Passport Control in Germany

Carol,

My husband and I flew Lufthansa from Chicago through Munich to Budapest in 2015. Yes Passport Control is in Munich. The signs were pretty easy to follow. My husband had to pick the slowest line - the shortest isn't always the fastest. The gate for our flight to Budapest was of course the very last gate. It was a little crazy. If you are able bodied and your flight from Denver is on time, you should have enough time for your connection.

Good Luck,
Georgette

Thanks for your reply! Did you have to go through security before you connected to your flight to Budapest? Hopefully that will save some time if we can forego the security lines.

I recently went through Frankfort, both coming and going to Europe. Security was on alert this time. Went through security after passport and then another small screening near my gate. Past trips through Frankfort were faster, and more casual in the screening area. I know this is Frankfort and not Munich, but there may be a heightened security at this time.
Passport control was fairly fast with only a minute spent with the officer.

You (should) never have to look for passport control at German airports. Basically just follow the signs to your connecting gate (or baggage claim at your final destination). If a passport control is needed, it will be somewhere along the way.
Of course, it is possible that someone made a mistake and you were dropped off in the Schengen section of the airport; but from your description, I'd rather assume that you were simply in a transit/non-Schengen gate area? That would be perfectly normal (outside of the US, which do not have transit areas in airports). Airport security in the US is considered as sufficient, so on flights arriving from there, you can reach an area with non-Schengen departures without security or passport check. To get landside, or to a departure for another Schengen country from a non-Schengen area, you always have to go through a passport check.

Also, Lufthansa has 5 flights a day from Munich to Budapest. If you would get delayed and miss a connection, they can put you on a later flight. The Denver flight arrives at 9:50 am and your connection is at 11:30 am. There are also flights at 2:35 pm, 6:25 pm, and 10:15 pm.

We just had exactly the experience chris-s describes, but in Frankfurt. The Schemgen flights are in a different concourse, so you have immigration while changing gates. Of course the lines for “All Other Passports” are out of your control. We were not asked to show our next ticket, but maybe how long we’d be in Germany..

Hi Carol. I fly to Europe from Denver through Munich whenever I fly to Europe. We have always gone through passport control upon arrival in Munich (almost never more than a few people in line) and then onto the connecting flight. In my experience, we have always made our onward flight even with connecting time as short as yours will be. 90-100 minutes should be plenty of time to make your flight to Budapest. I love flying through Munich. You will find it a small, well-signed and very manageable airport with helpful staff. I haven't flown through Frankfurt since they resumed the nonstop flights from DIA to Munich.

Thank you all for your replies--very helpful! Based on your insight and comments, I'm going to keep the flights as they are (even with the 1 hour and 40 minute layover in Munich) and keep my fingers crossed for making our connecting flight to Budapest. I would rather have more time to spend in Budapest than spend it in a 4-hour layover in Munich.

Security checks these days for hand luggage, even from one flight to another, are more intense than in yester-year, at central locations and then maybe at the gate itself. You walk, you wait, you walk some more. As you point out, time is relative, but it's hard to bend it.