Originally Posted by
RichardInSF
I arrived from NYC on LH en route to a 45 minute flight to BRU and am sitting in the term A Senator club.
First, at immigration there were long lines. As I neared the front of the long line I was in, the cop/border agent shut his window and told all of us still in line to just go to the end of some other line. Then he walked away.
The security checkpoint after immigration to get to terminal A is operated close to what I imagine a prison intake system is like. People are rude, bark orders, and there are often huge lines.
Transit for handicapped and mobility limited to get from where I came in to terminal A must be a real mess as it requires traversing at least a mile.
Terminal A amazingly has a significant restroom shortage.
And so it goes....
Compared to any international US airport I know, Frankfurt is nothing but a breeze.
I believe that no American citizen is rightfully in any position to complain about immigration checks in another country. The US will certainly get the price for the most tiring and in general most unfriendly immigration checks. Even China is quicker and more friendly.
I further believe that nobody not speaking the local language is in any position to complain about "rudeness" of Germans speaking English as a foreign language. The structure of the German language is more direct than the structure of the English language and a general friendly remark of a native German speaker may well be understood as rude it if it is directly translated into English.
You might however wish to try what happens at US immigration if somebody speaks to one of the border guards in another language safe English or - with massive restrictions - Spanish: They will plead complete ignorance and stick to the style and the politeness quite a few of them learnt in the US military. As soon as the US welcomes me in German language I am happy entertain such discussions. As this will probably never happen such discussions are fruitless.