findark

Apologies if there is a thread for this already -

I have a pretty dumb question about the EasyPass RTP program for US citizens. I transit FRA a decent bit and it's usually my port of entry into Schengen as LH's main TATL hub, so I was considering enrolling. Are the enrollment centres at e.g. FRA landside or airside?

I was having trouble parsing out where in FRA the office would be according to the program website Thanks!

TheMadBrewer

It is landside, on the ground floor near one of the entrances. Don't do what I did and go to the Police office on the 1st (US 2nd) floor

When I enrolled in October it took about 20 minutes -- but half of that was the officer trying to find the other officer who had left his terminal logged into something and was locking my officer out

findark

Drat, I suspected as much. How much time would it take to go landside, enroll, and then head back airside? Something tells me that's a little on the crazy side but my current trips are all just transits of FRA and maybe I'm not giving German efficiency enough credit

TheMadBrewer

Can't really help you there -- I'm a T2 Non-Schengen guy. Security there is usually quick but I have never been thru T1 Schengen...

ralfkrippner

In Terminal 1 A, checkin area Lufthansa First Class towards the leftmost entrance on the the departures level (looking from airside to entrance). It's within a kind of modern glas/metal built hut.

BSBD

seawolf

YMMV. That's assuming no one is ahead of you and/or nothing comes back in background check.

findark

Unfortunately, all of my upcoming FRA transits are 2h00 or less. If I get in early and feel bold I might go for it (I find it hard to imagine any security line being that long) but not all that likely.

On the flip side, I've never had to wait all that long for passport control either, so meh

norenewa

xichang08

We applied in 2016 and were told it was tied to the passport we used to enroll and valid until that passports expiry.

This information came from the officer who handled our application.

norenewa

TheMadBrewer

Used my EasyPass-RTP for the first time this month. When OK, except the "helper" at the gates saw my US passport and insisted I was in the wrong place. I kept trying to tell him I had registered and he kept insisting I had to go over to the other line. I still had my enrollment form and showed it to him and he finally let me use the gates. I probably didn't save any time -- but hopefully I will in the future.

I do have a question though -- for the exit check can I also use the EU gates? They do have automatic gates for US (and other countries) but sometimes the line backs up and you have to wait until enough clears so that you can reach them. In my case, it was a large group of young people -- under 18 -- so they couldn't use the automatic gates and the line backed up quite far. I was eying the empty EU gates but wasn't sure if EasyPass-RTP lets you use them.

seawolf

Yes you can use it for exit but the problem again is the helper.

norenewa

findark

So I finally have a chance to be landside in FRA, and I have an exceedingly dumb question... where is the enrollment center? I looked around for maybe 20 minutes tonight before giving up. I found a Bundespolizei office next to the security checkpoint into Z from T1 Hall A (level 3), but it seemed to be closed (was ~19.30). Hours online claimed until 21.30 but "core hours" were only until 18.00.

Reading the comment thread makes it seem like that was wrong, but I didn't find anything else likely-looking, hmm..