Hello!
I'll be traveling from the U.S. to Frankfurt, Germany and then taking a connecting flight to Rome. Both flights arrive and leave at Terminal 1. My question is do I go through customs in Frankfurt or Rome? And do I go through security even though the connecting flight leaves from the same terminal I arrive? Thanks!
You go through customs in Rome.
You go through immigration in Frankfurt as that is where you are entering Schengen.
Thank you! Do you know after passing through immigration if you go through airport security from the same terminal I'm connecting?
Hi! Once you're inside Schengen, which both Germany & Italy are members of, you won't go through security again. Weirdly, even the same terminal in FRA can take some time, so head straight over to Schengen immigration if time is running short. Bon Voyage!
Great! Thank you so much!
Just a head's up that Frankfurt airport immigration was a complete nightmare on my two recent trips. I flew from Vancouver to Frankfurt and had 1.5 hours to catch a plane to Vilnius (presumably possible since Lufthansa sold me the ticket). Arrived at Terminal 1 and left from the same terminal BUT with a chaotic bus transfer between gates which came as an unwelcome surprise. The worst bit though was the passport control ....... on the outward journey there were initially TWO people working with a crowd of in excess of 300 waiting and no option for EU passport holders to speed things up by using e-gates. I would have missed the flight to Vilnius had it not been delayed. Pretty much the same scenario on the return trip except without the bus transfer. Again long queues with just one person working for the first 45 minutes I was in line but then suddenly another 4 appeared. There were some e-gates for EU passport holders but they did not seem to be working properly. I wish you luck ..... or perhaps your trip is over in which case I hope you had a much better experience at Frankfurt!
Both flights arrive and leave at Terminal 1
As already mentioned, you will go through immigration in Frankfurt.
Just so you know, Terminal 1 consists of three separate buildings. The first building contains Concourses A and Z. Concourse A is for domestic flights (between Schengen countries). Concourse Z is on the floors above Concourse A and is for flights to/from airports that are not in Schengen countries. If you are fortunate and your flight from the US arrives at a Z gate and your flight to Rome departs from an A gate, you will just need to go through immigration while going downstairs (escalator) to the A Concourse.
However, if one of our flights arrives or departs from a gate in the B Concourse and the other one uses an A or Z gate, you will have to change buildings. The fastest way to do that is probably to use the pedestrian tunnel between the buildings, but that will probably entail security when entering the new concourse. (It might also be possible to use the SkyLine shuttle between the buildings, but that will still entail going through security when entering the new building.)
If you know your flight nubers, you can check the gates for arrival and departure on the Frankfurt airport website.
Wow! That’s good to know. Didn’t realize there were 3 separate Terminal 1 buildings. Last year when traveling to Slovenia we had the longest walk from our arrival gate to our departure gate in Frankfurt, and yes, we did go through security again. Guess we’ll be prepared to repeat it. I feel for people who have mobility issues.
Of the three Concourses (I think they are called "Piers"), C is used for charter flights (I think they call them Leisure Flights), like Condor. So you won't likely be using C. But Star Alliance airlines (Lufthansa, United, et al) use both A/Z and B. On the first of my last two trips I arrived from the US on Concourse Z, then Concourse B on the next trip. The B concourse has a transit area (outside Schengen) and an in Schengen area, the two areas connected by passport control.
The three buildings are actually connected by the "public" (outside security) part of T1 (check in counters, etc), but each of the three are their own security zones. You can go from A to B without going outside the "building", but you do have to go outside security to connect via that area, and it's a longer walk than using the tunnel.
Thanks! We’ll be connecting to Rome from Terminal 1 on Al Italia (booked through Lufthansa) so hopefully the walk will be short.
Once you're inside Schengen, which both Germany & Italy are members
of, you won't go through security again.
You won't go through immigration again. You will go through security to get into the gate area of an airport concourse anywhere in Schengen.
Hey there OP, as you specifically asked about going through security transiting in FRA, nope, no security check when you're transiting to another destination in Schengen, only the above mentioned immigration upon arrival in FRA. And someone else mentioned customs upon arrival in Rome.
