Frankfurt airport - time needed to clear customs/immigration to catch a connecting flight?

Correct me if I'm wrong but It sounds like you are buying separate tickets: one Seattle to Frankfurt and one Frankfurt to Rome.

If you take the risk of the Seattle to Frankfurt not being so delayed that you would miss the on Frankfurt to Rome, you should give yourself at least 4 hours between flights.

Assuming this is two separate tickets - and therefor you would be stuck in FRA if your inbound flight is delayed enough that you miss the next leg - you need to factor in how hard - and how expensive - it would be to pay to fix that. Depends also on how tightly scheduled your trip is once you get to Rome - to avoid additional dominoes falling (eg, if you miss your cruise ship's departure...).

FRA is not a favorite airport. Transiting there always seems to take more time than I expect (even if I expect it to take a while!).

Condor was formerly owned by Lufthansa, still counts Lufthansa as an airline partner, and has an intraline agreement with Lufthansa. So, I expect the OP is buying a single ticket, which will result in just passing through passport control (no small task) and then heading to the Lufthansa gate. I've flown into Frankfurt but have not changed planes there, so I'm probably not the best to answer the time question. Typically, though, I would give myself at least 3 hours in an airport where I have not changed from an international flight to an EU flight in the past.

I would vote for 3 hours. Pass control can take a while, depends a little bit on how much is coming in parallel but around noon, not such a big issue.

Customs: I am not sure that you need to go through. If you book both flights on one ticket, issued by same provider (e.g. Condor / Lufthansa) they shall be able to check your luggage through to next flight. Ask Condor for that. If they are able to do that you could stay in Terminal 1 (likely arrive at B) in the transfer zone (behind security check-in) to go to your next gate (likely departs at A).

Normally on long transatlantic flights from US to Europe the global tail wind from west assures a time on or before planned arrival. The flight accuracy of DE2033 looks OK the last days (flightaware), I am just wondering about the re-routed flights.

I would vote for 3 hours.

If it is on one ticket, the minimum connecting time in Frankfurt (for most connections) is 45 minutes. Those 45 minutes can be extremely tight, and I'd rather double the number to 90 minutes for a comfortable connection; but given it is the airline's responsibility to get the passengers to their final destination, I would not try to spend too much time at the airport.

If it's two tickets - different story :)

To Clarify:

• Whether it is one ticket or two, you will go through immigration (passport check) in Frankfurt. That is where you enter the Schengen Area. You will not go through immigration when you land in Italy.

• If it is two tickets and you need to pick up your luggage at Frankfurt and check in again, then your luggage goes through customs there and not again in Italy (both in EU). If it is one ticket, then you will not see your bags until Italy and they go through customs there. In either case, customs is a random check only and, if you are not stopped, takes zero time.

Just book the quickest legal connection if this is indeed a single through ticket. You land at 1:35 pm and Lufthansa has flights to Rome at 4:00 pm, 5:05 pm, and 9:55 pm for the random day I checked. So I'd say, book the 4 pm, and if you miss that, they will put you on the 5:05 pm, and missing that, the 9:55 pm.

Sam, if later flights are fully booked an airline or travel agent will put a regular passenger on nothing at the same day ... We all shall consider that possibility or risk for OP.

It's going to be 2 separate tickets, but we will only have carry-on bags. We've already booked the Condor flight to Frankfurt, but have not yet booked the Lufthansa flight to Rome.

Appreciate all the comments in the forum.

Looking at the Condor site, it sells a SEA-FRA-FCO ticket with a 2h 5m connection
SEA-FRA on Condor and FRA-FCO on Lufthansa.

If this is what you bought or are considering, I would contact Condor and ask what happens if the SEA-FRA flight is late and you miss the connection. As they are selling it as a single ticket, it would seem they would be obliged to get you on a flight at no additional charge; however Condor is part of Thomas Cook travel agency so if i were doing this I would be sure about this.

If you are buying two tickets on your own, I am with the "at least 4 hour" suggestion, as you have no protection if you miss the connection.

EDIT-- I was still composing my reply and did not see your latest about 2 tickets. It is unfortunate you were unable to buy the single ticket from Condor.

