FlyingfromDC

What time of the day was this though?

bertles86

Landed at 08:15.

supine

Your route and timing made all the difference.

Departures from non-Schengen B at that time are mostly just a handful of flights to Canada and non-Schengen Europe.

An hour or two later and you start getting into the first wave of Asia departures at lunchtime.

Flying Lawyer

As I travel with hand luggage only most of the time I can positively confirm that there are several. FRA and DUS come to mind without long thinking. In the older days you even got to the baggage reclaim area in A from landside only

sgtbalski

I know this was a page ago but it made me laugh. While I don't travel nearly as much as many of you I would say a great deal more than your average person. No problems navigating myself anywhere in the USA or overseas until FRA three days ago.

I felt like... I think you guys call them a "kettle"?

myperks

I’ve arrived in FRA intra-Schengen multiple times in the past 3-5 years and don’t remember any exits now where it doesn’t route you through baggage claim if arriving in A. Could be there maybe I made a wrong turn.

bmwe92fan

Lol -- someone a few pages back noted that the Germans are orderly -- not efficient -- a perfect way to describe FRA. Due to the size of the airport and Schengen / Non-Schengen zones it's like two airports in one -- even the air train has two different sides! That's why I always tell people to just follow the signs -- on any given day no one knows how they will set up the airport -- and I know FRA like the back of my hand -- and many days I wonder why there is a bus to B and other days not -- and why some days my flights that arrive from the US are clean -- and some days they are not (seems to depend on bus gates to me) -- but I stopped expecting logic and efficiency and just follow the signs!

supine

They are thinking of B.

You have to walk through the public area to get to the escalators that take you down to B baggage claim.

Sykes

Every airport I've been to has had at least one customs officer observing Schengen arrivals. I've never been pulled aside, but I have seen it happen. On my most recent arrival at FCO they were totally plain-clothed aside from a badge on their hip.

curt

Oh, it‘s easy, just walk to A11 and continue straight ahead - voila, you left airside…

lhrsfo

This would explain why I have often been sure at FRA that I've been to all sorts of bits, but often seemed to have arrived at them by a new totally circuitous route. Why sometimes I arrive clean and sometimes not, why sometimes there are passport controls when I'm not expecting them (eg non-Schengen to non-Schengen) and there appears to be no logic in it at all, other than the amount of walking which makes for good exercise and general heartiness, a very good welcome to the germanic way!

Fredd

Mrs. Fredd, a young grandson and I hope to make tomorrow morning’s FRA-ORD flight. We’re flying in C and overnighting at
the HGI. Any recent experiences indicating how early we need to awaken him?

cricketer

Ain't this the truth! I don't have the aversion to FRA that a lot of people do, but I have tended to use it multiple times a year for connections throughout Europe and also onwards to India or, rarely, the Middle East. It can get amusingly confusing when you're doing the same route you did three months ago, via roughly the same gates, and yet a five minute walk can somehow be replaced by a 20 minute bus ride the second time around. I have never figured out if it's just me being half-asleep on some occasions, or as you describe, it's the airport just reconfiguring itself on a daily basis, but either way, in 25 years I can only think of two instances where I felt like I'd actually gone badly wrong and got lost in the matrix. If you follow the signs, you will get there, and even when the lines look long, you'll make it through.

Of course, this summer I used MUC, which appeared to be devoid of passengers on a Wednesday in July, so I can't speak to the current situation in FRA.... until next month!

MarkyMarc

That's exactly where I stayed, too, A good choice and less than 10 minutes to the counters. The ORD-bound folks I chatted with said the counters didn't open until 0500. There was already a line when they got there at 0515 and it had to take them >2 hours to check-in/drop/bags/get up to border control (where I had already been for a while). I would say be there when the counters open and when you get to the border/Bundespolizei if it looks like it's going to be tight to make it to the gate, hug to the left and speak to the agent "troubleshooting" the automated kiosks. She was letting those whose flights were at/near boarding selectively jump the queue in a separate line. If you make it through with no issues, enjoy the offerings in the Senator Lounge. Safe and painless travels!

Fredd

Thanks! We have carry-on only and all have our BPs, so we’re feeling a bit more optimistic.

Incidentally, our grandson’s “new” passport would not work with the UA app, but it printed out first try at a kiosk just inside Departures.

OT but good golly it’s hot here. We’re dining in the Hilton restaurant next door to the HGI simply because it’s cool!

Thanks again, MarkyMarc.