Luxembourg City to Frankfurt airport

Since it's Germany, train/bus schedules for your actual travel date are available through DeutscheBahn, although tickets are not yet for sale. Average travel time is 4 hours with a connection at Saarbrucken or Koblenz.

Flixbus (www.flixbus.com) also has a couple of direct buses per day. 7:45 a.m. departure is scheduled to arrive at 12:25, which is not early enough if your flight is trans-Atlantic.

If you travel the day before and spend an evening in downtown Frankfurt, the local S-Bahn connection to the airport takes only 10-15 minutes.

Do you mean that your cruise ends on Friday and you're trying to make a 2PM flight out of Frankfurt that same day? If so, what time can you get off the ship? Does your airline advise you to be at the airport 3 hours in advance, as is fairly typical?

It's risky to spend the night before a flight so far away from the airport, because a lot can happen on 3-1/2 hour (or longer) train ride--though it rarely does.

Rail schedules typically don't change all that much from month to month. In fact, I was able to find the schedule for June 22 on the Deutsche Bahn website. No fares are displayed yet, but the times are there for quite a lot of trains. Whether some more might show up later, I do not know.

Your destination will be Frankfurt(M) Flughafen.

Does your cruise company transfer you from your final docking point into Luxembourg? And is that on Thursday June 21?

"Average travel time is 4 hours with a connection at Saarbrucken or Koblenz."

If you are traveling to FRA on Friday morning from Luxembourg, your train choices are more limited, and they what they are... Assuming you wake up Friday somewhere near Luxembourg Gare, and assuming you want to be at FRA airport about 3 hours early... There is a 7:23 departure with an 11:06 arrival time at FRA.

"...we are worried about transfers for 4 seniors with luggage."

Well, with the 7:23 departure, you'll not only have to be up and out very early, you'll have two connections to make - one in Strasbourg (8 minutes) and another in Mannheim (18 minutes.) 8 minutes might be OK if the platforms are adjacent (no platform info. yet) or it might not. This really does not sound so good to me.

Alternatives - they don't seem very good to me either:

DB shows a bus + 1 train connection (7:15 - 11:36, 16-minute stopover)
DB also shows a trains-only trip with 1 connection in Koblenz (6:05 - 9:59)

I think it would be wisest to stay near FRA airport on Thursday night if possible. Spend those 4 hours getting to FRA on Thursday instead of Friday morning. Then on Friday morning, have a relaxing breakfast and take a much shorter trip to the airport. MAINZ is a nice city to stay in and it lies on your way route to FRA - from there, there direct trains leave every 20-30 minutes for the airport train station (the ride takes only 25 minutes.) The Königshof and several other hotels are a few steps from the Mainz train station. It is possible to stay in Frankfurt as well but that's a little further than Mainz. Of course, there are also FRA airport hotels where you can stay (but it's probably more enjoyable being in a real town.)

Thank you Laura, acraven, and Russ for your replies. The cruise ends on Thursday and we plan on touring Luxembourg City before returning to Frankfurt for our return home on Friday. Your suggestions to return to Frankfurt area Thursday evening rather than Friday morning are most prudent. Would there be lockers at the Lux City train station where we can leave our luggage while touring the city? Should we purchase our train tickets beforehand, or at the station? (Still worried about the transfers.) Peter

Frankfurt "has" 2 airports. FRA which is what most travelers use but much closer to Luxembourg is the airport that RyanAir uses, what they call Frankfurt(Hahn).

Which airline are you trying to make a flight on, or specifically, are you on RyanAir?

"Would there be lockers at the Lux City train station..."

This page indicates there is a luggage storage facility:
http://www.cfl.lu/espaces/voyageurs/en/gares-et-services/nos-gares/luxembourg

"Should we purchase our train tickets beforehand, or at the station?"

If you plan to use any of the high-speed, long-distance trains on this route, it will be cheaper that way. Judge your future costs by looking at the prices 3 months out. I used a sample date of February 3 and looked for "saver" fares. Let's say you decide to go to Mainz...

15:33 departure: Regional train to Koblenz, IC (high-speed) train to Mainz... 1 change of train in Koblenz (52 minute transfer time there), arrive 19:39 in Mainz. Saver fare price for two adults is currently €39.80. (This price locks in the time you leave Luxembourg and the specific trains you will use to Mainz. Once this ticket goes on sale, the price will rise as tickets sell.) The flex price (same price as you'd pay at the station) is €119.20 and allows you to use the same trains - on the same route - at the hour of your choosing that day.

OR... If you ride the regional trains only... you will save money - price for two is €35... AND there is no need to pre-purchase a ticket to save that money - just buy it at the station... AND have you'll have total scheduling flexibility - ride any regional trains at any hour:

16:33 departure: Regional train to Koblenz as above, Regional train to Mainz... 1 change of train in Koblenz (6 minutes transfer time, arrive Mainz 20:08 - or...

... 34-minute transfer time in Koblenz, arrive Mainz 20:55 - or...

... 1hr., 34-minute transfer time, arrive 21:56...

