Frankfurt Main Airport

BA flight to Heathrow at 07.25 from terminal 2 - no business lounge open in the terminal - is this Leeds/Bradford or an international airport? Security staff rude and miserable - I'm not happy to be up at that time of Saturday either but I can still smile. FRA is always being held up as some big threat to Heathrow but give me T5 anytime - Frankfurt is a very poor ambassador for a friendly country.

FRA airport it is a big airport and a main airport to interconnect around the world. I use this airport as my interconnecting airport between North/South America with Middle East and Asia and I find it easy to get around good sign postings very polite and helpful staff everywhere. The facilities shops and restaurants are more than sufficient and with a wide variety.

A horrible layout with frequently unpleasant staff (especially security) to add icing on the cake. Heaven forbid you're making a connection and your arrival and departure are from different wings or different terminals. Even if they're both Schengen (or non-Schengen as my recent trip was) you'll wind up going through security at least once. And of course if you don't like the food and shopping options in the arm of the terminal you're in your only option is to yes wade through a security checkpoint all over again! The problem is compounded by poor signage often courtesy of Lufthansa (could someone please instruct them that white lettering on a yellow background is not a readable choice). At one point I didn't even notice I had exited one security zone to enter another until I was almost past it (no sign saying "Leaving secure zone" only a "no entry" sign facing the other way!). When I asked the security officer who saw me there trying to see what the other side of the sign said he forced me to go through the security line all over again if I wanted to turn back! Of course this wouldn't be nearly as big of a problem if each section of each terminal had adequate food and shopping options but all but one of them most emphatically do not. International travelers going through a major hub expect more choices (without a trip through security) than just one sit-down restaurant one coffee shop one news stand and a duty-free! I won't even get started on the small infrequent and hard-to-find restrooms. That said if your destination/departure is Frankfurt the range of ground transport options hotels and car hire makes it quite convenient. For everone else I'd much rather connect through a modern efficient hub like Amsterdam or Zurich!

This has to be the worst unfriendly airport I have had the pleasure to transit through!! My advice as many others have said in this forum is to avoid it. They cut off padlocks from our luggage when in transit and ruined our suitcases. No explanation or note left or anything. They also confiscated a 1 ltr bottle of Baileys Irish Cream which we had bought at Domodedovo in Moscow. It was purchased from duty free and sealed in a plastic bag with receipt. They simply asked where we had travelled from and when we replied Moscow they took our alcohol and put it in the rubbish bin. We were only in transit not even entering their country! Staff rude and place confusing.

Overall Frankfurt is okay but not particularly cutting edge. I often fly to the UK from it and hate the fact that you have to go through security twice. For flights to the UK you go through the main security area but then have to go through a smaller security right before the gate. Usually when I am traveling it is with my young son and after hauling all my luggage through security number two to the gate waiting area I have been dismayed to see that the toilet is outside the gate and before security. I then have to haul all my stuff back out of the gate to use the toilet and then go through the security line all over again. What idiot puts toilets outside of the gate and security? At least put a sign warning people there are none in the gate waiting area!

Even though it was the beginning of the holiday season queues were fairly short and security took me about 3min (Business). Check-in was no problem either. There is sufficient choice of shops and restaurants. FRA is always very clean even though the design lacks some colors everything is gray. Staff polite they don't smile as much as Asian employees but what do you expect in Europe. I cannot understand why most people here complain about FRA airport. It's a big airport

FRA is quite well organized for such a large airport. My main confusion? In terminal A the bathrooms are single-person bathrooms!! When I travelled through recently there were queues of 8-10 people outside each door creating unnecessary back-log and crowding into the terminal. I can't for a minute imagine why an airport as big as Frankfurt would have single- stall bathrooms. I don't know if that's how it works in other terminals but it did in the main Lufthansa terminal A. Also upon arrival we had to use airstairs and be bussed into the terminal which took a long time - there was a traffic jam and we could not leave the bus for a long time. And this was arriving on a full wide-body aircraft from the US.

Arrived from Canada In Terminal 1B connecting to a flight to Rome in Terminal 1B. Lots of expensive places to get a coffee or snack in terminal 1B. Very confusing and poorly marked underground walkway to "A" area. Once there had little time to look for restaurants etc. Restrooms were all very clean staff were all helpful overall a pleasant airport. One word of advice though security is slow as we had to clear on the return.

The handling of people needing assistance is inadequate and inefficient in Frankfurt. You wait 5 minutes until the check-in assistant can get hold of someone coordinating the assistance then 10 minutes are needed for the electric car to come and another 2/3 minutes for the driver to key in data on his PDA. Then you are driven a few meters and put off at security where a second person waits for you and looks at you going through the security check; this person walks you 20 meters further to a bench where you wait another 15 minutes for the next car to come(3rd involved person) and again for the input of data in the PDA. In Bangkok or Beijing no hightech electric cars but a simple wheelchair with a single person who brings you from A to Z ! And this in Terminal 1; in Terminal 2 things are worse as the cars do not fit into the elevators.

Arriving from the brilliant Terminal 5 at LHR Terminal 2 at FRA is a bit of a nightmare. Huge distances to walk through featureless and dimly lit corridors. Large number of missing ceiling panels with wires and pipework hanging down just looks bad. Long wait at passport control and another long walk to the transit - to get to Terminal 1 and all the public transport options. It's all looking a bit tired and in need of maintenance at the moment - unusual for a German airport especially their primary international hub. As for departing Terminal 2 - stay well away from the food hall in Terminal 2 - it's vile. Things do get better airside though.