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Frankfurt Airport plus and minus re security

The good news about FRA is that passengers arriving from N.America and going on to another cocntry outside the Schengen Zone, such as Croatia , do not go thorough security, customs or passport control in FRA, just wait in one wing for their connecting flight. This is a pleasant improvement.

The bad news about FRA is they still demand outgoing passengers who are in Germany and leaving for International spots go through the vert understaffed and overcrowded snake like security systems, A new problem caught me this week - I always take out my laptop, and take off my belt. No he said, leave the belt on. Do you have a cellphone in the bag? Yes, one. OK go on ahead. Mu Osprey Apogee daypack - super - has unusual zippers and was full. First request after it passed thru X ray was to open the zippers. Next request was to wait. As usual, my electronics are in a pouch. By the end they had laid out all my electronics - camera, backup drive, etc on a new tray.

Nest time, he said, put it all in something we can see .

So I recommend you put any and all electronics including phone chargers, etc in a see though bag and put it in a tray next to your laptop. A Ziplock bag would so. That way they can see it and take it out. It was not a fun experience and. I speak German. They messed up my bag zippers so I had to grab and sash for my flight with bag half open. I think I will even open the zippers next time.

There were not enough staff on duty, still. A problem, worldwide. Leave extra time for security. Like an extra hour.

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... passengers arriving from N.America and going on to another cocntry outside
the Schengen Zone ... just wait in one wing for their connecting flight.

Problem 1: There is no guarantee that both flights will use the same "wing" (concourse or pier). You could have a flight arriving from the US in Concourse B, but your flight out leaves from an A gate. Then you would have to use the SkyLine shuttle. Good news: on the SkyLine you can stay entirely "airside" (that is, out-of-Schengen), so you don't have to go through immigration. Bad news, from what I've been able to deduce, to get into any concourse from the SkyLine will require going through security. Note: if you are flying Delta or American, which use the D/E building, you can go between Concourses E and D without using the SkyLine or leaving security.

Problem 2: Even if your gates are confined to the Z level of the A/Z building, gate Z69 is at the very end of one wing, the one parallel to and back from the runways, 4/10 of a mile from the hub for the two wings, and Z24 or 25 at the end of the other wing, the one that juts out at 45° to the runways, are about ¼ mile from the hub, so you could have a big hike between gates.