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Will 2 hours to get to train at Frankfurt airport be enough?

We will be arriving American Airlines at 7:20 a.m. and have purchased tickets on ICE to Stuttgart which leaves at 9:20 a.m. We will have to pick up our luggage and go through customs. Will we have enough time to make the train? How do we get to this train station?
Thanks

Posted by
2297 posts

If you indeed arrive at 7.20 am you'll have enough time to get your luggage, go through immigration and customs and reach your train. The train station is very easy to find, well signed without much walking needed.

However, what if your flight is not on time? Make sure your train ticket is still valid if you take a train later. Some pre-booked discount tickets with Deutsche Bahn are only valid for a particular train and connection. Loosing a reserved seat is not a big deal, but having to purchase new tickets can get costly.

Posted by
6590 posts

It depends mostly on your AA flight. I was scheduled to depart Zurich last month at 10:00 am; but the Air Canada plane from Toronto I had to get on didn't arrive in Zurich until 3 pm, resulting in a 6-hour delay for both sets of passengers. Anyone who got on in Toronto with non-refundable train tickets out of Zurich undoubtedly took a good hit. If you've already purchased non-refundables, then about all you can do is cross your fingers.

Posted by
8934 posts

It should be plenty of time unless your flight is delayed. That said, Frankfurt airport is usually efficient and flights from the US not only land on time, they are often up to a half hour early. Tail winds! Especially East Coast flights. Once landed, I figure anywhere between 30-45 min. to walk out of the doors of the airport. Just pick up your suitcase and walk out. There is not the suitcase, luggage control like they have in the US. The passport control will not ask you annoying questions so you get through there quickly too. They just look at your passport. The train station from where your ICE leaves is then a short walk away, perhaps 10-20 min. depending on which terminal your train lands at.

Posted by
19052 posts

On the FRA site, I see an American Airlines fight (No. 070) arriving at FRA at 7:20. That must be it. The site shows it arriving at Terminal 1. That's good! Terminal 1 is much more accessible to the train stations than Terminal 2.

I've flown into FRA four times, but I've always had just a carry-on bag, so after passport control I just go to the exit and leave. Nothing has ever said that I had to go into baggage claim and customs. Two hours has been plenty of time for me, but I don't know what happens if you go into the "baggage claim".

Anyway, when you come down the hallway from the concourse into the great hall of Terminal 1, on the left side is a second floor mezzanine. Out near the streetside window wall of the great hall, again on the left, is an escalator to the mezzanine. There should be a sign there (at the top of the escalator, I think) saying it leads to the Fernbahnhof.

Go up the escalator, across the pedestrian bridge over the access road, and out through the hallway to the station. You come into the Fernbahnhof at the highest level and have to go down escalators to the tracks. The Bahn schedule says that your train leaves on track (Gleis) 6, but it would be wise to double-check the schedule board to be sure. Each escalator serves a pair of tracks so you have to go down the correct one.

Posted by
50 posts

Thanks to everybody for your replies. I have already purchased the tickets, so I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. Thanks for the instructions to find the station. Lee 70 is the correct AA flight. I'll print them out.