New Exit-Entry System at Frankfurt Airport

I have not done it in Frankfurt, but have at Amsterdam Schiphol, and many others on here have went through in various airports.

The kiosks are somewhat easy to use, you scan your passport, you get your picture taken, you place your hand on a scanner for fingerprints, then you may be asked questions, or no questions as part of the process. Pay attention at the end, the kiosk will then either direct you to an e-gate, or over to a manual booth. The process at the kiosk takes maybe 2-3 minutes.

If directed to the e-gates, you scan your passport again, smile for the camera, and out the door. If there are issues with the kiosk, or just randomly, you will go to a manual booth, then out the door.

This YouTube video may help, what you experience may not be exactly the same. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4K3zIAjYNUw

As for delays, the longest part is waiting for a manual booth, I don't think any different than the last twenty some years I have been traveling. Depending on volume, it can take minutes, in bad cases, an hour or more.,

We went through the EES kiosk in Frankfurt in February without any problem. However, with the opening of the new terminal things may be more complicated. There was a lot of buzz about problems with security screening, etc. Whether or not things are running more smoothly I don't know.

I arrived in Frankfurt on April 24th. There were a group of EES kiosks but when I went towards them I was directed to a giant line leading to the immigration officials. I had a long layover so I was not overly stressed but the line moved relatively quickly and I was to the front in about 15 minutes and entered Germany in the same way as in the past. Like I said, I had plenty of time to waste so later I went to the EES kiosks inside Germany to see how they worked and if I could do the registering so next trip I could zip through faster. The process was very fast. Insert passport and let it scan, stand still for a head photo, and put your fingers on the glass while the prints were read. I was never asked any questions. I was never quite sure if my fingers scanned correctly so did it a few times, and each time I was referred to a border control window. Since I was actually using the machines by the exit I didn't go to the window.

Two weeks later I exited via Munich. I first went to the kiosk and did the same process again, it took maybe a couple minutes at most. Once again, I was told to go to the window. I was the only person in the area at the time so had a chat with the agent. He said he had electronic records from both the Frankfurt and Munich EES machines. However, that Germany was the only country in the EES group that still requires actual entry and exit stamps in the physical passport so at least for now everyone is still directed to an immigration official.

Thank you all for your responses.

The video link was very helpful too! So I think I get the entry process.

But, how about when we fly back to the USA? Where do we check out using the EES?

We will fly from Italy to Germany…then on the USA.

Thank you once again,
Monica

When leaving, (again it may vary by airport) You again will get your passport scanned, picture taken (facial recognition, to verify that it is you) and maybe fingerprints again, then on your way. This could be done at an e-gate, or at a manned booth.

When we went through CDG Sunday, it was manned booths, they took my wife's fingerprints, but not mine.

One slight difference than any previous trips, before, couples would approach the manned booths together, now it is one by one.

Did this at Frankfurt airport last week. It was a breeze and took no time at all.

Once again this forum has come through! Thank you everyone! ❣️🤗

Happy travels,
Monica

You go through EES at our first entry into Schengen and your exit out of Schengen. Not where you start your trip back home but where you pick up your actual flight back to the US.

So, Germany.

Thank you so the help! 🙌✈️

I think we are set now. Hoping for an on time flight to Frankfurt , a fairly quick EES and then a good transfer to a flight to Milan.

This is graduation gift trip with our grandson and his mom. We love Italy and we think he will too!!

Thank you all for your help!
Happy travels,
Monica and family

"...Germany is the only country... that still requires entry and exit stamps in the physical passport ...." Bravo ! There is still hope.

Came back through FRA Sunday. I have full biometrics on file, but the machines would not/could not read my fingerprints. That puts you in line with everyone else. 30 minutes in my case. Second time it's happened...

We flew from Newark to Frankfort on United, arriving May 19 at 9:15 am before transferring to Copenhagen. Registering for ESS was simple and quick. Nothing else was simple or quick in Frankfort that day.

Both our arrival and departure planes loaded on the tarmac and required fairly long bus rides to/from the terminal. After ESS registration, the Passport Control lines were long and slow. Then we had quite a long walk through the airport to our next gate, with a required TSA-type security checkpoint. The entire process from arrival to get to the departure gate took about 3 hours. (If needed, there was a special lane in Passport Control for travelers with flights departing in 45 minutes or less.)

Everything worked out fine, we made our next flight, and we are on vacation! But it definitely took a lot longer than other times we have transferred in Frankfort.

Thank you, Barb…that’s not what we want to hear, but it is what it is.

We have about 2 hours between flights. May I ask what terminal and concourse your flight landed in Frankfort?

We are told our flight from the US will use terminal 1 with the possibility of concourse A or Z at Frankfurt.

We are also told that our flight from Frankfurt to Milan leaves from terminal 1, and usually uses concourse B.

With great appreciation,
Monica.

