Frankfurt (FRA) airport arrival transfer to Frankfurt Airport (long-distance trains) station

Did you buy the airline ticket yet? If not, see if you can get a Rail-n-Fly ticket that will include the ongoing rail ticket.

I take it you want to know how long so you can book the train ticket. Even if we could tell you how long all that will take, how can we predict if your flight will actually arrive on time?

We are using Alaska air miles with total out-of-pocket cost for 2 business class tickets of $121.40. Don't mind paying a little more for train tickets. Please reread my posting: I wasn't asking you to predict anything about the flight. I was asking for typical elapse times for the process to catch a train.

Alaska Air I don't believe has a partnership with Deutsche Bahn so a rail and fly may not be available to you. How great you can fly with miles! Is that a Delta codeshare or does Alaska fly directly into FRA?

If you want to take advantage of advanced fares on the DB, allow 2-3 hours in case your flight is late and/or the immigration lines are long. There is no way to predict how long it will take going through immigration. I am not sure why you asked about customs because unless you are declaring any items to German customs, it's a walk through.

I don't know which terminal you are arriving but the long distance rail station is in terminal 1. If your flight arrives at Terminal 2, you can take the Sky Line monorail to Terminal 1. Allow ~20-25 minutes including monorail.

You also did not indicate if you had checked luggage.

For Continental: Alaska's mileage plan is not what it used to be. Delta and Air France are no longer in the picture, leaving (for LAS to FRA connections) only British Air, and a few American and Condor connections. We usually use our miles for Business Class tickets for these long flights; saves on recovery time are the destination. British Air is no longer an option for us due to the excessive fee's for anything that connects thru Heathrow. By comparison, the fees to use miles for British Air would be $1000+ for two one-way tickets.

For Sam: You are correct. But, I need only the information I asked for :)

I didn't realize that Alaska Air is no longer a Delta partner. Got it. If your flight arrives at T2, use the Sky Line to T1. The time to get to the rail station is still about 20-25 minutes from T2.

Passport control usually doesn’t take long - depends on how many flights are landing at the same time. Customs takes no time, you just walk thru the ‘nothing to declare’ door and won’t see any customs officer. There is no rail security.

Stephen: thanks for the info.

After looking at train schedules, I have learned that there are three "no-change" trains to Amsterdam Centraal between 13:00 and 17:00 along with many others with 2, 3 or 4 changes. Since we will be coming off of a 12-hour flight to FRA, I don't want to deal with multiple changes; better to get settled and rest - keep things as simple as possible for the 4-hour trip. ALSO, even though the other trains leave earlier, they take longer and don't arrive any sooner (within a few minutes) verses waiting for the next "no-chg" train. It is amazing what I spend my time digging into to prep for these trips!

Thanks to all for your valuable information.
Love this travel forum.

"Since we will be coming off of a 12-hour flight to FRA, I don't want to deal with multiple changes; better to get settled and rest - keep things as simple as possible for the 4-hour trip."

Jim: You arrive "mid-morning" and wish to schedule a train AFTER 13:00 to A'dam, correct? And that's to achieve a time cushion so that you don't forfeit the train ticket if you have a delay, correct? So the plan is to hang out at FRA for 3 hours or so... correct? Then do 4+ hours to Amsterdam? I don't think I'd enjoy those 7+ hours much at all after a 12-hour flight, never mind a trip with changes and more time...

I think I would just catch a train - at whatever hour you're out of security - into Frankfurt (10 min.) and check in for a night there. Maybe you can check in early... Worst case scenario, you hang out instead at a cafe for an hour or two before your room is ready. Then you freshen up, nap, relax, whatever you need. Maybe do a little sightseeing. Pre-book an early-morning train departure for Saturday from Frankfurt's main station (8:56 direct to A'dam?)

Russ:

I see your point.
It would certainly take the "time-catch-a-train" issue off the table.

The tradeoff would be press on another 10 hours and get to our room Amsterdam, verses find a room, check in, sleep, check out, then get the train to Amsterdam. In that way we could book train tickets ahead 1-2 months, get the tickets to Amsterdam for about 1/2 price, and not be concerned with missing a pre-booked train.

