Is 1 hour and 20 minutes enough to transfer through Frankfurt airport?

Yes

I agree with Arnold. Should be with the normal cop out of everything being on time. It is a big airport so be prepared for some serious walking.

In 2002 we had an hour for a transfer at FRA (Munich to Denver), and we made it. And that was only a few months after 9/11, and we had to go through security three times. Both flights were on Lufthansa so we stayed in Terminal 1, but had to change concourses (A to B). The website for Frankfurt airport is at http://www.frankfurt-airport.com. You should find which concourses you will use and familiarize yourself with the airport layout so you will know where you are going. The flight attendants or someone at the gate might be able to help you with directions. That could be particularly crucial if the flight is late getting into Frankfurt, and you end up with less than 1:20. If you are staying on one concourse, you might not have to go through Schengen immigration check, but if you are changing concourses you probably will.

Just be ready to run. I had the same type transfer, and security after passport control was really a long line. Granted, you don't have to take your shoes off, but they were not real fast. I had 20 minutes after passport control (and this was with carry on only) to get through security and to my gate. I ran and was the very last person on the bus to the plane. Needless to say, I was really sweating the connection while I stood in the security line All I can say is, don't waste anytime looking at anything, really watch the signs for directions to your gate and move as quickly as you can.

I looked at the Frankfurt website, and their connection information indicates that if I have baggage that is checked through or no baggage at all, I can just go to my gate without clearing customs or immigration, as long as I already have a boarding pass for my second flight. This brings up two questions for me. 1) Do they mean that if I carry my luggage with me, I will need to have the luggage screened somewhere and that this might be the rare situation where I want to check my luggage? 2) Can I check my luggage through when I am transferring to Croatian Airlines? And will the check-in desk in Seattle give me both boarding passes? Lufthansa has priced it as a single flight with a codeshare for the Dubrovnik flight. Thanks:)

Valerie: The website seems to be correct - since Croatia is not part of the Schengen zone, and you are flying into and out of FRA to/from non-Schengen countries, you will probably be in the same terminal and hence not have to go through security. I'm confused as to whether your connection is on Lufthansa or Croatian. Either way, you will be able to check bags all the way to DBV since they are both part of Star alliance.

If you look at the overview map of FRA on the Frankfurt-Airport website, you will see that the top floor (level 3) of Concourse A (gates A51-A65) is guarded on both ends by passport control. These gates are for flights going into and out of the Schengen zone. Downstairs, gates A1-A42 are accessible without going through passport control, and are obviously for flights within the Schengen zone. I already found Croation Airline, and it looks like it uses Concourse A, exclusively. If your flight from Seattle also comes into Concourse A, you shouldn't have to leave the international zone (level 3, Concourse A, to make the connection). However, the Frankfurt Airport website will show you the arrival gate from Seattle. Try to check it about the time your flight will be arriving in Frankfurt (CET). Better hope it is also in A.

Great information! Thank you all. From the airport website, it appears that the Seattle flight lands at Terminal 1, but that could be either an A gate or a B gate, so I'm still a little wary about booking the flights. Can anyone see a way to see the actual landing gate?

Actually, that's Concourses A, B, or C. As the time gets closer to landing (that's about 2:30 CST) I'm hoping they refine the gates. It looks like they have for more current landings. It used to be that the website was very specific about arrivals, right down to the gate. If no longer, I guess you'll have to ask Lufthansa.

LH491 from Seattle arrived at 1B this morning at 10:04. What I said about Croatia Air using A was for the ticket counters, not the gate. We still have to see where it leaves from. The seasonal timetable shows it flying on only Tu and Fr, so we will have to wait until Fr. I guess someone expects things to change by Sept 2012, because right now that flight, OA 419, leaves FRA at 10:30.

I wouldn't risk it. Frankfurt is a big and (to me at least) confusing airport with very poor signage. And even if you land on time, the time between then and when you get inside the terminal could be 20 minutes or more. After a couple of bad experiences, I am always nervous about less than 2 hours.

