I am spending two weeks in Germany with my wife, two daughters, and no automobile. Austin has direct flights to Frankfurt. Is it smarter to fly from Frankfurt to Berlin or to take the train?

My concern is that passport control delay at Frankfurt is creating unusual delays at arrival, and I am concerned that those delays will cause me to miss a flight.

Ultimately, I want to choose the least total hassle. I would normally default to the train when traveling alone, but life changes when traveling with my wife's luggage.

If I understand the issue over there correctly, the delays are being experienced on flights from the EU to the US that connect in FRA (or various other cities). Inbound passport control in my experience is usually pretty efficient. I guess your issue could be if you have to change terminals and go through security again to catch the flight to Berlin.

However, is there an option to connect through LHR and continue on to Berlin? We had zero issues arriving and departing at LHR, including a connecting flight in another terminal at arrival.

Edited to add: transiting train stations presents its own set of complications when traveling with a lot of luggage.

With that said, I'm hoping this all gets sorted out. I have a connecting flight in FRA arriving from Venice with a 2 hour layover. And that was one of the longer options. Airlines are happy to sell you a ticket with an even shorter layover than that.

I don't fully agree with the above.

The EES delays are being experienced by people arriving to Frankfurt (search Reddit or Facebook for specific instances) from outside the Schengen region. There are also delays leaving, but that's not what you asked.

I don't know the luggage situation, but I would consider the train option and buying tickets that can be exchanged for a later time if immigration takes too long (aim for 2 -2.5 hours after landing).

I would book the ICE train that will take you to Frankfurt Main Hauptbahnhof and then to Berlin (train time is around 4 hrs). I believe there is a covered walkway connected to terminal 1 that will take you to the train stop.

ETA: I have flown into FRA several times and have had mixed experiences with immigration but not during this EES rollout. If you decide to fly (assuming not all on one ticket), you'd have to collect your bags (as mentioned above) and re check them, go back through security and then go to your flight. Extra steps and extra chances for issues to arise IMO.

Good info. All the times I've flown to the EU in the past, issues were always when trying to depart. Especially if connecting from a small regional airport through a big hub. AMS was a disaster years ago (pre-Covid) when we flew through there. MXP is another airport where I could envision problems, because some of the terminals are so far apart.

Given the problems, I would not do a connecting flight unless it was on the same itinerary/ticket. Should have made that clear.

If you do connect through LHR, you won't go through passport control/customs there. That would happen in Berlin. So at least if it is backed up, you would already be in your destination city.

You will have to go though security again, and a terminal change, but we found this to be super easy on our recent trip. We landed about 8 am and had a connecting flight at 1245. It was plenty of time to change terminals, even with the bus ride.

I flew into Milan last week and they had the EES terminals on (they only do it when there's not many people) so it wasn't a big deal. I also flew from Milan to Frankfurt and then onward back to the US and they had the EES terminals on. It was about 45 minutes to get through that and regular customs.

The stupid part is the EES stuff is in addition to regular customs instead of replacing it.

Frankfurt is a miserable airport. Top 5 for inefficiency which is especially shocking given the German reputation for efficiency. Just take that into consideration as you make your plans. I avoid Frankfurt unless it is the only option.

I flew into/out of Munich in May. EES slowed me down less than a minute each way.

Suggestion, rent a nice car and see what you can get it up to on the autobahn.

Sadly German efficiency is an oxymoron. The amount of bureaucracy in this country is absurd.

OP - if you were to take a train I'd give yourself a pretty big buffer. Even then, the ICE trains (fast ones) aren't the most reliable either. I'd take a flight if you have something important to catch or want the easiest method of transportation. The Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof area is also a real treat, it's like the skidrow of Germany.

I live in Berlin, if you need some recommendations let me know! It's a pretty fun city, especially if you're catching nice weather.

We took that Lufthansa flight from Austin to Frankfurt back in April on our way to Malaga Spain. We decided early on just to take a 24 hour layover in Frankfurt instead of trying to catch a flight to Spain that same day. It took every bit of two hours to get through EES and passport control. I can only imagine what it would be like during the summer travel season. I think a lot of it has to do with 6 to 8 long-haul flights arriving from the states about the same time. We got a room at the Hilton at the airport, dropped our bags and took the S Bahn into town and had an early dinner flew out the next morning refreshed.

aggie orbitalwelder said:

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We took that Lufthansa flight from Austin to Frankfurt back in April on our way to Malaga Spain. We decided early on just to take a 24 hour layover in Frankfurt instead of trying to catch a flight to Spain that same day. It took every bit of two hours to get through EES and passport control. I can only imagine what it would be like during the summer travel season. I think a lot of it has to do with 6 to 8 long-haul flights arriving from the states about the same time. We got a room at the Hilton at the airport, dropped our bags and took the S Bahn into town and had an early dinner flew out the next morning refreshed.

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We have done a similar thing multiple times at LHR, taking the Austin to London direct flight and spending the night at the Hotel Sofitel in Terminal 5. Much like you said, we take the tube into London for the day, come back for early drinks and dinner and leave the next morning for wherever we have booked. This approach has allowed us to catch early next day flights we would have missed doing same day, giving us a longer and better first day in our destination.

A nice 4 hour train ride in VIP area would be my choice. You will spend same time at airport and unless they have change in last 10 years, the VIP section of the trains are great.