How early to be at FRA for international flight departure?

The standard recommendations is three hours if leaving the country (Schengen zone). Is it a direct flight back to the US? I absolutely would not do it less than two hours. You might check to see when the check-in desk open. I would be there no later than 5 am, maybe 4.30.

I'm looking at an international departure from Frankfurt (FRA) on a weekday morning in September.

"international" to where?

A flight to Rome and a flight to Seattle are 'international' flights, but have decidedly different time frames for the procedures one needs to complete to board the plane.

Other considerations include the guidelines imposed by the specific carrier that you’re using and also your class of service (coach, business or first class). Last year I saw long lines for one carrier’s coach class. Some airlines at Frankfurt don’t open their checkin desks until two or three hours before flight time. With the potential additional screening for international flights I would plan to arrive around the three hour mark. Be prepared for a possible SSSS. I drew that when departing FRA in 2022 it was professional, thorough, and efficient. Business/first class on Delta have access to shorter checkin lines and also are able to use a type of fast track lane through security. That fast track lane is available for other situations as well.

International flights, in this context is too vague. Are you flying to a country within or outside the Schengen zone? How many in your group? Checking baggage or not? Business class or economy? I'd only arrive 2 hours before take off if I was on an interSchengen flight with only carry-on, had done online check in, and with priority lines at security and Passport Control. In all other cases I'd be showing up at least 3 hours early or when the airline advised.

Sounds like it'll need to be 3 hours.

As for the itinerary and other details, I'm looking at (at least) two different options (possibly others), but all would be departing Schengen to USA, in business class, with checked bags. (One option would be direct to USA on United all the way, the other option would be on Turkish Airlines to USA but with a connection in Istanbul). So in all cases, departing Schengen, destination is USA, but with different options on exactly how we get there.

So OK, 3 hours before departure it is. The things we do for love... 🙄

There are hotels ( Marriott/ Sheraton) IN the Frankfurt airport, so you can actually walk to your gate. Sometimes that takes the sting out of those early flights...
Good luck!

(One option would be direct to USA on United all the way, the other option would be on Turkish Airlines to USA but with a connection in Istanbul).

David, Am I reading that correctly? I don't understand why one would fly from Frankfurt east to Istanbul, and then west to the U.S., when one could fly directly to the U.S. And this is for next Sept.? What am I missing?

David, Am I reading that correctly? I don't understand why one would
fly from Frankfurt east to Istanbul, and then west to the U.S., when
one could fly directly to the U.S. And this is for next Sept.? What am
I missing?

Yes, this is for next September.

While it might appear to defy any rational, conventional (human) logic to fly east from Frankfurt to Istanbul, then "turn around" and fly west to the US, remember, we're talking about airlines here, so pretzel logic often prevails.

Destination is Seattle. Any flight to Seattle from Europe is going mostly going north towards the pole, then mostly south to Seattle, so the east/west bit is less important than one might first think (we all have Mercator Projection maps burned into our heads that distorts things...). It's a "long" flight any way you slice it, and a couple more hours isn't going to make a huge difference - in fact, if I have to stop somewhere between Germany and Seattle anyway (I do), the (apparently) more-intuitive routing would have me stop somewhere in the USA, which breaks up the trip into two long-ish legs, but neither one is long enough to get solid sleep. OTOH, if I stop in Istanbul, the next leg to SEA is 12 hours - perfect length for a nice meal, a movie, and 8 solid hours of sleep on the plane.

So even if the flight via IST takes a bit longer in elapsed time, that'll still get me home feeling better. And the actual, end-to-end time difference won't be huge (a layover in someplace in the USA will waste at least a couple hours).

Plus, it'll cost half as much to go via IST on Turkish Airlines as it would to go via any United hub in the USA.

So, like I said, the logic may seem a little weird at first. But I'm tempted by the one-stop in Istanbul rather than a (twice as expensive) one-stop in some United hub in the US. Others might (probably would) disagree and call me crazy (wouldn't be the first time...). But there really is some logic there (at least IMHO).

Flights are crazy and sometimes require a "logic" all their own. 🤪

Condor has direct FRA-SEA service; have you looked at them?

Thanks for the clarification. Paying half as much does make sense, but the longer flight time would not be my cup of tea. To each his own I guess.

David, there are many places where the check in staff will not arrive until 2 hours before the flight.

That happened to me in Berlin when I had a 6:30 am flight. I arrived at 3:30 am, but no one from Air France got there until 4:15 am. The same thing happened again this year in Glasgow, when my flight left at 9:20. I arrived at 7 am, and KLM did not show up until 7:20 am, 2 hours before the flight. I've decide that next year (I have another early morning flight from LHR) that I will be getting there closer to the 2 hour mark.

In the last year, I‘ve flown twice from Seattle (SEA) to Frankfurt (FRA), once nonstop on Lufthansa and most recently nonstop on Condor. I agree with the others about giving yourself 3 hours.

Yup, I totally get the slightly out of the way routing to save on airfare. Looking at Google flights, I see that the Lufthansa fare is currently much (much) higher for next September than I would consider reasonable, but the Condor flight looks better.

One nice thing about the Condor flight FRA/SEA is that the departure time (currently) is early afternoon, 1:35 pm. No need for an O-dark-thirty hotel departure. I’d still stay in Frankfurt or very near FRA the night before. We left our Frankfurt hotel around 9:30 am to arrive at 10:30 am.

Since you ask about a 7:15am flight, this is what I would do. When you arrive at FRA from the US, go to the ticket window & ask the agent what time to arrive for a 7:15am flight to SEA. The agent may tell you TO ARRIVE LATER based on when the ticket window opens and/or when security opens. Don’t assume either will be open at 4:15am. This is why it’s important to find out for yourself when you initially arrive at FRA from the US.

When I flew to JFK from Terminal 2 a few weeks ago, I made the MISTAKE of arriving 3 hours early. Security wouldn’t let me through until 2 hours before boarding. This was a first for me at FRA. What a waste of time!

Good suggestions all around, thanks. We will have some time to kill when our inbound flight lands in FRA, so I'll be able to go ask at the check-in desk about how early to be there for check-in for the outbound.

I do like the idea of staying at the hotel in the airport - and there's one I can book with points, so that should work out well.

Thanks for all the insights.

Also consider dropping off you bag(s) the night before. Add this to your list of questions to ask upon arriving at FRA! Some airlines will let you do that assuming their desks are staffed in the evening.

....A flight to Rome and a flight to Seattle are 'international' flights, ..... Lets keep our terms straight. Flights within Europe -- country to country - are considered domestic flights. More like flying between states in the US. International flights are between Europe and US, Asia, S America, etc. Two hours is general adequate for domestic flights.