Frankfurt Main Airport

✅ Verified Review | Terrible airport, avoid. This outdated airport is very inefficient and confusing for its passengers. After arriving in terminal B, I had to transfer to another flight in terminal A. The gate has been changed twice, both last minute. The route to the different gates and terminals is confusing and difficult to find. This is because the signs are conflicting and not clear at all. In addition, the standard travel time between terminal B and A is 40 min according to the official signs, and this is without all the confusion! Luckily I had some time between my flights so I made it on time. Other downsides of this airport: many toilet areas for males were in maintenance, so it was very busy at the remaining toilets. Security was quite thorough, plus the alcohol beverages I bought in the duty free shop in Portland were confiscated (normally liquids purchased in duty free shops are allowed). I would avoid this airport at all times and transfer through Amsterdam Schiphol Airport for example.

✅ Verified Review | My wife and I both came through Frankfurt airport on connecting flights to and from the US, separately coming from the US and together going back to the US. On the way through the first time, we both remarked that the security checkpoint people (who are German Polizei on detail at the airport) were not only unnecessarily slow to the point of lethargy, but were unprofessional and menacing in an odd kind of way. They're all very young men who spend the entire time laughing and joking with one another, while intermittently delivering sneering, low-key abuse to the travelers who have to go through their checkpoints. On the way in, the young man who checked my passport was laughing with his friend and then switching to a deadly serious face when I walked up, after which he tried to imply that I was traveling with a young woman at another window. It was an inappropriate interaction that left a bad taste in my mouth. My wife said that the security guy she dealt with was also strange such as when the guy tried to trip her up by speaking in Polish because her US passport lists Poland as her place of birth (she does speak Polish fluently, but this kind of thing never happens anywhere else). On the way through on the way back, we were caught on our plane from Rome without a gate to park for 30 minutes because, as the Lufthansa pilot literally said through the intercom on the plane, "Lufthansa is paying Frankfurt airport to do a bad job." Not a good look for the main hub of Lufthansa. The airport is very inefficiently laid out, especially Terminal 1's Z50-69 (where our connection was at the end), which is, end-to-end, literally 1km from the center of the airport (it adds maybe 15 additional minutes walking from the point at which you enter it). Since we were made very late by an absurdly short scheduled connection time of 45 minutes and the mess-up with our gate, we had to sprint. The airport staffer very nicely let us go through a first-class line to the security checkpoint (kudos to her), but said that she couldn't help us move farther up in security because the Polizei wouldn't let her. Now, the TSA in the US and other security agencies in other countries have tons of problems, but the concept of using security personnel to judiciously move people with tight connections up in security lines is pretty universal and a hallmark of efficiency - not at Frankfurt apparently. The Polizei could see we were anxious and made jokes to each other about it. The line allowed us to move up a few people, and then when we finally were called up to a window, the guy moved like a slug as we panted and sweated in anticipation of reaching our plane, which by this point had actually concluded boarding according to the time. He tried to get my wife to give him her Polish passport as well, which she doesn't have anymore, and wasted additional time just sitting there for another 20 seconds before passing the passports back. We sprinted to the gate and the Lufthansa crew very nicely let us still board, as the last passengers, no thanks to Frankfurt's awful security people and, according to the pilot, regular logistics mess-ups.

❎ Unverified | Arrived at airport 2 hours before the flight. Checked in and headed for the departure / duty free area. The queue just to get through passports was over an hour. When I finally got to the front of the queue there were 3 automated passport control points for EU passport holders that were available but no separate line for them. Had to run to the gate. No time to shop or get something to eat. Had to go through security to get to the gate. (Typical in Germany). Once inside was informed that the flight is delayed. Only 1 shop available to get a prepackaged sandwich. Nowhere to sit down. Also no info display for delayed flight.

✅ Verified Review | Arrived in Area A at Frankfurt Airport with both myself and my wife looking for a toilet before going to Area B for onward connection. The first Gents' toilet I found had a notice to the effect that it was being serviced and referring me to another toilet in Area A. That toilet also had a notice to the effect that it was being serviced and referred me back to the first one. My wife also found it difficult to find a usable toilet. Getting to Area B also proved stressful as my wife does not like lifts and getting to the connecting tunnel involved a long descent by stairs with an equally long ascent when you reached Area B. Also the tunnel is so long that we saw two guys skateboarding its length - I envied them! Just to round it off, I found someone's boarding pass but couldn't find Security Personnel to hand it in.

