Munich airport USA security departure wait time

Your airline probably has guidelines. Delta recommended 2 hours early on our several recent flights back to the states. We were never rushed but it was an early morning flight. Might slow down later as business picks up. There is a lot more time spent at and before reaching the check-in counter than is common on flights from the US to Germany.

I've flown direct from Munich to Denver twice in the last 10 years, plus twice with a stop in another German city. For both of the direct flights to Denver, there was a TSA security check at the gate in Munich. It was an extra layer of security, but it did not take very long. It probably took less time than the German security to get into the concourse. Always, I have arrived at the airport 2 - 2½ hours in advance of my flight and had plenty of time.

Munich might be better, but just FYI our recent experience coming home from Frankfurt was ridiculous. We were checking in a little over 2 hours before our flight and barely made it. And that was using airline status to get a really short check-in line, and a little trick using the elevator instead of the escalator to cut off a lot of the line heading into the passport area. People in line with us arrived 3 hours early and were going to miss their flight. It was beyond ridiculous. I don't know if that was an anomaly or usually is that bad, and also this was Frankfurt.... but just throwing it out there. It was like they intentionally had too few lines open and going through security, the workers were moving at a snail's pace....

I think you may have been asking about upon return to Denver? If so, we haven't flown into Denver, but at our airport (SFO) can take up to an hour to get out, just came home from tiny airport San Jose last time and we were out in 20 min!

Kim

I've flown out of Munich 4 times in the last 2 years, including less than a month ago. I have always been on a fairly early flight, but my experience of the airport is that it is very efficient -- nothing like the description of Frankfurt above. Two hours is probably adequate, but I always arrive ridiculously early (often just to wait for the airline counter to open).

OK, now I'm not sure what you mean. I was talking about TSA (USA) security at the gate in Munich. I think every time I've flown out of Munich direct to the US, I've had to go through security, by the US TSA at the gate. It's an additional layer, apparently because they don't trust the German security. I thought that was to what you were referring.

You will go through passport control and customs (if that is what you mean) at DIA. That can take considerable time. If I remember, there is always a long serpentine line waiting for the counters. That process will probably take a half hour or more.

When you go through customs you retrieve your checked luggage. I believe you can recheck it in the customs check room, but they dump you in the main terminal, outside security. If you are going on, on another flight, to Fort Collins, you have to go through DIA security to get to your gate. I don't think security at DIA has ever taken me more than half an hour, but I think it can be longer depending on the time of day, the morning rush being the worst time. Then, of course, you have travel time on the train to the gate.

Three hours might be the Munich airport's recommendation, but that has not been my experience. The first time I arrived about 2½ hours early and had a gate near the middle of T2. I waited at least half an hour, probably longer, before boarding started. Fortunately someone had left a newspaper that I could read to pass the time. Second time, I was with a "mobility challenged" co-traveler, and we waited a long time outside German security for United to bring a wheelchair to take us to the gate, which is at the far south end of T2. When we got to the gate, they had just started boarding the flight.

The last time we flew out of Munich (U.S. international flight) we had no fewer than 4 checks; the initial big one with bag screening; two more on the way to the gate (checked passports and/or boarding passes) and another to access the gate area itself (boarding passes). It is a very efficient airport so no complaints, and I don't if what we experienced was an everyday occurrence.

We flew out of Munich in 2015 and arrived at the airport 3 hours early and had to wait a short amount of time. But I prefer to be too early rather than too late.

We just flew out of Munich last month. We got there two hours before our flight and ended up sitting at the gate for over an hour after security. I would still allow two hours though.