Frankfurt Airport

yeah I would be worried to. Pre-terrible transit my friend and I went through Frankfurt to get a train to Cologne. The plane leaving LAX was late by 30+ minutes to take off. We had an hour and fifteen to get from Frankfurt airport proper to the train station which directly connects to the airport. Needless to say we missed our train. On a good day, it takes 30-45 minutes just to get through customs (if that is where you need to get through) now it can be much longer. 80 minutes is prob too short of a time frame. Customs isn't far, but things are slow, and even slower now. I'd honestly check with the airline though (which I know is a total hassle) ~ Frankfurt is horrid imo as far as the layout (its up there with LAX).

That could be tight, depending on whether you need to go through Passport Control or not. You won't need to go through Customs until your final destination.

Have you looked through the FRA website? They have a helpful section on transferring between flights: https://www.frankfurt-airport.com/en/flights-and-transfer/transferring-at-fra.html

Thank you both very much. Yes I read that link. Did not really tell me what I was looking for.

Last May we came into Frankfurt on United. They parked the plane on the tarmac because there was no available gates and bused us to a gate. Airport personnel were waiting and were very helpful with connecting flight info and where passport control was. Even with all of this we were at our gate within 30 minutes of landing. There are signs everywhere directing you.

Thank you, Margie

On a good day, it takes 30-45 minutes just to get through customs

jaeson, any time I've arrived in Frankfurt, or any European airport, for that matter, customs has taken no time at all. "Nothing to declare" - it's a walk through. Sure you're not talking about immigration (passport check). That can take longer.

But how could you "miss" a train to Cologne? There's probably more than one train an hour. Did you have advance purchase, train specific tickets? That would be a problem. I tell people never to try to use advance purchase tickets on arrival in Germany.

Katherine, you haven't really given us a lot to go on. I assume you are flying into FRA from the US. Is that right? and going on to another German city, or at least another Schengen country. Right?

Not all flights from the US go into Hall A. Actually, no flights from the US go into Hall A. Hall A is for in-Schengen flights. International flights use the floor(s) above A, which are called Z, in the same building. Or they can arrive in Hall B. Last time I arrived in Germany from Denver, it was to Hall B. Time before it was Hall Z.

Get familiar with the Frankfurt Airport website. It will show by the day in what Hall your flights are arriving, although that could change from the last day you looked at to your arrival day.

When you are arriving, ask the FA at what hall you are arriving and have her check your connecting flight for what hall it is in. S/He might have some WOW (words of wisdom) for you concerning where you go.

Assuming you do arrive at a Z gate, and your outbound flight is from an A gate, they are in the same building, on different floors. When you get off at a Z gate, most of the people in your plane will be going to immigration, follow them, it's kind of at the root of the A and Z concourses. After immigration, you will go downstairs to a the A gates, which go to Schengen countries. Note, A and Z gates share the same jetways, they just direct you to a different floor depending on from/to where you are coming or going.

Apologies. Yes Boston to FRA then to Zurich. This is what is on website: “ Lufthansa and all its partners are located under one roof in Terminal 1 and at Pier A, which has been built exclusively for Lufthansa”. I was asking if passport control/security is in close proximity or will we have to go to another area. We do not have much time to catch our connection. Thank you for your time Lee. I appreciate the advice. Katherine

OP: The Pier 1 A gates and Z gates are just two different levels (Z is on top). One level is for Schengen, the other for international. You go through passport control to get between them. Some flights my get parked out on the tarmac ("V" gates), and you deplane to a bus which takes you to the terminal proper, but it is still Pier 1.

Thanks, Alan!

Katherine, if, indeed, your flight arrives at the Z pier (concourse, whatever) and your flight to Zürich leaves from an A gate, all you have to do is find the passport control area (probably at the root of the two V shaped concourses, to go from Z down to A. Both piers are within the same security zone; you won't have to go through security.

In 2017, when we arrived at FRA to fly to the US, we went through security into the A zone. Then we went to the emigration (outgoing passport control) and went up escalators to the Z level, where we went to our departure gate.