That's a little concerning, so I went back to Lufthansa.com and their routing shows me arriving in FRA and 9:05 and then departing at 10:25 on Sept 26th. I went through the Lufthansa booking site, plugging in earlier dates....May, June, July and on those dates, there is a Lufthansa Cityline flight that allows a 5 hour layover. When I got to August, that Cityline flight disappeared and the only option is the Croatian Air flight. However, when I went to the Dubrovnik airport website and looked at their flight listings as a full document, I could see that the Flight OU419 leaves Frankfurt at a different time each day of the week. I could not, however, get the Croatia Air website to give any such indication of varied departure times. I am going to research this a bit more before proceeding. I have never booked such a short connection before...not even on a domestic US flight.

Something to keep in mind is that you will have to go through a security checkpoint in Frankfurt. Any fliers to the US have to go through an extra security checkpoint, so although you were screened in Dubrovnik, you'll go through another screening in Frankfurt. It's nothing with the airport, it's an FAA regulation.

"Any fliers to the US have to go through an extra security checkpoint" But she is coming from Seattle, going to Dubrovnik. If she has to change concourses, there will be German security into the 2nd one. Anyway, I'm not sure that "extra" TSA screening is still in use. In Sept 2009, I flew from Munich to Duesseldorf to Chicago. I had German security in Munich, nothing else, but, of course, that was a domestic flight. In Duesseldorf I had outgoing Passport Control to get to the international gates, no TSA screening at the gate. Yes, FRA is big, but I don't think any bigger than most international airports (Heathrow, Philly, Chicago), and if you are not using Terminal 2 (Concourses D & E), it's a lot smaller, just 3 concourses. For me, the signage has always been at least adequate. One exception, on my first arrival (at Terminal 2), the shuttle bus dropped me outside Terminal 1, in the street. I wanted the Fernbahnhof. Across the street was a brick building with the DB symbol, but no way to get in. There were no signs on the outside directing me into T1 and over the pedestrian bridge. Other than that, no problems. When I had to change planes and concourses in 2002, I studied the map in advance and knew where I was going.

Part of your issue is you are trying to decide on flights that are approximately 10 months out. Schedules change. Flights get added, dropped and timings moved. Please do not expect to make a decision on the information you have today and expect it to still be true 10 months from now. You are going to have to figure out your comfort level if you are going to book anytime soon. I would rather chance a short connection that sit around for 5 hours after a very long transatlantic flight. However, you will need to figure out how much slack you want in the schedule. An alternative is to take a different route that gets you into FRA earlier to give you enough time on the connection or look into going through a different airport (MUC, VIE, etc.)

In regards to what Arnold said about trying to figure schedules 10 month out, the Frankfurt-Airport website shows "seasonal timetable" only through March 2012, for both the Seattle-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Dubrovnik flights. The airlines might know (or think they know) what their schedules will be in Sept 2012, but it won't be shown on the airport websites.

I think it's safe. We did almost this exact flight, with a 1 hour 10 minute connection, in September 2009, with no problems: Atlanta to Frankfurt, Lufthansa, arrived 8:55 am
Frankfurt to Split, Croatia Airlines, departed 10:05 am In August 2011, we had a 1 hour 10 minute connection in Paris, also with no problems. I personally would choose a tight connection over a 5 hour layover, but that's a decision you'll have to make.

Charlene, thanks for your input. It's good to hear from someone who's done it recently. One question, did you change concourses, like from B to A, or stay in one concourse? It looks like there is one international zone in the top floor of A and one in the "mouse ears" of Concourse B, and as long as you stay in the international zone, you're outside schengen and inside security, and it's just a walk down the hall. However, if you have to go from B to A, you'll have to pass through Schengen and go through pass port control in and again out and security going into the next concourse. When we did it in 2002, from A to B, I don't remember going through pass port control, but I must have since my pass port is stamped. I do, however, remember going through security three times (it was shortly after 9/11), once going into Concourse B from the tunnel, once with TSA at the gate, and once somewhere else.