Make sure to stick to the hand luggage rules; from what I have heard, airlines in the US may be lenient concerning those rules on domestic flights, but don't count on that for this international flight. Also, if you are among the last people to board and the overhead bins are full, you could be asked to check your hand luggage anyway (if it does not fit under the seat in front of you).
Other than that, it is a question of personal risk aversion. Do you want to cover the usual delays (which you can google for the past few days), or also take into account rare cases (fellow passenger has a medical condition that requires a diversion; plane needs a repair; ...)?

It's going to be 2 separate tickets, but we will only have carry-on
bags. We've already booked the Condor flight to Frankfurt, but have
not yet booked the Lufthansa flight to Rome.

Appreciate all the comments in the forum.

Ok, then your flight to Rome is NOT a connecting flight.

I always allow 4 hours for 2 separate flights in which the stopover airport is a large one like Frankfurt. If you miss that Lufthansa flight, you will also lose the return flight back to Frankfurt from Rome assuming you have that. That return flight to Frankfurt will be automatically cancelled.

So 4 hours.

@OP: I'm not being obnoxious or derogatory. I am genuinely interested in learning why you chose to buy 2 separate tickets when you could have bought a single ticket on the Condor website.

I was just focused on getting a reasonable airfare to Europe since I am actually coming from Anchorage, and Condor doesn’t have direct flights from Anchorage to Frankfurt until later in May. I’m just getting a one way ticket to Rome. Not sure where we’ll be yet before we fly home from Frankfurt in June (nonstop to Anchorage.)

I agree that you should allow 4 hours.
It seems like a lot, but Frankfurt is a HUGE airport, and it will take awhile to navigate, plus go thru all the different queues for immigrations, etc., even with carryon only. You never know if your first flight will be delayed, or if you get pulled aside for extra screening...or if the immigration officers decide to take a break and leave the kiosks completely unattended.

Better to have time to kill than to miss your flight to Rome.

Thanks for the response! I understand now.

Surprised that no one has mentioned Frankfurt's unique "parking" system where quite a few planes never get to a gate but are instead parked on a tarmac and passengers are shuttled by bus to the terminal. In 8 flights into and out of Frankfurt, only twice has a plane actually unloaded or loaded at a gate. Still, I vote for 3 hours, and it usually only takes about half that.

Surprised that no one has mentioned Frankfurt's unique "parking" system where quite a few planes never get to a gate but are instead parked on a tarmac and passengers are shuttled by bus to the terminal.

How is that unique? I have experienced that at many airports.

Surprised that no one has mentioned Frankfurt's unique "parking" system where quite a few planes never get to a gate but are instead parked on a tarmac and passengers are shuttled by bus to the terminal.

It is often a way to reduce airport fees. If walkways are in short supply, using a bus costs the airline less. Cut-price airlines (EasyJet, Ryanair) will choose this, "Full service" airlines will use a walkway.

"How is that unique? I have experienced that at many airports."

Chris-s beat me to it. It is uncommon in the US, except for commuter flights on small planes (and even then, many of these still board via jetways). But it's very common in Europe - for planes of all sizes. It's not particular to Frankfurt airport.

In 14 flights into Europe and 14 flights out plus a number of intra-Europe flights, I have only experienced the busing three times, once in 1987 at the old Munich airport and twice at FRA before they added the new concourse A/Z extension. All three times were with jumbo jets, and I think there were no gates available to handle the large aircraft.

I just arrived home from FRA a few hours ago. It was my second flight to FRA via American Airlines, and I've had to use the bus every time. It works reasonably well, and I really can't complain about the minimal extra time it adds. Mind you, I've only terminated at FRA, so I can't speak for onward travel. However, I get real nervous if my connection at any airport is less than 90 minutes. As for customs, arriving at FRA has always been a piece of cake. This trip, I literally blew through in 5 minutes...beat my luggage. Leaving FRA is something of a nightmare--a bunch of lines (terminal transit bus, check in, passport control, security, the gate, the bus to the plane). I hit FRA 2 1/2 hours before my flight and I got to my gate just as they started boarding.