❎ Unverified | Awful experience. Few info screens. Flight info and gate info only available at the last minute before scheduled boarding. No chance to use business lounge despite a 90 min layover. Rude staff. Huge queues for security and had to re-check in. Beyond the check in gate a primitive holding area with dirty toilets. Weird system where you got to the front of a huge queue to be told you had to go to a different counter and queue again just because you were in transit. No signage or announcements to indicate this. No apologies of course. Only plus point was it was so bad I don't feel embarrassed about UK airports anymore.

✅ Verified Review | This is my fifth time through the Frankfurt airport and each time, I hope it will be my last. Because I was driving in from Freiburg I (and my wife and older daughter) decided to stay in the Hilton hotel. The first problem came when we dropped our luggage at Squaire 16 and tried to return to Terminal 1 to drop off the rental car. As we left the hotel, the sign seemed to indicate "straight ahead." Instead it was a poorly marked access road on the right 20 minutes later we were back at the airport. From there we tried to find our way to the hotel. I've probably gone through 20 international airports and this is one of the most abysmally marked. The layout "schemes" are completely unintelligible (and my daughter is a fluent German speaker). There are no information kiosks - we finally found our way back to the hotel. Then we went in search of an Apothetek (Pharmacy). It took 40 minutes and vague directions from half a dozen people. I'm now revising my view of Charles de Gaulle as a disaster.

✅ Verified Review | We had allowed 1 hour and 50 minutes for transit, plane was late on arrival allowing us maybe an hour. The plane had to taxi along for 15 minutes and there was the pick up bus, another 15 minutes. The distance to travel from terminal to terminal by foot would be 800 meter plus 2 flights of stairs down and then 2 flights back up, there is no escalator, only one lift which might accommodate 20. Staff don't seem to have people skills and were very rude, we had a problem with one passport that would not scan, I had gone through first with no problems, my partner was then told to go else where to line up, very stressful with only 10 minutes for boarding. He was on one side of immigration and I on the other. Staff could not care less. Needed some water to have a sinus tablet before flying no drinking fountains at the airport could only find vending machine selling evian water for 3 euro and water in the bathroom was warm, coincidence? This is not a user friendly airport, if doing transit flight I would avoid this airport next time or allow a few hours for airport delays and stuff ups.

✅ Verified Review | Their immigration is horrible in particular for non-EU citizens. They are so disorganised. I used this airport twice this year for transit and I think I'll never use it. On the first time, they suddenly closed the immigration gate which I waited 30 mins and told us to go another gate, so I had to start waiting in another line from the end of the line. On the second time, they opened new gates and then people nearby ran into the gates, some pushing away other people who had been waiting longer. It was unacceptably messy. There were only few gates for non-EU citizens and took so long to go through that. Some officers take extremely long time to check each and some do not. So, if you are in a wrong line, you will get stuck in the queue.

✅ Verified Review | I have travelled through many airports but this one was by far the worst airport I have travelled through. It's a mess, very unhelpful and unorganized staff. The amount of stairs I had to take with my carry on was ridiculous. The amount of time I had to wait on the bus before we take our connecting flights. I will never take Lufthansa again and I recommend that no one does until the authorities fix that mess they call an airport. They also have to work on the staff attitude. Everyone I dealt with was rude and unhelpful.

✅ Verified Review | This airport is a total joke, I had the sad misfortune to have to use Frankfurt Main on a flight to Valencia and back from Valencia. The transit was through Frankfurt Main. On my first flight in Frankfurt from Brussels the aircraft was parked at a remote stand, and then passengers bused to the terminal, what airport but Frankfurt thought you could get a whole A321 on a bus, it was dangerous to say the least. On reaching the terminal, had a long walk to find the gate for my next flight. Very poor signage to help the passenger, very few staff and the ones that try to help just cause a bottle neck where passengers are asking questions that could be provide by better signage. All in all a very bad experience. Sadly on my return flight even worse, if this airport could get any worse! The flight again an A321 came into a gate in the C concourse, I mistakenly thought it would be an air bridge to the terminal no, not at Frankfurt Main, yet another over crowed bus again to the point of being dangerous. In all my years of travelling this has to be the worse airport I have used. The airport cares nothing for the passenger, so as I have a choice of flights next time, I will give this airport a wide berth.