On Apr 15, I arrived at FRA Terminal 1 Gate Z54 shortly after 6am. I was directed to passport control where the line moved quickly. They tried scanning my fingerprints but the system wasn't working. Passport stamped. After a layover of about three hours, I departed to MXP from Terminal 1 B05. FYI - several of my flights arriving and/or departing at FRA used buses and stairs to board.

Thank you to everyone for all your helpful information and experiences!!

Now we have the proper expectations of how this could all go when we arrive in Frankfurt. I'm happy to hear there is a que for short connections to flights. I booked these tickets last September. I wish I had selected a later flight to Milan for more layover time. I called Luftansa because I have changeable tickets. I can change them for an arm and 2 legs!! Crazy $$$. The representative asked me to sit down before he told me the increase in cost. He was serious too!

I have been watching Flight Aware for how these flights tend to go, and studying the Frankfurt Airport Map. The video that was sent on how to use the EES was super helpful too! Thank you to Rick Steves for this incredible resource.

I will let this post know how it went when we return!

Thank you to everyone of you!

Happy travels,
Monica

EES was not a breeze for me or my daughter in Amsterdam last month. It took over an hour to complete. We waited in two kiosk lines, then the system rejected both of us. So, we had to wait again in the human line. We passed through the human check without problems. I am 69 with worn out fingerprints. However, my daughter is only 27.
Also, I advise carry-on bags. Last year, my companions checked bags to Frankfurt. It was a long walk with confusing, limited directions. Wayfinding is not their strength. Luckily, we had plenty of time to make our regional jet.

Flew in for a connecting flight last week on morning of 12 May.
It was chaotic. I had four hours for my connecting flight, so wasn't worried there, but the line took over 90 minutes to get through. Machines for the EES were not working, or only infrequently, and even if you did use them you still had to wait in line to see one of the German border police agents at the window.
Frankfurt Airport is chronically understaffed for this, made even worse by EES requirement.

On my return flight yesterday, had 90 minutes to make my connecting flight back to the U.S.
This time the Passport Control line did move much faster, but still took about 40 minutes to get through.
Badly understaffed by the German authorities, about half the windows were even actively processing anyone,
and in the midst of a lot of travelers still in line one guy left his booth and no one replaced him.

It was clear that the speed really was determined by the Border Patrol agent that you met. Some were getting people through very quickly, but others clearly were not fully trained, didn't know all that they had t do, and more than one to call a supervisor.
I made it to boarding with minutes to spare, as did others in line on my flight back to the U.S. who also were connecting from other destinations.

Frankfurt is a difficult airport under ideal conditions, and these are not those right now.
It's also an airport where my flight from LJU, Slovenia yesterday morning literally dropped us off at the one end of Terminal 1, you then had to get on a bus from the tarmac for a nearly 10 minute ride to the terminal, and then after that bus trip to get to my connecting flight at Gate C, I had a three quarter of a mile walk (and that walk brought you to Passport Control, after which you pass through security).
Lot of people were connecting to the US in the line that you had to wait in for Passport Control, and lot of tension as people were trying to push ahead because of anxiety of missing their flight.

Lufthansa and many Star Alliance flights use Frankfurt, so it is hard to avoid depending on where in Europe you are going or returning from. But damn, if you can avoid that airport you should.

Also, as one member noted, it is highly recommended that you check your bag(s) prior to having to move through FRA airport. We did that knowing it was going to be a tight amount of time and the lighter you are moving through that airport the less unpleasant it will be.

Well, well, well… if this was just me and my husband I think we would cancel this trip. But it’s a graduation gift to our grandson and his mom. Can’t do it to them! Sounds awful! Sounds like we are at great risk of missing our connecting flight and therefore missing our train from Milan Centrale to Levanto later in the day. Nothing to be done.

It is what it is…might be sleeping in the train station. 😢💔

Such a huge bummer!
Monica and family

We have to check bags for the first time in many years because of the carry on weight regulations now in force. Lufthansa is limiting carry ons to 17.9 lbs. We’ve been able to get more in our carry on…but that’s over,

just for clarification …
Do I understand that some of you are saying it’s better to check bags in the US anyway because of the difficulties of navigating and the long walks in Frankfurt?

Just curious…
Thank you,
Monica.

We had a bad experience in Frankfurt where we transferred on the way to Croatia. Hour-long lines at border control going both ways and not at all obvious what to do. We had a 90 minute connection on the way back and missed the flight—long bus ride, Hour-long border control line, etc. One of those maddening situations where half the people in line are missing flights, wanting to jump ahead in the line, low-grade panicking etc. Then line management was poor and we were herded around to a couple different entry points which was not helpful at all. Staff was not sympathetic to missed connections since so many people were in the same boat. Obviously we shouldn’t have scheduled so tightly but I didn’t expect this level of inefficiency. Be wary of the Frankfurt airport.

Hi, Monica.

Regarding EES at FRA airport:

From Canada, I arrived at Frankfurt am Main international airport 3 weeks ago in the early-afternoon.

