formeraa

I just came back from a wonderful trip in J on LH. The Shrimp in Chili Sauce was possibly the best seafood entree that I've had on an airplane. The FA's were friendly and very efficient. Overall, it was a great trip!

However, I had never been to the FRA airport. I knew that I was in trouble when the FRA welcome video took 15 minutes and I had to watch it twice to begin to understand the airport. We pulled in at C14 and my connecting flight was at B43 (or something like that).

Contrary to the video, there were no smiling LH employees meeting the plane to point us toward our connecting flights. I followed the signs that said "Connecting Flights". I walked for possibly 1km, turning left and right as the signs pointed, went through security, walked another 1km, went up some esclators, stared at various signs for 5 minutes to locate B43, and finally got near the gate area (which had another security check). Then, I found the Business Lounge (very easy) and relaxed for 2 hours.

I've been to airports all over the world, but FRA had to be the most confusing. I watched the FRA video twice, studied the FRA map in the magazine for 30 minutes, and still had no clue as to where I was really going. Does anyone else find this airport to be confusing?

supermasterphil

You are not the only one

Was there no flight by the way of MUC?

appenzeller

yes, I would agree. It is still very confusing although it has been much worse in the past. I remember during renovation being guided by temporary signs to an elevator where someone had marked in pencil (very small) which button to press to get to the right floor.

It confuses me each time being in Germany at such a bad signed airport - so not German

alex0683de

Frankfurt is my home airport, and I still feel like I am seeing it for the first time each time I fly because there is always something that has changed since my last time through because of the never-ending construction. I wish they would finally figure out a layout that works for them and stick to it.

This is probably why the signs are so bad - no sense getting expensive signage printed and installed if it'll all be changed again next week.

formeraa

Unfortunately, I was going to DUB. The MUC-DUB is only 4x weekly and did not connect well to my flights to and from the US.

Flying Lawyer

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/114)

Well, that bad? Certainly not the most confusing airport in the world, there are other examples. In general, there is for Star Alliance ONE Terminal with three piers. I agree, it becomes confusing but not because of the airport, but because of "Schengen, Non-Schengen, EU, Non-EU, US" and all possible combination of transfers between these five alternatives.All of this has an effect on the airport layout. If you are not familiar with FRA and the concept and have to change between the piers, going landside from one pier and going airside again from the other can be the easiest.

hch

While I agree it's far from the most confusing airport in the world, and always beening the one to defend FRA in the past I have to say it's been getting much lately. The new C pier integration into the pretty logical concept of the A and a B pier is a complete mess and a national disgrace as you have to re-clear security both ways. The recent-ish change to have the People mover always outside security and thus having to re-clear security always is completely idiotic. Even more so that you have to go through security, passport control and immediately security again if you want to use it to the A pier. I really really hope this BS is short-lived and the adoption of the 2009 EU security policies will make the layout a little more logical again.

formeraa

The only worse experience would have been if the signs had been in German only. As I mentioned earlier, I tried to read the map and I watched the video twice and I still didn't understand where I was going. There was absolutely NO signage as to where I was -- and futhermore I wasn't passing any gates with seating areas and gate numbers. How was I supposed to know where I was? I must have been inside of a secret passage somewhere at FRA.

As for Schengen/Non-Schengen/EU/Non-EU/US, why do they make it this hard???

DownUnderFlyer

Formeraa, it is very simple. Just follow the signs. Don't think. Don't apply logic. Just follow the sign. You will get to your destination. You might have to go through security 2-3 times, customs, passport control, tunnels, escalators, elevators, stairs and you feel that you have just walked to your final destination.
But under no circumstances try to make sense of it. You will only get lost.

DownUnderFlyer

It is a plan to keep people in airports for hours so they spend more money on food and duty frees. Quite clever.

NewbieRunner

I usually transfer from non-Schengen to non-Schengen and as long as I follow the signs from one gate to the other I don't have problems. If I have the time to go to a lounge it gets more complicated because they never seem to be in the place indicated on the map.

Actually the worst thing I find is there isn't a proper map either on the LH or FRA website. Many other major airports have detailed maps showing lounges and even individual shops and gates. I can't understand why FRA doesn't and didn't have one before the current construction work started.

hch

http://www.media-frankfurt.de/upload...ankfurt_01.pdf is an almost correct map, with http://www.media-frankfurt.de/upload...oncourse_C.pdf as an addendum for the new C gates.

shuly

It's the European system, and it's actually superior to the US one. Schengen IS Europe. When you fly from outside of Schengen, you can either connect to a Schengen country or to a non-Schengen one. In the former case you have to "enter Europe" (clear immigration). In the latter you don't. The reverse happens when you fly in from a Schengen country.

In the US, on the contrary, when you fly from outside the US you ALWAYS have to clear immigration, even if you connect to a non-US destination. Think of a flight FRA-ORD-MEX: everyone queues for immigration at ORD, including those who don't really enter the country.

Shuly

seat 1a

Compared with many of the main USA airports , FRA is crystal clear.

alex0683de

Well the ones that really matter are Schengen, Non-Schengen and USA (also non-Schengen, but special rules).

First Schengen or non-Schengen (which you could also think of as "domestic" and "international" for practical purposes), the idea being that anyone coming from non-Schengen to Schengen will have to pass inbound passport control and anyone going from Schengen to non-Schengen will have to pass outbound passport control. And to make things easier for those who don't have visas to enter Schengen, it is possible to remain airside and make a non-Schengen to non-Schengen connection.

The US, while also non-Schengen, requires an additional, supposedly more thorough security check on inbound flights at the foreign port of embarkation. FRA chose to deal with this problem by grouping all US-bound flights in specific areas of the non-Schengen part of the airport and setting a central security checkpoint for these flights. That's why the USA gates are usually at some dead-end within the terminal - it's easier to isolate.

Now in theory, this system would work quite well. However, the layout of FRA makes the competing objectives and the ever shifting traffic flow (as new countries join Schengen) difficult to deal with. Hence the chaos.

And that assumes nothing is changed in terms of what the US requires, and that other countries don't add or change special rules either.