Is 2 hours enough time at Frankfurt to connect

If you can check your luggage all the way to Cairo and on the way back to SF then 2 hours layover is enough assuming that your plane is not delayed. You don't have to go through immigration in Frankfurt. Egypt is obviously not Schengen country. My educated guess is that you will have to go through the security check in Frankfurt again. Those years when you went through security just once when you started your flight are unfortunately gone because of terrorism scare.

I am fairly sure you go through security again. It is a fairly organized airport.

Much as I personally dislike Frankfurt airport, the type of connection and the time you have should not pose any concern.

Bet on extra security checks these uncertain times. The US is pushing hard on transit airports like Frankfort to increase oversight. I'd not really be over worried with a two hour layover. Always found Frankfort with typical German thought of efficiency being necessary to part of getting any job done, in this case the job is moving people to catch flights. Frankfort prides itself on that job. If you have more time next transit take the airport tour (think it still runs) which takes you by bus around the tarmac showing off how well things run and describes the remarkable history of the airport. Probably be in German, but even catching a little meaning among the airport views is well worth the small fees. Yes, Frankfort can be over busy, demanding and sometimes frustrating.
Prefer Munich or Amsterdam but Frankfort carries a very heavy airplane load every day.

Thanks everyone for the responses.

David,

I seem to connect through Frankfurt on just about every trip to Europe (in both directions), so I've been through that process many times. I've had connections as short as one hour and managed that without problems (although it was "close"). Frankfurt is a huge airport so it can take some time to get from one gate to another (that was certainly the case this year).

Two hours should be more than enough, but the actual connection time will depend on how quickly you get off the first flight and how long it takes to get through Passport control. If there are a lot of flights arriving at the same time, only a few agents working and you're at the back of the line, it could take awhile.

I've found that the agents are usually very efficient, and the process moves quickly. You will have to go through security again. If you're using a code share flight, your luggage should go through to your final destination, and you won't see it until you arrive in Cairo.

Can you give us you flight numbers? I was trying to find the gate numbers for your arrival and departure and things don't jibe. According to the current FRA schedule, there is an Egypt Air flight arriving FRA at 14:10, but the last Lufthansa flight to San Francisco leaves at 12:15. (Maybe your flights are for a date not on the schedule).

If you go in and out using the same concourse, the upper floor is an international transfer zone and you should not have to go through security or immigration to go between gates. If you have to transfer concourses between B, C, D, or E, I think the international transfer zones are connected iwithout security and immigration. I'm not so sure about Z (the floor above the A gates) to BCDE. There is a tunnel between AZ and B, but when I went through it (more than 10 years ago) I had to go through security at the new concourse, and I'm not sure the tunnel is not outside the international zone.

About a year ago I changed at the Frankfurt airport to go to Prague. Can't say that I was favourably impressed. I had to go through security again. The first time the alarm was triggered by my nylon belt with a plastic buckle which I specifically use to not set off security alarms. The second time the alarm was set off by a used paper tissue [think Kleenex]. I told the guard he needed to recalibrate his wand. This all sounds pretty Mickey Mouse but when connections are tight it can make a difference. I nearly missed a flight a few years ago at the Toronto airport because a couple of security guard were bickering about the orientation of a mat.

Dear Lee,
The flight to Cairo is not as much an issue since the layover is 4 hours and 20 minutes. Those flights are LH9053 LH7174 or LH455 LH7174. The LH9053 is actually a United flight, and the LH7174 is an Egyptian air flight. The LH455 is a Lufthansa flight.
The flight from Cairo to SFO is the main concern since layover is 2 hours and 10 minutes. Those flight number are LH585 LH454 and both are Lufthansa flights. Thanks.

OK, so you flight back to Frankfurt is not on Egypt Air, as you indicated ("other way on way back to San Francisco'). I was taking your post as the true situation in checking out you situation. Thanks for the clarification. Now it makes a little more sense.

So far the schedule from the airport does not indicate a gate, so I can't tell if you will have to change concourses. Still, 2 hours should be plenty of time.

Both your flights are Lufthansa, LH uses Terminal A. According to the arrivals schedule, your Cairo flight will come in to terminal A and your SFO flight will leave from Z, which is the upper level of A. You should have no problem getting between the two. As a point of comparison, we were scheduled into A from Copenhagen last year at 11:15, with a 1:15 PM to Philadelphia. We were fine. If I recall, it took us 13 minutes from out the plane's door to the gate area for our ongoing flight, walking casually, stopping to confirm directions to Z (we'd not been to FRA before), taking in the airport, and going through the internal security when we entered Z level. Terminal A is large, it's possible that your total walk could reach towards 1/2 mile with backtracking, but I can't see any issues. If your 1st flight is running late, they should help you.

This was so smooth we had no hesitation about another all-Lufthansa flight pair through Frankfurt this spring.

Note that this was after the stepped-up security checks for flights back to the US had been announced; there was no additional delay since we came through air-side. It's possible your screening may be more careful since you are coming from the Mid-east.

"LH uses Terminal A".

There is no Terminal A. Terminal 1 consist of three concourses, A, B, and C. I've flown Lufthansa to/from Concourse B on several occasions, but not since Concourse A was expanded recently to two wings, so I thought possibly Lufthansa had moved all gates to A. But no. A look at today's schedule shows Lufthansa still using gates in all three concourses, although mostly A. But yes, the schedule shows the Lufthansa flight from Egypt coming into A today (tomorrow over there), but that doesn't mean it will do so when you arrive. In the past I have followed my flight arrival in the days before my flight and seen the gate (or concourse) change. Once my flight from Munich arrived at A, but my flight to Denver left from B. The previous day, when I checked the boards, both flights were using A. I used the tunnel between A and B and avoided (as I remember) immigration, but had to go through security three times before I got on the plane.

Z is an immigration quarantine zone for those going through Frankfurt airport without entering Schengen. I believe you can get off the plane and go right to Z without having to go through immigration, but I'm not sure you can do it going between concourses.

Frankfurt Airport has 2 terminals. Each airline has a dedicated terminal, but the gates they use at each terminal change constantly. The Arrival Gate is not posted until close to arrival. Departure gates are finalized about 2 hours before a flight, though they don't change as often. If your boarding pass has a gate marked on it, your flight will most likely leave from that gate. This isn't set in stone though.

Terminal 2 has Gate D and Gate E.

Terminal 1 has Gates Z, Gate A-1, Gate A-2, Gate B-1, Gate B-2, and Gate C-1.

Lufthansa uses all those gates.

Check arrivals and departures on their website, and take a look at the map.
http://www.frankfurt-airport.com/content/frankfurt_airport/en.html

It is possible to stay air side behind security for all of the gates, including going from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. Lots of passengers do not have visas to enter Germany, so need to stay air side going between connecting flights or during layovers.

Check on Flight Aware to see how your flights average with being on time or delayed, though it is always a just a good guess due to weather, etc. Your layover of 2 hours should give you plenty of time.