Frankfurt Main Airport

After a very long flight from New Zealand via Thailand I arrived at Frankfurt airport and can honestly say that I have never met such rude and crass staff in 20 years of international travel. Transit from one terminal to another was fine with a shuttle train but the security queues were chaotic and managed in a very rude manner. I noted that few of the staff were actually proper Germans. The spectre of staff shouting at each other at 530am was not civilized. The Lufthansa ground staff are shockingly rude and I will not use Frankfurt airport again. There are more civilized alternatives!

Travelled through here en route from LHR to JNB and from CPT to LHR - Frankfurt is now close to being the worst in Europe. A once great airport for connections has been transformed into hell. Long walks along dingy dimly lit corridors many without travelators. Security checkpoints are a disgrace with mostly rude staff EUR1 charges for additional LAGs clear plastic bags and horrendous queues. The separate queues for premium passengers were closed on both legs of transiting this airport. After the landing we were met with closed doors something in which LHR used to specialise. Even with First Class tickets on the return leg everyone must go through the same security checkpoints again with no premium lanes and long queues already at 5.30am.It is a shame MUC does not have the number of connections as FRA as this is a much more civilised airport. FRA as a connecting point should be avoided unless desperate. Also the provision of internet connection facilities lags behind anywhere else in the world - not sure if this is an airport or airline user issue.

We flew out of this airport two weeks ago. It was the most frustrating airport experience that we've ever had. They have the doors leading to the check-in area blocked so it created a huge bottle neck of people trying to get to the check-in and baggage drop off areas in Terminal 1. There was a nice gentlemen who looked to be a manger. He stepped in and helkped us and even let us skip in the first class line. If it weren't for him we would have missed our flight. We got there 3 hours early and got through security and to our gate right as our flight was boarding. Security was ok but once we passed there was a second security set up for Lufthansa which took a long time to get through and we were number 4 in the line. Once we got on the plane we had to de-board because security had somehow messed up. So we spent another hour or so driving in circles on a bus around the airport before being taken back to the airport and had to go back through security. They were nice and let us through early since we had two small kids. Then we had to go back to the bus and wait for everyone to show up. Then we were taken back to the plane. After waiting to have the plane de-iced we finally departed. We arrived at our destination 5 hours later than what the itinerary was set for. We got there just in time to secure our rental and call the hotel before our reservation had been cancelled. I love Germany but I hope to never fly from this airport again!

I arrived from the US with one hour delay. I still had more than 2 hours for my connecting flight. Unfortunately the gate was not available so we got apron parking. The buses waited until the very last person left the plane. it took me 110 minutes to get trough the security. Like many people around me I watched boarding and flight times come and go as they waited. But nobody cared about that. They had only 3 lanes open for all departures from A Gates. The staff were unhelpful. They urgently needed to open more lanes and wouldn't do so. A Supervisor explained that the staff was having lunch. But after 90 minutes still only 3 lanes were open. They were also incredibly slow. May be they were on go-slow but it has never taken me so long to get myself and my bag through. Almost everybody set the scanner off and was searched completely unnecessarily. Almost every bag was searched after X-ray completely unnecessarily. A very very poor customer experience. It will make me think twice about flying Lufthansa again so that I don't have to use that terminal.

Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1B is obviously not properly set up for international departures. If took me 90 mins to clear security. Fortunately I had allowed plenty of time and just made my flight. Many people around me watched their boarding and flight times come and go as they waited. They had only 2 lanes open for all departures from B Gates. The staff were unhelpful. They urgently needed to open more lanes and wouldn't do so. They were also incredibly slow. May be they were on go-slow but it has never taken me so long to get myself and my bag through. Almost everybody set the scanner off and was searched completely unnecessarily. Almost every bag was searched after X-ray completely unnecessarily. A very very poor customer experience. It will make me think twice about flying Lufthansa again so that I don't have to use that terminal.

Whilst the German populace at large had been made aware of impending cold weather and snowfall for the preceding five days the operators of Frankfurt Airport were clearly caught with their pants down on 27th November. Our EK flight scheduled for 1425 departure was finally serviced by the de-icing vehicles at the gate at 1505. Then the aircraft was not pushed back until 1600. Why is such an antiquated de-icing process used in the first place? Much easier and more efficient to de-ice aircraft at the end of the taxiway immediately prior to take-off. As a result of Fraport's wonderful incapability our flight was also put in a 30-minute holding pattern overhead DXB. I am puzzled to see that Fraport advertise their "expertise" for sale to other airport operators.

Other reviews have emphasized just how awful changing flights is here and my experience was no exception though my return flight from Geneva to Osaka was an exception. And my experience has been confined to Terminal 1. On a recent trip it took two hours to go from Gate C13 to Gate A40. There was just one official checking passports at the immigration gate for entering the Schengen zone so loads of passengers were pushing in with varying degrees of politeness because of their earlier flights. On the other hand transferring from Gate A34 to B23 was very smooth with the moving walkway in the connecting tunnel being fully functional and hardly anyone at the passport control. However after passing through passport control so quickly I had to waste time checking the departure gate for my flight. The departure gate for my flight to Osaka was posted on the monitors at Gate A34 but not on the monitors just outside the passport control. So I was wondering if there had been a gate change. Finally boarding the flight by row numbers proved chaotic though this might have been due to Lufthansa. Transferring via Frankfurt is like being an out-patient in a very poor ill- equipped hospital. This is because the publicity suggests that it is a wholly therapeutic experience.

While brusque or unpleasant security and border checks are hardly unique to FRA I've never encountered shop staff so unpleasant as in a recent trip connecting through the US flights area. At one coffee shop they even began mocking a customer (in German of course) who had the nerve to request a bag to carry a muffin with her to the plane (and what kind of airport coffee shop doesn't have containers to let you carry stuff aboard with you?)! Beyond the obvious personnel problems FRA is cursed with a horrible design that goes to extreme lengths to sort passengers into areas based on their destinations - and clearly wasn't originally designed to do so. Signage is atrocious - one sign actually had marker scrawled on it by staff to clarify just which gates were in which direction. A horror to navigate made worse by the constant fear that turning the next corner will accidentally take you outside of one border/security area and require you to pass through that whole process over again. All this makes for a horrible journey point and I haven't even got to the interminable busses between plane stands and the terminals.

Arrived FRA by RailAir from Stuttgart with 3.5 hours before onward flight to Manchester. Took 2 hours from leaving the train to getting thru security and passport control and sitting down for a cup of coffee. Just read previous posts. Massive lines at bag-drop/check-in desks in the main hall (so we went back to the bag-drop close to the station) 15 minute line at security gates and only 4 out of 12 staffed 20 minutes wait at passport control during which time one officer disappeared for 5 minutes and another disappeared completely never to be seen again so suddenly my line was effectively twice as long. Very poor signage compensated however by very helpful and numerous ground staff.

Looks like my experience was not uncommon. Confusing signage and building design but its the security that's the most confronting. They are rudest and most aggressive I have experienced - not just to passengers but to their own colleagues as well. The full body frisking was done in a very aggressive manner - I don't know what they expect to get from Xraying my passport and boarding pass. I passed through Tokyo transit security and the end of the flight wearing the same clothes and with the same luggage without any incident and all with a pleasant smile from security.