you are arriving after a trans-Atlantic flight, have you considered you are now setting yourself up with another 3 hour ride, plus the cushion of time you need to catch this train, all with a 4 month old baby? This does not sound fun at all.
Consider spending the night in Frankfurt, either in the city (11 min. away) or at an airport hotel? This allows you to book your train ticket now for the next morning, and you arrive in Munich a lot more rested than what you have planned. For an airport hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn would be my recommendation. There may be cheaper hotels, but they aren't really at the airport.

No time is needed for customs. No one will ask to see your bags. Just go thru passport control, pick up your checked luggage if you have any, then walk out.

Are you doing any other travel for the next 30 days? The walk-up price of a direct train from Frankfurt airport to Munich is 105 EUR, and there is at least 1 train per hour and more in the morning.

Assume you already have the airplane tickets. I don't think you can get a Rail&Fly ticket once the ticket is bought.

Assume you already have the airplane tickets. I don't think you can get a Rail&Fly ticket once the ticket is bought.

Depends on the airline. Last time I checked, Lufthansa did allow adding a Rail&Fly ticket after booking; it seems a lot of other airlines don't.

The danger in missing your train is more likely that the flight is late rather than any delay at passport control. However since the advance ticket may be much less than the walk up price, you may consider it worth the gamble. I only
lost 29 Euro because my flight was late.

"I saw on one site that the rail pass is mailed. As I am going next week I don't have time for that. Are rail passes available to be printed?)"

Yes. The "consecutive" pass for 2 - 15 travel days can be bought online from DB and printed at home. A "flexi" pass cannot. But if you want a flexi pass, you can just buy it at the Frankfurt airport station when you arrive. That's a good way to get personal help with the purchase and tips for using it.

There is currently a fall promotion at DB for certain rail passes purchased online. How much will you be traveling by train?

As I am going next week I don't have time for that

Problem is that at that late date, there are no 29 EUR Sparpreis tickets left. Cheapest direct tickets are 53.90 EUR and only a couple of departures at that price. Mostly 73.90 and 89.90.

Since the lower priced Savings Fare tickets are already gone, a fully flexible, full fare ticket, for 105€, which you can use on the next train after you get there, might be the way to go. You buy it for a specific train, but you can use it on any train that day, as long as it is for the same route (or maybe just the same fare). If you buy it in advance for the train you think you can make, say an hour after scheduled arrival, then if you flight is on time and time is short, you won't have to stop at a counter to buy a ticket.

You can purchase the full fare ticket online and it will be emailed as a .pdf file to print at home before you go.

There are two routes from FRA to Munich, one through Nürnberg and one through Stuttgart. I'm not sure if you can use either route with a full fare ticket, but there is at least one train an hour on each route, so if you miss your specified train, there is another one in an hour, at most.

If you buy online, use www.bahn.com and make sure to book from Frankfurt airport (just enter "FRA"), not just from Frankfurt.
You can also install the DB Navigator app. Tickets can be loaded onto your phone instead of printing them. Or buy from a machine or a counter at the airport.

If you are going to follow a link for the Bahn, go here. Bahn.com gets you here eventually, but doesn't start with as many options.

Kate, if I were not going to Frankfurt, I would type Munich into the airline destination box and see if they offered me a connecting flight (even if through Hamburg) for only $100 or less more. I have done this with United MILES as well.

The DB navigator app was amazing, used in Germany and other countries, much better than the balky, bug ridden apps we get back in the USA.

Went through customs in Frankfurt and don't remember it, so it musta been easy.