Frankfurt International - morass of security

[BaronChotzinoff]

Has anyone else had problems with FRA? I arrived at the airport 75 minutes before my flight back to BHX with Lufthansa just after Xmas and only made it to the gate as it was closing 10 minutes before the flight, and I am fit and able to walk quickly. In that time I underwent a hold luggage scan and two separate hand baggage examinations.

The girl at the gate said I should always allow 2 hours before a flight - but I had understood this was only for long haul. Was I unlucky, or should you "know your airports" in advance?

[BEagle]

I had a similar experience. Walk right to the far end of Terminal 1 and check-in my hold baggage. Then back to 'security' for the usual briefcase opening, pocket emptying business. Walk through that, then the same damn thing again a few yards later. Enter a seating area with no facilities whatsoever. No coffee machine, nothing.

FRA security is some of the most paranoid, rude and heavy-handed I've come across. Why?

It's almost enough to make you fly from Hahn!






Well, perhaps not quite...

[Avman]

I don't know if it applies to all German airports at which British companies operate to, but at those that I have used (flying BA) it is standard procedure to pass through the general security check and then another at the gate. Also applies to US companies. Pax on all other flights just go through the single general check.

[Sharjah Night Shift]

Apparently the airside shops sell things that are not allowed on UK or US airlines.

[tom de luxe]

Apparently the airside shops sell things that are not allowed on UK or US airlines.
Although the Victorinox (Swiss Army knives) shop in T2 just next to th BA gates has disappeared :E... Are there other shops selling "unsuitable" items? Can't be the Duty Free's, or can it? These semm to be selling a range of products identical to what you would find in a UK Duty Free shop, after all?
BTW this does not apply to BA only, but also to LH flights to LHR. As SNS said, whether there is a second check seems to depend on the airport, not the airline - there is none at HHN for FR, and neither is there at LUX for LG, VG or BA. Can't remember what's it like at CGN.

[BaronChotzinoff]

These seem to be selling a range of products identical to what you would find in a UK Duty Free shop, after all?There does seem to be a difference with German duty frees - in UK or France you are offered 2 sets of prices, one EU, the other outside, which are a lot cheaper. But in German airports everything is the same cheap price (about half of UK retail price). Make the most of it while it lasts!

[BOFH]

Auf Wiederseh'n!

Count your lucky stars it wasn't the dreaded T2. To both our destinations (UK and AUS) it was rigorous. Don't wear R M Williams boots - they're obviously crammed with explosives!

I can take it but the way they inspected little children was deplorable. Welcome to the 21st century.

BOFH

[ptr120]

Although the Victorinox (Swiss Army knives) shop in T2 just next to th BA gates has disappeared :E... Are there other shops selling "unsuitable" items? Can't be the Duty Free's, or can it? These semm to be selling a range of products identical to what you would find in a UK Duty Free shop, after all?
BTW this does not apply to BA only, but also to LH flights to LHR. As SNS said, whether there is a second check seems to depend on the airport, not the airline - there is none at HHN for FR, and neither is there at LUX for LG, VG or BA. Can't remember what's it like at CGN.
at CGN you get away with 1 security check when flying LH to LHR. Dare to fly BA or EZY and your subjected to two security checks. and whats this with the passport checks on departure!

[catchup]

UK - Non Schengen!

Any Questions?

[BOFH]

Any Questions?

Yes - never had that problem with LH to SE Asia (business trips, hence not T2). Iberia gets you the full treatment (this was pre-Madrid) parked up past the second inspection at T2 - and they're in Schengen.

The passport checks are just a formality and probably not a bad idea. I'd probably tolerate a body cavity search, if it didn't waste so much time! Mind you, don't wish to give these blighters too much job satisfaction...

BOFH

[tom de luxe]

There does seem to be a difference with German duty frees - in UK or France you are offered 2 sets of prices, one EU, the other outside, which are a lot cheaper. But in German airports everything is the same cheap price (about half of UK retail price). Make the most of it while it lasts!
Not true for cigarettes, well, there's only one price but you have to fly to somewhere outside the EU - and tobacco products are about the only items that are actually significantly cheaper in Duty Free. About anything may even be better value on the High Street. (There was a time when it was cheaper to buy cigarettes at my local tobacconists, at full LUX Duty Paid prices, than to buy them at LHR Duty Free, but that's another story).

[brockenspectre]

Well good to note that FRA is improving! Of the several visits I paid last year there was no one time where I didn't notice something that I considered "dodgy" - e.g., allowing someone with knitting needles and large pinking shears to repack them in a backpack, not spotting a pax who passed a coat to another and then had it handed over the scanner to them and for me the cruncher was the two not particularly office-dressed types who sloped up to the staff pass-through(unmanned at the time) and proceeded airside without any checks at all!! :uhoh:

I have been told that the additional security for BA flights is paid for by BA and other airlines using the same gates as they are/were unhappy with the general quality of security screening :ok:

[HandyAndy]

Well this is strange, I passed through FRA on 17th for a 1400hrs departure with CX. Check-in no more than 3 mins, passport control 1 minute and security check straight through, no waiting or hassle. There was one couple in front of me that got help up though....on inspection of their bags they had 14 lighters! It did appear to amuse the security people.