That is, of course, if you really go from a Z gate to an A gate. If either of your flights uses B, that changes everything.

Katherinejl when we have a tight connection (yours isn’t necessarily tight) in a large airport we check several day’s worth of actual arrival gates and then departure gates for our flight numbers. You can do this on the Lufthansa site or on Flightaware.com. This can give us a pattern and a better sense of how we’ll walk it on our travel day. We also Google maps for the terminals.

Thank you to everyone - these emails have been very helpful.
Katherine

I just flew into and out of Frankfurt airport (FRA) this month. Also I spent time learning the airport because I had to meet folks on two different flights. I found that the airport was very very easy to navigate that it had great signage.

I have to agree with raymonelee, if you take the time to learn FRA, it is actually well laid out and easy to navigate. I'm most familiar with A/Z and B, not so much with D/E, which I haven't used since 2000.

Terminal 1, used primarily by Lufthansa and Star Alliance airlines, and comprises concourses A/Z, B, and C.
Terminal 2 for other airlines (including American, Delta, KLM, etc, comprises D & E.

Concourse A and parts of B, D, & E are used for flights in and out of Schengen countries. Concourse Z, C (which last I knew was closed), and parts of B, D, & E are for flights in and out of non-Schengen countries. All of those "zones" require security to enter from the "street-side". Once inside A/Z or B, and I think D or E, you can move between Schengen and non-Schengen in that zone without going through security. You enter the A/Z building through security into A, then go via passport control into Z if you are flying to a non-Schengen country. At B, you enter through security into the Schengen area, then go through passport control to get to the non-Schengen gates.

There is a walk-through tunnel connecting A and the Schengen part of B. I believe you have to go through security to enter either concourse from the tunnel.

There is also a people mover, the SkyLine, with stations at A/Z, B, C (closed?), and D/E. The stations have streetside (outside security) and non-Schengen, airside platforms. The train has individual cars dedicated to streetside (or public side) or non-Schengen, airside. The doors in a car open only to the appropriate platform. This allows passengers who lack permission to enter Schengen to change concourses coming from and going to non-Schengen countries.

Streetside of FRA comprises the ticketing and check-in areas as well as shops, and also the non-secure cars and platforms of the SkyLine. You can transit these part of the terminals and the SkyLine without going through security.

It is my understanding, although I have not been able to confirm this, that passenger going from concourse to concourse using the non-Schengen, airside of the SkyLine must still go through security after leaving the train, before they can enter the gate areas.

There will be a short quiz following the reading of this post.

This Google Maps view shows the A/Z building. The wing that starts just to the right of the RyanAir sign and extends out at an angle to the runways beyond where it says Hermann's is what was just the A concourse when I first flew into FRA in 2000. If you arrived at FRA from the US, you were immediately routed from the jetway down to the first floor where you went through immigration. I guess if you came in from a Schengen country, you stayed on the main level with gate waiting areas. As planes grew bigger, most could not fit in the bays at A, so many of us deplaned on the tarmac and were bused in to the terminal.

Sometime before 2013, they added the new building parallel to the runways with wider bays to accommodate bigger jets, including those that flew in from North America. That new building was built with the lowest floor, called A, for in-Schengen flights. There are two upper floors with gate access, called Z, for out-of-Schengen flights. The original A concourse was remodelled to add an additional Z level.

At the intersection of these two wings is 1) security coming in from the ticketing and check-in areas, and 2) an area for immigration/emigration where you can transit between the A and Z levels. Immigration/emigration is inside security, so you don't have to go through security if you go between A and Z gates.

Lee, thank you for taking the time to do all this work. I will reread everything on the flight over.
katherine

Lee, thank you for taking the time to do all this work.

No problem. Believe me, it's all part of my quest to know everything there is to know about travelling in Germany. And you can help me with that quest when you come back by telling me everything you found out when you were there.