The regional train ticket can be bought at the station in Luxembourg and is called the "Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket + Lux":
http://www.cfl.lu/espaces/voyageurs/en/cfl-en-de/rheinland-pfalz-ticket-plus-lu

It is worth noting that the "high-speed" train option on this route requires you to use the regional train for the first leg to Koblenz anyway - and doesn't cut your travel time.

("Still worried about the transfers.")

The best you can do is a one-transfer trip. Just select a long transfer time - there's a McDonalds and another option or two for meals inside the Koblenz station if you like - and take your time. Also, Koblenz station has elevators and escalators that give access to the passageway under the tracks and allow you to switch platforms more easily. Here are some photos from the Koblenz station to help ease your concerns about transfers:
http://www.looking-at-germany.com/master/deutsch/orte-alphabet/orte-k-k/koblenz/hauptbahnhof/hauptbahnhof.html

As another option: Have you looked into flying from Luxembourg? If you haven't booked the flight yet, you might even get this on one ticket with the flight out of Frankfurt (depending on airline etc.).
Luxembourg airport is convenient and efficient. I usually favour the train (and the train route via Trier is quite scenic), but it is a very slow connection.

Thanks again Russ for your insights.
Looks like evening train on June 21 is best. We decided to return all the way to Frankfurt airport that evening so as not to worry about traveling to the airport on June 22. And we can again enjoy the scenery from the rail that we just enjoyed on the cruise. The "Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket + Lux" ticket is quite attractive at €48 for the four of us.
Does the "Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket + Lux" train ticket cover the whole trip from Lux to Frankfurt airport; or do we need to purchase a separate ticket from Mainz to Frankfurt airport. For example, the 17:33 departure Regional train from Luxembourg to Koblenz, the 20:30 departure (34-minute transfer time) Regional train to Mainz, and the 22:14 departure (18-minute transfer time) Regional train to Frankfurt (M) Flughaven Regionalbf arriving at 22:36. The Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport looks like a great location. Any other hotel suggestions.

I took this trip the opposite direction (Frankfurt airport to Luxembourg City) and I think I had to purchase a local ticket (very inexpensive) for the Airport-Mainz and then did the Rhineland-Pfalz ticket from there. The ride is quite scenic and the transfers fairly easy. Can each of you seniors handle your own luggage? That might be the only challenge for the train transfers, but it is still doable. A word of warning: The trains and the platforms don't always line up evenly. Be cautious when you enter or exit the train that you take a moment to be sure of your footing, even if you are distracted by making a transfer.

Make sure you take some time to visit the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. It is quite moving. You could take a cab there. There is also a bus that goes within 1/2 a mile of the entrance, but with 4 people I imagine the cost will be about the same taking a cab.

"Does the "Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket + Lux" train ticket cover the whole trip from Lux to Frankfurt airport; or do we need to purchase a separate ticket from Mainz to Frankfurt airport."

The R-P + LUx ticket gets you only to Mainz; a regional train ticket from there to FRA airport is €4.85 each. This ticket is a "RMV" ticket - the local transport association sells it to you from ticket machines in Mainz, which should look like these:
https://www.rmv.de/linkableblob/Navigationskontext_fuer_Papierkorb/52958-39356/original/Fahrkartenautomat_neu.jpg

The 23-minute layover at Mainz station should allow you enough time to fetch your RMV ticket. Mainz also has escalators and escalators and elevators - see the glass/steel contraptions in this shot taken at Mainz station: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Mainzer_Hauptbahnhof_14.10.2007.jpg

The R-P + Lux Ticket is actually a day pass, not a ticket, and there's no specific schedule attached to its use. If you wish to depart earlier or later from Luxembourg, you can. If you wish to stop over in Mainz for refreshments, you can - just take a later regional train to FRA. Or stop over in Koblenz and take a later regional train into Mainz. If you are late for whatever reason for your connecting train, you can just take a later regional train instead.

Thank you again Russ. We have decided that it would be better to overnite in Mainz as you suggested; and we have booked at the Konigshof Hotel. We can then take the train in the morning to the Frankfurt airport. My sister and her husband have a 14:00 hour plane to catch; whereas my wife and I have a 17:15 departure so we are thinking of spending a few hours touring Frankfurt. Apparently we can leave our luggage at the airport and buy a Tageskarte Frankfurt pass to travel to town and back.

Thank you Carol. Yes the American Cemetery in Luxembourg is on our to do list. We are also planning the Wenzel Walk which hopefully is not too strenuous.

We (4 seniors) have just received our sailing schedule. We will be disembarking our cruise in Wasserbillig Thursday June 21 and plan to tour Luxembourg City before taking a regional train to Mainz later that afternoon. We will purchase a Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket + Lux from Luxembourg City to Mainz. Can we purchase this ticket in Wasserbillig to travel to Luxembourg City and then afterwards to Mainz on the same ticket? Or do we need to purchase a seperate ticket from Wasserbillig to Luxembourg City?

Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket + Lux from Luxembourg City to Mainz.

That ticket is a day pass and not confined ton a specific line. Buy it at the Wasserbillig station and travel freely anywhere in Luxembourg and Rheinland-Pfalz on local trains. Valid within Rheinland-Pfalz from 9am, no time restriction in Luxembourg.