My plane arrived in Terminal 1. From the moment my flight touched down to my boarding an S-Bahn train from the airport's regional train station for downtown Frankfurt, the time elapsed was about 50 minutes. The "longest" parts was (a) the walk from our arrival gate to passport control, and (b) at passport control itself, which always seem undermanned.

At the self-serve kiosks about 50 metres before passport control, I followed the instructions: passport scanned, picture taken, and fingerprints scanned; all looked okay to proceed. At passport control, the primary agent for my queue was training a secondary agent, and I repeated what I had done at the self-serve kiosk. It's still all good, and I get in my passport a new "2026" stamp welcoming me into the European Union. I don't have any checked baggage: no extra wait time at baggage claim.

Have a great trip!

Dear HL fotoeins,

Thank you for this! Needed to hear some good news. 😊 We pray that our flight from the US will be on time, and we have the kind of success that you had getting through Frankfurt🙌

Once again, thank you to ALL who have taken the time to post their experiences and knowledge. This forum has been very helpful over the years!

Happy travels,
Monica

I’m sitting in the Frankfort airport waiting on a return flight to the USA. I wanted to update you as to what happened as we arrived in Frankfort and transferred to a flight to Milan. I thank all of you for your experience and wisdom as regards to the EES (Entry/Exist System) into the Sheghen states. First of all we made it! That’s the good news. However…our Luftansa flight was 22 minutes early (that’s the good part). But…The EES system was such a mess that they closed the machines and sent us through old school passport control. That left a huge number of arrivals at the malfunctioning EES machines being rerouted back in line to passport control. After arriving early from the USA we just made it to our flight 5 minute before the plane closed the door. We made it to Milan on time… only to be greatly delayed by Trenitalia and track work. LOL!! Good news though…we made it to Levanto (the start of our trip) near the Cinque Terre only 3 hours late. We had a tremendous trip, but now we are back at Frankfort and it’s a super huge mess again. Actually worse. So many confused passengers and workers. It’s all EES problems. Luftansa is running around looking for passengers who haven’t cleared EES!!! It’s awful. This flight will be delayed because of all this chaos. Looks like a long summer of EES MESS! Thankful to be leaving Europe as the heavy summer travel season kicks off. Thank you all for your help. Having a heads up made such a difference for us. It took some of the panic away. Safe travels to you all, Monica

Thanks so much for the update. Although, it isn’t very encouraging for those of us with the Frankfurt airport in our future. My husband and I are going through Frankfurt on the way home towards the end of October, I sure hope things are better then!

Thank you for this update. My most recent connection through Frankfurt was mid afternoon, with no crowds and no chaos. I have upcoming trips through Frankfurt during the busier, early morning connection window.

Would you mind sharing what time your flight arrived in Frankfurt and how long your layover was that you made your gate with 5 minutes to spare. Thanks so much!

Our scheduled arrival into Frankfurt was 7:25am but it arrived at 7:03am. So there’s the 22 minute time gain. Our connecting flight was departing (not door closing) at 8:47am. So this was a tight connection to start with. Thank goodness we arrived early and that Frankfurt passport control cancelled the EES because they couldn’t process all the planes that landed. We had to be bused onto the tarmac to take the flight to Milan Linate. We took at taxi to Milan Centrale and then took a train to the coast to stay for several days in Levanto. I called Luftansa a week before we left to move the Milan flight to a later time because we had learned of the trouble in with EES in Frankfort. . We have changeable tickets, but to move them was over $4000 for 4 tickets in the same hour long flight. Wasn’t going to happen! Let me know if this helps. Happy travels, Monica

That does help a lot, thank you!

The articles that suggest we book longer connections crack me up because, of course, we all booked our flights months (and months) ago.

I land a bit later in the morning, but more importantly, I do have a longer layover, so I'm hopeful.

"We have changeable tickets, but to move them was over $4000 for 4 tickets in the same hour long flight."

I guess they figure they'll deal with rebooking those passengers who actually miss their connections. But it's still stressful, and obviously disruptive.

I got lucky, in a weird sense, for my first EES Frankfurt flight. There happened to be a Lufthansa strike and United put in a waiver that allowed me to rebook for free, bypassing Frankfurt altogether.

I booked my tickets last October. Got them at a very good price. The cynic in me wonders if the massive price increase is to try to make up for the increase in fuel costs? Anyway…3 different Luftansa reps told me not to worry, and that we would make it, or they would get us on another flight when we arrived at Frankfort. I did worry, and we were prepared to get rescheduled for the Milan leg when we arrived at Frankfort. We would have never made it! The early arrival and the cancellation of EES in combination is why we made the flight to Milan. I studied the airport layout and watches videos of how to move from Z to A in Terminal one. I believe that helped a lot towards getting us to the next gate to Milan. Also, we nearly ran with our carry on bags!

By the way just as another update…the food on Luftansa was not good and none of our screens worked. We slept on the flights and arrived in pretty good shape despite the stress of a.wild day.