As I said earlier, the last time, 2017, I flew into FRA, we deplaned at one of the outer gates in the B concourse, so I know not all transatlantic flights come into Z. Of course, then, we went out through immigration to get to the Regionalbhf and a train to St Goar.

Have you found the page on the Frankfurt Airport side where they give the realtime arrival and departure gates for each day? You can't always rely on that information, things always change, but it might give you an idea of what you might be up against.

If one of your gates is in B and the other is in A or Z, there is a tunnel between A and B. I'm not sure how you find it from B, but as I remember it is somewhere around gate A14/15 in the A concourse. The overhead sign doesn't say anything about a tunnel, just that that is the way to B.

From the same point you can go over to B using the SkyLine on the roof. I think you can go from Z to B (non-Schengen) by going to the SkyLine station near gate Z15. If you do that before going through immigration (passport control to enter Schengen), you might be able to enter the non-Schengen part of B without going through security (I haven't been able to confirm that). If so, you can then go through immigration in B and go directly to a Schengen gate to depart from B; you would not have to spend time in security.

Wow, perfect. I will certainly report back to you.

OK Lee, here is the story. The 5:30 pm departure was delayed by 30 minutes at 0800. Upon arrival to the airport it was further delayed by about 35 minutes. TripIt alerted me to the second delay before it was announced in the Lufthansa lounge. I went straight to the desk and they had only 2 seats available on the 0940 flight from FRA to Zurich. They changed our ticket to the later flight. Flight was then further delayed another 45 minutes due to a thunderstorm. By the time we got to Zurich we had to quickly get from A to hall Z and when we got there discovered it had been changed to hall A between the time of the announcement about connections on the plane and the time we reached Z. So back we ran. Passport check was quick and easy. Our return Zurich to FRA flight arrived in hall A and the connecting flight to Logan left from Z as well.

Someone suggested following the flights the week before on Flight alert. I did that - the flight from Boston for the previous 10 days left on time only once. Most delays were around an hour to an hour and a half. The connecting flight to Zurich took off on time all 10 days.

Thank you very much for all your help.

Katherine, do you remember numbers of the gates you used in A and Z? In particular, did you leave for the US from a Z gate Z50 or higher? I think that the new wing, Z50 to Z69, parallel to the runways, was built to accommodate large, intercontinental jets, that sometimes used to board on the tarmac because there were not enough big gates to accommodate them.

Speaking of late flights, in 2007, for my Romantic Road trip, I flew to Munich from Philly on USAir (now part of American). After I made my flight reservations, I started tracking the departure times on USAir's website, and was appauled to see the flight to Munich left 7 and 9 hours late on 2 days in the next week.

I called USAir to find out why, and, typically, I got passed around from person to person, none of whom had access to that information. Somehow, miraculouly I ended up talking to someone in operations (I'm sure the airline never intended for me to get that far), and he looked up the reason. In both cases there was a problem with a piece of the plane's equirment , which had to be replaced.

The other thing I observed on their website was that planes to certain Eurpean cities (London, Paris, Rome, etc) were almost always assigned to the same gate in Concourse A. The flight to Munich normally left from the same gate, except for when it was late. Then it was assigned to a gate normally used by another city's flight. In other word, whenever a plane had to be delayed do to equipment problems, it was assigned to Munich (apparently a low priority), and Munich's plane went to the city normally served by the gate with the delayed plane.

By the time it got to my flight date, they seemed to have solved their equipment problems an I arrived in Munich on time.

Hmmmm. BOS to FRA arrived Z50, FRA to ZRH A56
ZRH to FRA A64, FRA to BOS Z54

We were shuttled and boarded from tarmac in FRA to ZRH

Interesting, the Frankfurt airport orientation map shows a boarding area for A56, in the Halle between the boarding areas for A54 and A58 (same for Z), but the Google Maps satellite view of the tarmac shows aircraft taxi paths to gates A58 and A54 only.

There are 11 boarding areas in that A/Z wing (50 to 69). Four of them 56, 60, 64, & 68 are tarmac boarding "gates".