Hello!
I am from Chile traveling to Frankfurt on Latam from GRU and arriving at 16:30 on terminal 1. I will have a checked bag and I need to take a train to Berlin, I’m looking at one that leaves “Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbf” at 18:19, do I have enough time to make that connection? I haven’t been to Germany before but I found that there are 2 train terminals at the airport, are they close to each other?
thanks in advance for your advice!!

2 hours should be enough time, provided there are no significant delays...Frankfurt Airport has two railway stations: the Regional Train Station (Regionalbahnhof) located in Terminal 1 and the Long-Distance Train Station (Fernbahnhof). Since you're arriving at Terminal 1, you're already in the right terminal for the Regional Train Station, but your train to Berlin will likely depart from the Fernbahnhof, which serves long-distance and intercity trains. The Fernbahnhof is about a 10-15 minute walk from Terminal 1. The signs in the airport are quite clear, so you should be able to find your way fairly easily.

Yes, if your flight is on time then that is plenty of time. Without stopping, it takes about 20-25 minutes to walk depending on the arrival gate, so that gives an hour of time for customs and baggage claim. I don't know your immigration/passport situation, so I don't know how long it will take, but I've never had to wait more than 10 minutes for immigration (I haven't checked a bag though, so I can't say for sure the wait).

The two stations are right next to each other, just with some roads separating them. One is the S-Bahn (city/metro) train station, and the other is the mainline train (inter city) train station. Flughafen fernbf is the second one (mainline trains) and is located slightly further away - you will need to go up and across a bridge over the roadway to get to it, it is reasonably well signposted.

As already noted in the two replies you have received, you have sufficient time as long as your flight arrives on schedule. In addition to clearing immigration, retrieving your luggage and passing customs, you will also need to purchase a train ticket and possibly reserve a seat (required for many trains) for your trip to Berlin. You should be aware that many German rail tickets are valid for specific trains only, and that Berlin has several train stations.

Tagging on to this thread, mostly to see if I have it correct.

We will be arriving on LH from Krakow. It looks like these flights arrive into Terminal 1, and the gates are A, B or something called BSO. We are scheduled to land at 2:25. We won't have luggage to collect and won't need to clear anything since we're coming in from Poland.

We need to catch the train to Heidelberg. There are two options: one at 2:51 or one at 3:24. The 3:24 seems like a lock if the flight is on time.

What I don't know is if Heidelberg on the ICE trains is "regional" or "long distance". Can anyone clarify that for me?

If regional, it looks like that station is pretty much right inside or beneath Terminal 1. If long distance, it looks like I walk a bit on an overpass walkway to get there.

I'm not going to buy any of the tickets in advance; I'm just trying to figure out if I can make the earlier train if 1. We're on time, and 2. We hustle it.

ICE are always long-distance, so you probably won't make the first train. Get a rail and fly add-on to your LH ticket and your ticket is valid on any train on that route.

Didn't know that was an option, so thank you! I usually book into first on the ICE. Anyone know what happens if, on the off chance, there are no first class seats when we hop on the train since there won't be seat assignments?

Some trains require seat assignments, though sometimes only for certain portions of the journey, so be sure to check when you purchase your tickets. If your train doesn't and you can't find 1st-class seats, you won't get into trouble if you sit in unreserved seats in 2nd-class for your relatively short trip from Frankfurt to Heidelberg.

There is no requirement for seat assignments on domestic train services in Germany except for a few night trains. This requirement does exist on some international services (Warsaw, Paris..) and on other international services during summer. However, only the international part then requires it.

Coming in from DFW-LHR-FRA (AA then Lufthansa.) arriving around noon. How long does it take to go through Customs and immigration with checked baggage? Then how long walking to the ICE train station (under the hilton I think?) Heading to Koblenz for 3 nights before we go to Hamburg for cruise departure. Also can the luggage carts travel that far? Any hotel recommendations in Koblenz also appreciated looking at the Hotel Moujan as it has a balcony overlooking the Rhine.

Thanks in advance.

If this was tomorrow, these would seem to be your nonstop options after noon:

1:24pm RE2 (regional train), arrives 2:54pm
1:58pm ICE228, arrives 3:11pm

I’d probably book the ICE train. Cheaper and more comfortable and only one stop (vs. 9 for the regional train).

Surprisingly this ICE train is leaving from the regional train station, which is actually closer to the terminal.




To address your actual question…. Hard to tell how long the immigration lines will be when you get there. And it’s probably a 10-15 min walk to the long distance train station under the Squaire building, depending on how much luggage you have and how fast you can walk. I think you can take the luggage cart all the way to the train station. I would not book a train less than 90 mins after my scheduled arrival unless it’s a flexible ticket. But that’s me… I hate to stress about missing the connection or running to the train station. Any spare time I use to buy some bakery goods and drinks for the train. There are plenty of kiosks along the way.

Ok and the wife will need to smoke too! Definitely taking an ICE for the luggage storage. I'm sure schedules will change some before we come in August 25. Hopefully the AA award milage will come down to FRA so I can book direct instead of through LHR. But trying to get an idea.

Did you (plan to) book separate tickets on AA and LH? Will AA check your bags through to a LH flight? If you have to claim bags, you’d have to enter the UK at LHR, I think. And then maybe change terminals?

Either way I change terminals and since they aren't on the same ticket I assume they won't check through (even if I booked BA on the LHR-FRA leg) but LH has more flights and times and I can walk from T3 to T2 without having to schlep the luggage on the train. We arrive at LHR at 625am so I was planning a 930 LH flight to FRA.

Ideally I would fly DFW FRA but at 366K miles PP vs 110 to LHR ....

Also, BA uses T2 in FRA, which requires a bus or train ride to get to T1 where the train station is.