Just a heads up for those that may not know. I just returned from Germany this past weekend and flew out of Frankfurt. I was surprised that when we arrived from Nuremberg Airport to FRA we had to go through Passport Control. Which added time to getting to our next flight. The inital congestion came from the initial scanning of the Passport. At the beginning of the line entrance is a staff member with a Laptop scanning or manually inputting your passport info, (2 personnel for all personnel trying to get from Gate A area to Gates B & Z) once cleared, then you proceeded into the zig-zag line up to the booth where another staff member takes your passport and boarding pass to once again verify everything. This was between Gates A, B & Z. Then once you reach the entry point to Gate Z you again had your passport and boarding pass verified. We only had a 1 1/2 hour layover and if it wasn't for my mother needing the wheelchair assistance from FRA (which allowed us to bypass all the lines and deal directly with the Passport Control Officers) we would not have made it from our entry Gate A, far end, to our departure Gate Z other far end. I definitely will plan for a longer layover the next time I visit my son in Germany.
** Also posted under Germany in the Review Section **
Posted by
PA
2948 posts
Response REPOSTED from the Germany Review Section:
"Interesting. We have twice within the past 10 months flown back to the US connecting from elsewhere in Europe (Schengen) in Frankfurt, under the stepped up security to the US. And both times it was simply a walk from our previous flight to the entry to Z-level, a quick look at our passports, and on our way to the gate. I have to wonder what was going on above to cause this issue."
To which was added by another responder:
"I can't help but wonder if this isn't part of the security associated with the upcoming G7 conference next week."
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32443 posts
Thanks for the warning. I seem to transit Frankfurt just about every year on flights to and from Europe, and have never encountered this sort of thing in the past. Leaving the E.U. has always just involved waiting in a short queue and then having my Passport stamped by a bored looking official. I wonder what prompted this more rigourous procedure?
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Brushtim, for your future travels: If you are leaving the Schengen Zone (say, going nonstop to the US from Frankfurt or Paris or Amsterdam or Rome, among many other possible airports), you will always go through passport control before getting to your gate. However, as the other posts said, it's usually not a very time-consuming procedure; the difference you encountered was most likely put in place for the G7.