Flying Lawyer

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.

WorldLux

I disagree (at least partially). I've probably had as many bad experiences with IOs in NYC than excellent experiences elsewhere. Last entry into the US was at DFW and the IO was by a landslide the friendliest IO I've ever had.

Maybe it's just me, but German IOs always strike me as rather grumpy. They are per se not unfriendly, but they aren't welcoming either. In contrast to that, IOs in the US engage in small talk (where are you heading to, are you going to visit that national park, enjoy your stay, etc...) That's something, you'll never hear from a German officer.

mandolino

Small talk, especially when performing a service with people waiting, is generally considered unprofessional in Germany. There are plenty of exceptions, of course.

linglingfool

I believe US IOs are taught to do this to see if they can catch inconsistencies in the subject's answers.

Flying Lawyer

I personally believe that they are trained to do so to find inconsistencies in the story or the intentions of the person they are dealing with.

And there is a further big difference: The US guy will engage you in a conversation in his native language English because they expect that the entire world speaks that language.

The OP and more than 90% of the American citizens expect a German border guard to speak English as it is once again their native language. The native language of more than 90% of the German border guards however is German. So don't expect them to do friendly small talk in English.

I wonder what would happen if they were to start the small talk conversations you mentioned in German. Probably quite a few of our American friends would complain because they are interviewed in a language they don't understand.

oliver2002

According to an IO I talked to in 2008 its mostly to bridge the time between scanning in all your details and the response they get from the CBP system. The German BP uses the SIS, which is rather quick as it only scans the SIS database for known felons etc. and doesn't make a visa decision like the CBP.

mandolino

The average IO that scans your passport on entry anywhere isn't a highly-trained investigative officer. They are low-level bureaucrats. The highly-trained people show up now and then and you can tell the difference immediately.

That's why so many countries have e-gates now. The sit-down guy/gal scanning your passport is mostly job-creation.

WorldLux

That goes without saying. But they wouldn't have to tell you that "that national park" is really worth visiting and tell you to "enjoy your stay", etc...

I've never spoken English to a German IO. I always stick to German. No small talk, no "have a nice trip", etc... . Usually I don't even get a respond when saying hello or goodbye. I can live without it and sure, they are not per se unfriendly. They simply come accros as more stiff, more distant.

My longest conversation with a German IO went as follows:

• I need your driving licence
• *Handing driving license* - Why do you need it?
• It was reported stolen X years ago. *Checks it and hands it back* Thanks.

FLYGVA

Honestly, I do not expect them to be friendly and I do no expect to have small talk by a European officer. Small talk is on the one hand not professional and usually avoided and it is o the other hand time consuming. Au contraire, if asked personal details or more details as my destination or the city where I boarded the plane, I would refuse to answer and immeadiatley ask for the reason. This is, if there is no need and no explanations for this questions, among other things a privacy issue.

WorldLux

@Flygva: I prefer a little meaningless chitchat over starring at each other awkwardly.

offerendum

+1. The small talk issue is very different between Germany and the US. By the way: Many Germans find the US smalltalk facile and think it's all faked.

VivoPerLei

Terminal A used to be a lot worse. At least now they have modernized a portion of it and added some decent sized restrooms. Used to be just a series of one-holers. The new LH lounges are also world's ahead of what they used to use.

My only gripe now about the A Terminal is if I have to make that trek all the way to the nether gates to catch a flight. Can be a very long walk if unlucky.

Chinatrvl

Until now, I actually thought I was briefly interrogated this year when I entered the US at MSP for the first time in a very long time. After reading through some post here, I guess it was just small talk.

scubadu

Of course it's faked, that's why it's called "smalltalk."

Regards

offerendum

Not really. Can be small talk and not faked. I put a lot of useful informations from small talk in my job and it´s often quite interesting.