Travelling for the first time
 

Hello,

Can someone please advice? I am travelling for the first time to any international destination and am uninitiated in international travel.

I am to be travelling from a non - schengen country to Frankfurt (FRA) and have to immediately catch a connecting flight to Paris where I have to attend a business meeting set up at the last minute. I would have only a german schengen.

Can someone advise on following?

1) what is the minimum time connection time one should keep in mind to ensure you do not miss a connecting flight?

2) Does one have to clear immigration and customs for all baggage in Frankfurt? or does one have an option of checking luggage through from source to the final destination (Paris)?

3) what are the main points to consider to ensure that you do not miss your connecting flight.

regards

Are your connecting flights booked as the main part of your international ticket?

If you have the connecting flight booked on a separate ticket to the flight you are arriving on, you will definitely need to collect your bags, and re-check your bags in for your onward connection.

The bare minimum connecting time for Frankfurt is 45 minutes.

this depends on the airline. It does not hurt to ask at check in whether the airlines have a baggage agreement and whether the baggage can be checked through to the final destination (bring print outs of your reservations).

If you have only one ticket, your baggage will be checked through to CDG and you will not have to pick it up in FRA - you will enter the Schengen region in FRA but do your customs at your final destination.

What airline / airlines are you flying? For example if you fly with Lufthansa both parts transfering will be fairly easy. You will arrive in Frankfurt, look up the gate of your connecting flight and follow the signs to this gate. On your way you will go through passport control since you will enter the Schengen Area in Frankfurt and you will go through security (this is because you arrive from a non-Schengen country). After that you just walk to your gate. Connecting time is 45 minutes and security check points should have so called fast lanes where you can cut the line when you have only short connection.

Frankfurt Transfer Guide

Just to make this very VERY clear - the above statement is incorrect.

The correct information is:

If all flights are booked on the same ticket your bags will be checked through.

If they are not then it depends on the airlines concerned and whether or not they have a baggage interlining agreement. I have done many international flights on separate tickets without having to collect and re-check my baggage.

And, as caspritz78 rightly stated, we really need more information from you as the answers will depend on what airline(s) you are flying with

Hello All,
thank you for the responses. For someone who has no clue, it provides a lot of information. I hope to follow them scrupously. I hope to travel by lufthansa. I hope to keep a gap of 3 hrs at best.

Another ignorant question, on the way back from CDG to FRA does one clear
immigration, customs and security at CDG or if it what happens where?

any other suggestions are most welcome.

Once again thanks.

regads

You don't go through anything then, since you travel between Schengen+EU countries. No Customs, no immigration. Only security as usual on every airport.
It's like a domestic flight in the US.
Once you entered the Schengen area, you are free to travel between those countries without any immigration procedures. You will go through immigration at the airport where you are about to leave the Schengen area, FRA in your case.

Greetings from Germany

A others already mentioned, pls. do not mix up Schengen and the EU. Within Schengen, you do not go through immigration, within EU you do not go through customs (except for a non VAT-areas such as the Canary Islands). If you travel to/from Switzerland/Norway/Iceland then you don't go through immigration but you do have to clear customs since all of them are in the Schengen area, but not in the EU. If you do e.g. travel to/from the UK then you do have to go through immigration, but not through customs, since UK is in the EU but not in the Schengen area. For travel between France and Germany you do not go through immigration and customs, since both are in the EU and in Schengen.

hi Again,
Just to confirm my understanding again, I beg for a reply.

I travel by Lufthansa from a Non- schengen country to FRA on a German Schengen visa.After clearing immigration , I am to catch a lufthansa flight out to Paris. As all flights are booked on the same ticket ,baggage checked in would be to CDG.

On arrival in FRA, does one have to take a seperately marked 'Q' for passport control/immigration? if yes, does this mean you exit the airport and then come back in, and look for the gate of your connecting flight to CDG?

What is the approach to be? How does one know one is the right line for immigration/passport control

regards,

You are worrying yourself too much.
When you arrive at the gate, you should look up and see a monitor with your connecting flight information on it. Follow the arrow.
Keep following the signs for the gate where your departing flight goes from.
Do not exit.

Follow the immigration line to "all other passports" and then after immigration simply follow the signs to your departure gate. In general, you normally do not experience too much of customs (no declarations or forms) when arriving in the EU. Unless you carry more than one duty free shopping bag or big chinese boxes they will not really be interested in you and you just go through the green channel.