Hi!
Im going to fly from Paris to FRA, one way flight, and then take a flight from FRA to LHR on the same day. So basically arriving from a Schengen country, and leaving to a Non schengen country. I have never been to FRA.
Can anyone tell me if this sort of transit is smooth at FRA? Can I stay Airside for this? Or do I need to go landside as if i was going to stay in Frankfurt and then go through security again?
These two flights im taking aren't linked, different booking, different airline... Thanks

Frankfurt is a large airport, and you may have to walk quite a long way, depending on which two airlines you are flying. You will be going through passport control in Frankfurt, as you are exiting the Schengen area, but you should not have to go landside. Be sure to follow the signs for the appropriate terminal and concourse and *not* baggage claim! There is generally no security check when going Schengen to non-Schengen airside. One caveat: I have not been through FRA since the pandemic started. It's possible that they have made changes to the normal procedure in order to reduce staffing. Perhaps someone else can comment on that?

No difference: the flight from Paris will arrive in the A1-40 pier, you walk off, go to the tunnel to B, go thru passport control and board the flight to London from B2x.

Thanks! My first flight from Paris is with Air France, and flight to London is with British Airways!
so basically when I get off the plane, I follow the � transit � through a tunnel to concourse B ?! How long does this take?
I have only half an hour to catch my second flight..
I will have � priority clearance � as my flight to London is in business class, assuming with the covid-19 airports management maintained priority lines.

Would it be as simple as that at TXL Airport?

I hope both flights are on one ticket, as this could very well go wrong with just half an hour between flights.

Currently, BA and AF both use terminal 1. But AF is likely to arrive in concourse A, BA likely to depart from concourse B. The walk between those concourses varies depending on your exact gates, but it can easily take 15-20 min. Just follow the signs to concourse B. Once in B, follow the signs to your gate number.

You will have no security check. However, there will be two passport controls. One as you exit the AF plane in A. This is an extraordinary, somewhat improvised passport control due to the current entry restrictions in Germany. There will be a second, regular passport control in B when you move from the Schengen to the Non-Schengen area of the concourse.

BA has been using the other side of B Non-Schengen a lot, so it could be B4x. Don't think that makes a difference in terms of distance, though.

Thank you!!! Both flights aren�t on the same booking / ticket, and aren�t linked in any way..!
Does priority lines with business class make any difference to reach my second flight faster?

Good info about the passport check upon arrival at FRA, thanks. But do they just check where you�re coming? Or scan it and register your entry to the german soil?

If you are flying Lufthansa (which I'm assuming since it would no sense to fly AF to FRA and connect to BA to LHR?) then 30 mins is rather tight. The tunnel to B is beside gates A13/15. No special line for business pax, there is not much going on in FRA right now...

The map and app of FRA is rather good for guidance: https://www.frankfurt-airport.com/en...rport-map.html

Of course there is the ultimate FRA connection guide here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luft...kfurt-fra.html

thank you for all that info!! I�m actually flying AF to FRA then BA to LHR..has to do with miles management and usage + business class prices! I havent booked yet though, would you advise me to do this in TXL rather than FRA?
thanks

There exist no priority lines relevant to your transfer.

No. I think these are purely temporary measures to ensure current entry restrictions into Germany are enforced. I don't even know they do this 100% of the time (it happened to me twice within the last 10 days). If you hold a passport from the EU (or UK, CH, ...), they'll likely just wave you through without any real inspection. They don't scan passports or anything like that.

----

Be that as it may, I assume your actual transfer time would be 1 hour. AF coming in at 17:25, BA leaving at 18:25.

The AF1318 may get a bus gate. And bus gates can easily lead to 20-30 min delays at FRA. The plane will sometimes arrive at the remote stand but for some unexplicable reason, it takes like 15 min for a bus to arrive at the stand.

Then, there can be lines at the passport control in B. Sometimes the automatic border control machines don't work and the queues at the staffed booth get considerably longer. Etc.

On the plus side, due to covid-19, delays seem less common. Long queues seem less frequent. But your transfer is very risky nevertheless.

AF to BA in FRA is rather cray cray, tbh. Both AF & BA, who normally use the T2 gates have to operate out of T1C & B respectively but still often park in the stand in front of T2 and the pax get bussed to T1. Since the processes are not optimsed for that it leads to delays as described above.

TXL has a unique structure that is not meant to facilitate transfers. You would arrive from CDG and then walk land side to the BA gate on a different side of the hexagon, to pass thru security and passport control again.

Note that the Paris region is considered a covid19 risk are by the German authorities, so you are technically entering Germany (because of the AF one way ticket) and need to get tested or go into quarantine. Of course you are leaving Germany for the UK, so it should not be an issue, but please be aware of it.

[MENTION=16905]oliver2002[/MENTION] Now that you mention it, something comes back to my mind. From the incoming AF flight, you might end up not in the secure, but in the public area, departure level. You know, you come out in the departure hall B/C. If you have luggage, you need to take down that escalator into the baggage claim/arrivals level.

But to get to B4x or B2x, you'd actually have the BP control at the entrance to B, directly followed by the security control, and then after a short walk followed by the passport control to get access to gates B20-63.

I hope I'm getting this straight. NewbieRunner on the LH forum is the expert on these kinds of issues. My other comment in the previous post was based on the assumption AF drops you in A. But that is unlikely to be the case.

In case I'm envisioning that connection correctly, it's crazy to book that on two separate tickets.

I know it's a very weird and unusual flight itinerary, it's complicated ahah. Thank you both for your help!! I didn't realise my timing was that tight to make the connection... So basically what you're saying is I'd better get the later flight to london taking off at 19:45pm, leaving me more than two hours to make the transfer ?

Hi Newbierunner,
I was told you were quite the expert on travelling through FRA!

I've got a bit of a weird connection to make at FRA, on a friday afternoon early october : Arriving at FRA from CDG with AF at 17:25 and right away taking off to LHR with BA (18:35). So basically two different one way tickets, two different airlines, two bookings, no link whatsoever.

I've had great help from two members in the Germany forum on how the transit would go but would like your expert opinion on the timing :

How timing-critical do you think my transit is ? I have never ever been to FRA.. Is my transit possible, or should i better take the 19:45 flight?

Thank you so much
Mat

To reiterate on separate tickets you do not have a connection. If your AF flight is delayed and you miss your BA flight AF won't rebook you and BA will have you marked down as a no show and likely won't just rebook you for free either onto the next flight.

You also don't have 1 hr 10 mins between arrival on AF and departure on BA. You have 50 minutes because BA will close the doors 20 mins before scheduled departure and that assumes your AF arrives on time and there are no delays in deboarding or getting from gate to gate etc etc

Personally I'd book the later BA flight just for the comfort of not having to rush about.

If you want to ask a specific member a question you can either send them a private message or add an '@' to their FT handle (even then they may still not pick it up)