Maybe I was just lucky on the day.

[Frankfurt_Cowboy]

Well if I had a Euro for every item of cutlery that they've removed from my hand luggage over the years I'd have enough for the new canteen that I'm going to have to buy soon. Always find them thorough, professional and courteous. Mind you this is always with LH.

[firemac]

Bit off-topic, geographically, anyway. Prefer Frankfurt's overkill to the worst security I've ever seen:
A couple of months ago @ Bangkok for BA to LHR.
X-ray machines in concourse, before check-in, for suitcases, etc. Paxs told to put suitcases into machines & then allowed to walk to other end of machine WITH briefcases, coats, etc. to take suitcases off! :eek:
No further checks until we got into taxi @LHR. Still can't believe it......

[anotherglassofwine]

I was in Frankfurt 3 months ago - arrived 1 and 1/4 hours before flight time - was in security queue for at least an hour and ended up missing the flight. I had to take a train to Cologne to get to Dublin via London - all paid for by Lufthansa but missed my best mates wedding ceremony because of it.
Haven't been back since, so not suprisingly - I'm not a fan of that airport :*

AGOW

[Globaliser]

A couple of months ago @ Bangkok for BA to LHR.
X-ray machines in concourse, before check-in, for suitcases, etc. Paxs told to put suitcases into machines & then allowed to walk to other end of machine WITH briefcases, coats, etc. to take suitcases off! :eek: Did the suitcases get stickered by security after being X-rayed? If so, they're then OK as checked baggage.

Your briefcases, coats, etc. get screened as cabin baggage when you're airside after you leave the main shopping area, at the entrance to the pier where your aircraft's gate is.

[firemac]

"Did the suitcases get stickered by security after being X-rayed? If so, they're then OK as checked baggage." - Yes, they did (rather fetching little green ones). Mine was carried on, my colleague's was checked in.

"Your briefcases, coats, etc. get screened as cabin baggage when you're airside after you leave the main shopping area, at the entrance to the pier where your aircraft's gate is." - Definitely NOT. As I said, there were no other checks after check-in. Perhaps what you're saying is that this should have been the case but on that particular evening, no. Because we were on a tight schedule between Sydney & London, with meetings in Bangkok in between, everything was rushed. It was only when we were chatting over dinner onboard that we both realised that there hadn't been any further checks.

[Globaliser]

"Your briefcases, coats, etc. get screened as cabin baggage when you're airside after you leave the main shopping area, at the entrance to the pier where your aircraft's gate is." - Definitely NOT. As I said, there were no other checks after check-in. Perhaps what you're saying is that this should have been the case but on that particular evening, no. Because we were on a tight schedule between Sydney & London, with meetings in Bangkok in between, everything was rushed. It was only when we were chatting over dinner onboard that we both realised that there hadn't been any further checks.Well, it should have happened, which explains why only the check-in bags get X-rayed at the check-in area.

From the central airside shopping area on the departures level, you have to turn right to reach the gates usually used by BA, and walk into the new(er) terminal building, along a long corridor past the new Qantas Club and another airline lounge. You then go down a slight slope, at the bottom of which is the security checkpoint (3 or 4 sets of standard X-ray machines and metal detector arches). After passing through that, you turn left into the new pier itself and the gates are on either side. The setup at BKK is that there's a similar security checkpoint at the entrance to every pier. Very odd that you managed to miss all of them!

[firemac]

Very odd that you managed to miss all of them!
Indeed & quite frightening (on hindsight). Next time through, I'll be more alert to the matter.

[RevMan2]

I can't recall having a problem at FRA - fly virtually every week.
Just say "Hello", give them a smile, have all your metal objects out of your pockets and away you go.
A place I do have problems with is anywhere in the States - Marine drill sergeant attitudes, making a big deal out of what can be the most simple of procedures.
And if you're running late, don't stand around like the proverbial spare whatsit at a wedding - tell someone and they'll get you through in a flash.

Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong..

[FlyingConsultant]

I can't recall having a problem at FRA - fly virtually every week.
Just say "Hello", give them a smile, have all your metal objects out of your pockets and away you go.
A place I do have problems with is anywhere in the States - Marine drill sergeant attitudes, making a big deal out of what can be the most simple of procedures.

I second that. I fly domestic in the U.S. almost every week, to and through FRA about 5-6 times per year.
You have to be early on departure because the second screening for flights to the U.S. is a pain (everybody padded down). But they are polite and fast. Smile, say hi, do what they say. They were also on several occasions very nice to my kids.

{off topic}And boy, you better be good on your feet, it's a long hike to the gates! {/off topic}

Imagine a security checkpoint in the U.S. where everybody is padded down. I don't even want to think about it. Probably need to arrive a day early.