Frankfurt Main Airport

Not Verified | Oh god was this a catastrophic transit. Whatever you do, book transits at least 2 hours long. I learnt that the hard way by almost missing leg 2 of both my journeys between London and St Petersburg. Delays make the airport even scarier making you have to walk to your next flight in around 40 minutes less than the advertised layover. Security is always chock-a-block packed with people needing to pass through the only 2 lines that are open. One of the largest and busiest airports only have 2 security gates to pass through when it is just packed? Not great, Frankfurt. We did attempt to ask the staff about the hold-up, of which they were quite rude and condescending, and they put us in an orderly queue. Thankfully, the amazing Lufthansa staff delayed their flight for us and we got on in one piece, sweating and panting. Transits give Frankfurt an awful, awful impression to passengers and I'd really want to experience the other bits of it with a long layover. But for now, not great at all.

✅ Trip Verified | Terrible to transit and fly from here. It has been a while since I passed from here and as son as I arrived I remembered. First of all there is a lot of walking around large distances, very long queues everywhere (elevators, service points, lounge). Customer service at Lufthansa is among the worst. I have very bad experiences in the past similar to here from United in USA. The gate was closed early because the plane was far from the terminal. No announcement was made. Very rude tone in general both at the gate and the customer service when I complained for missing my flight. Note that here there is no boarding notification on the airport screens regarding flight status.

Not Verified | This was a bad experience transiting Frankfurt airport. Flew Lufthansa from North America in transit via this airport. The scheduled layover was about 4.5 hours and got extended to around 6 hours due to the plane arriving well ahead if time in Frankfurt. Lufthansa staff were extremely rude and asked me to come 2.5 hours later when I proceeded to the seating area near the designated gate for my onward flight - they said I was too early - wasn’t my fault and this was no excuse for LH to ask me to hang around in a terminal with few empty seats, always occupied washrooms and limited restaurant options. At least LH should have the courtesy to let transit passengers occupy the seating area near the gates when their early arrival is completely due to the airline. Will neither recommend Lufthansa nor Frankfurt airport.

✅ Trip Verified | Frankfurt is a big airport with extremely long docks. Most of the distance a passenger who changes flights must be walked. There are some moving walkways but not always in working order. We had (due to a lengthy atc-caused approach) a 7-minute delay getting docked. This left us with 48 min. of connecting time. A walk of ca. 1.5 km was necessary to reach the A terminal. A passport control (fast, automated) and a thorough, TSA-inspired full-body scan security check. Only because we could use the fast lane did we not miss the plane. The dep. terminal must be reached by train. The plane was way out. Taxi times to and from runways are long. Staff was fairly indifferent, not friendly, especially the security guys. When I was trying to remove my hand luggage from the x-ray belt, a man in civilian attire said: Hello! pushing me aside to remove another case. He turned out to be an employee. I told him that in Germany you say Bitte or Excuse me, Sir. The whole procedure reminded me of the US TSA checks where grumpy, underpaid workers usher you thru. The full-body scan requires you to remove no-metallic things from your pockets, such as hankies, paper, etc. I compared this to Zurich, where the staff is always courteous and patient. The stupidest idea the airport has had is the positioning of (not always speaking German well) passenger helpers in red attire, who cannot do anything to ease the stress. The information booth near immigration was manned by a surly looking old man who should be retired. I asked him: Do we pass immigration if we want to go to terminal 1, his reply was a curt: "Just like it says on the sign". Typical German. He could have just said, Yes. Unless you are a physically fit hiker you should plan at leas two hours for a plane transfer. Lufthansa booked us with only 60 minutes, clearly insufficient. Avoid this airport.

Not Verified | Worst security line of any airport. The business class line took over 2 hours! Avoid this airport at all cost, especially if you are a business traveler and are expecting fast service.

✅ Trip Verified | Late Start from Zürich because of “Arrival restrictions”. They try to maximize profits and Customer Service is nonexistent. Instead of having a few slots less, they always struggle in vacation periods, when there is bad whether etc. Ways are long and designed to maximize shop exposure, not to minimize time. Maintenance of escalators is bad, nearly every day I am there at least one is not working. Go through Munich.

Not Verified | Just had a horrible experience with the policeman at passport check. I was coming back to Brazil via Frankfurt and the policeman refused to speak in English and treated me and my family really impolitely. He refused to talk with us altogether, even though my parents don’t speak English, and insulted me saying that “he was the law here, and in order to be listened to I must be German”. After all he sent us out and said to me that “next time he would send me to the immigration office”. Really bad experience and certainly a downside for a family trip. Wouldn’t visit Germany again, especially entering via this airport.

Not Verified | This was the worst airport experience ever. The passport lines took over two hours to get to the A gates. Everybody missed at least one fight and some people missed two. Lufthansa's booking on an international flight scheduled with a connection of less than 45 minutes transit time is unthinkable with the way passport control ran.

✅ Trip Verified | Appalling security staff. The Frankfurt Airport Security staff are the rudest, most arrogant and most unpleasant and unhelpful we have ever encountered. They never smile, never say please and give orders as if you have committed some crime. They seem to enjoy making you uncomfortable. They checked everything in minute detail, much worse than at Gatwick or Heathrow and almost caused us to miss our connection as the security took so long. There is very little signage or instructions about what to remove from your bag and the pat down was almost obscene - they check every little part of your body and even examine your belt carefully. My wife was traumatised by the experience and we have both vowed never to use Frankfurt again or to fly with Lufthansa as this is their hub. We had recently flown to S. Korea and Japan and the contrast with the security staff there could not have been more different. In both S. Korea and Japan, the security staff were pleasant, helpful, smiling and unfailingly polite - why can't the Germans be this way? Do they have to be rude and arrogant?

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is an absolute nightmare for transits. I was aware of their reputation, but I figured I could give it a try today, cause, you know, how bad can a German Airport be organized? The experience this morning was jaw dropping: People were missing flights to multiple destinations. My flight in from Amsterdam was parked at some remote area first, where we had to wait for a bus for quite a while. The chaos at the transit security check that took me another hour made me miss my connecting flight to India. The security officers were rude, unhelpful, un-empathic. They argued with each other. They closed lines. One officer would collect a group of passengers out of the lines for a certain destination who where about to miss their flight and lead them to the front of the line. Then that officer would leave and another would come a minute after to send the same people back to the back of the line. Unorganized amateurism I haven't witnessed before in 10 years of frequent flying, in Europe, the US and Asia. If you're transiting through Frankfurt and you can't reconsider, plan for at least, at least!, 3 hours to do so. But if you haven't booked yet then just choose another route.