As per 15 years of RS teachings, we need to stay up until local bed time to get our internal clock calibrated. That means we need to do something from mid-morning until evening. Is it wait for a Frankfurt hotel to give us a room and entertain ourselves for 6-8 hours and travel on day #2, OR use the time to get on a 4-hour train to Amsterdam? On prior trips, we have elected the "press-on" option to get where we want to be. It is going to be somewhat painful with either option !

I would expect something like 1 hour 15 minutes from landing to arriving at the station if everything goes smoothly, though I would not rely on that time. Things can always go wrong. Contrary to what others have said, I think it makes more sense to take the bus to Terminal 1. It stops right in front of the escalators which lead to the walkway to the station. The bus only runs every 10 minutes, though.

Don't mind paying a little more for train tickets

In that case, why not buy flexible tickets (either before your trip - they can be cancelled free of charge until one day before the journey - or at the station)? If you buy at the station, you can even decide in the last minute whether to take a direct train, as planned, or, if you would have to wait for the next direct train
* either take the scenic route to Cologne, via Koblenz, and enjoy the views
* or take a fast train to Cologne, store your luggage at the train station, and use the waiting time for the Amsterdam train to visit the Cathedral (next to the train station)
Either way, you would catch your train to Amsterdam in Cologne.
Consider these options as a way to spend your waiting time :-) Not much additional walking involved (in comparison to the long ways within the airport), and probably more interesting than waiting at the airport.

Is it worth the gamble that your plane will be on time? I am ambivalent about this. I once paid 29 Euro for FRA to Gengenbach. I allowed 3 hours but the plane was 5 hours late. So I had to pay 105 Euro. I lost the 29 but I thought it was worth the gamble. Next trip I just got a hotel close to FRA and took the train the next day. Of course that time my plane was on time.

stephen: We took a trip to Spain a few years ago and planned to drop a rental car off in the afternoon in Seville and then take a train to Madrid to catch a very early flight home the following morning. EVERYONE, including the RS $50/half-hour travel planner insisted that NO ONE needs to buy rail tickets ahead because there are ALWAYS available seats. SO, I took their advice and found myself in the Seville train station with very little help as I tired to buy tickets on a holiday weekend!!! The trains we're packed with families! And, I couldn't find any english-speaking ticket agents so we traded hand signals and written notes for about an hour to negotiate for available seats. We eventually got two seats (not together) but managed to trade seats with others who also wanted to sit together.

I would prefer to buy the tickets ahead but ...... don't want to miss the train due to delayed flights. I have a few months to sort this out.

Thanks for your thoughts; they were very helpful.

Jim, if you want to be sure to get seats (which might indeed be an issue, travelling on a Friday afternoon), this does not mean you have to buy the ticket early on. In Germany, you can buy reservations independent of the ticket. 4.50 per person and trip (including all connecting trains) in 2nd class, 5.90 in 1st class. If you want to be certain to get a seat, you can reserve the two or three trains you are most likely to take.
Edit: Not sure if the price is the same for an international connection. I think it is, but you will see that when you book the reservation.

chris-s: Interesting idea. Would more information on this approach be on the bahn.de site or somewhere else? What happens to the unclaimed reservations you have paid for - are they released some period of time before departure?

If we were not arriving on Friday afternoon, I would not be as concerned.

Would more information on this approach be on the bahn.de site or somewhere else?

Not really, because the procedure is extremely simple. You look up your connection on bahn.de and click the "Seat only (no ticket)" option. You can do that for as many connections as you want.

What happens to the unclaimed reservations you have paid for - are they released some period of time before departure?

Anyone is allowed to sit on a reserved seat until the holder of the reservation shows up. People will do that if the train is full, hoping for no-shows. A reservation is void 15 minutes after departure. Around that time, the reservation disappears from the displays. Last-minute reservations made on the day of departure are an exception, as the display does not show the specific reservation; it merely shows that the respective seat may have been reserved.
Edit: I should have mentioned that reservations can be exchanged, free of charge - but only once, and (obviously) only if there are still seats available in the train you want to use.

There is nothing to stop you from buying seat reservations on multiple trains. Think of it as buying an option.