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US customs in Frankfurt vs. Houston..and average custom times?

US customs in Frankfurt vs. Houston..and average custom times?

Old Oct 4th, 2011, 09:57 PM
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US customs in Frankfurt vs. Houston..and average custom times?

Hey there. I'm trying to plan our honeymoon and have been looking at flights. When coming home, we're flying Munich-->(probably) Frankfurt-->Houston-->Corpus. We'll go through customs when arriving in Houston, right? Not when leaving Frankfurt to go to Houston? Also, how much time should I allow in Houston (George Bush International) for customs between flights? The longest I've found is 1 hour & 5 minutes in Frankfurt and 3 hours in Houston. Is this enough time?

Thank you so much!
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Old Oct 4th, 2011, 10:19 PM
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I fly home often from FRA to the U.S. The last one was this April. The customs has always been at the first U.S. airport. I don't use IAH much. My recollection of the custom process at IAH was that it took surprisingly long time not because it was busy, but it required quite a lot of walking around.

What takes a lot of time is the security check to board onto a U.S. bound plane.

There are foreign airports with U.S. customs. Halifax is one of them. FRA is not.
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Old Oct 4th, 2011, 10:25 PM
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Would an hour be enough for a security check in Frankfurt? I don't want to end up stuck in another country at the end of my honeymoon! Although, this would make it easier when I said I didn't want to go home..
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 12:36 PM
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Count on being at the airport a minimum of two hours before departure time, and for some airports 3 hours is safer. The latter is the recommendation for CDG, and yet we have been through the passport/boarding desk and then security in 45 minutes or less each time.
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 04:34 PM
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Frankfurt was quick but you go through two or three checkpoints. Leave early enough, at least 3 hours. You never know what the crowds will be like or the lines.
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 04:50 PM
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We were traveling Munich to Charlotte this summer. Going through three checkpoints in Munich took about 45 minutes, so don't dawdle too much in the duty free shops. Since you are flying only to Frankfurt, you won't have to be on the plane quite so soon as when you are flying from Munich to the US, but do check the boarding time. Can't comment on customs in Houston, but we've never spent more than 90 minutes clearing customs in the US (and that was in Newark when they searched our luggage because the dried porcini mushrooms must have tripped the sensors (or the beagles)...although we got to keep them).
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 05:06 PM
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The last time I through through Frankfurt was in May, after Lufthansa moved the US departures to terminal C.

Dresden --> FRA -->JFK.

It took me 55min from the time I exited the 1st plane in FRA to the time I got to the departure gate.

Deplane onto bus
wait for bus to fill up
drive to arrival terminal
walk to TermC
Pass through emigration along the way
Pass through US bound security along the way

Net message: don't dawdle.
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 05:23 PM
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I just flew from FRA to IAH last month, continuing on to AUS. US customs will always happen in your first port of entry. The lines at IAH were long but I was impressed by how fast they moved. If you miss your connection at IAH they will rebook you at no extra charge, provided you bought your ticket from IAH to Corpus as part of the overall ticket. If you bought that ticket separately from the rest then you should allow extra time. But I'm betting you bought it all as one ticket so no worries.
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 05:28 PM
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Well I haven't bought it yet. There's also one that I just found with a 1 hour 55 minute layover in Frankfurt. Maybe we should take that one, but that'll be 18 hours of flights and layovers.. :/
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 05:33 PM
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There are roughly hourly flight from MUC to FRA, but far fewer FRA to IAH.

If you have the option to take an earlier flight out of MUC that'll give you 2hrs instead of 1 I'd do that in a heartbeat.

MUC is prone to fog delays, so better safe than sorry.

Not sure if Lufthansa allows it for free, but if you arrive at MUC airport early you can always ask if you can be put on the next available flight to FRA.
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 05:44 PM
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You do have a lot of other options that may give you a better fare (or not), or time.

United MUC to Chicago to IAH to CRP
Lufthansa MUC to PHL to IAH to CRP
BA/AA through London & Dallas
United MUC to DC to IAH to CRP
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 07:53 PM
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rachie, I live in Kingsville and usually fly in and out of CRP but my last two European flights I drove to San Antonio. You will have more options there although there is that 2+ hour drive home once you arrive at SAT.
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 08:58 PM
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jaja, I did consider that but man, that drive is terrible back from SA. It's so boring and I swear, there are signs every 2-3 miles saying "Corpus is this far away" and it makes it feel about ten times longer! Plus I'm not sure we would want to do a 2 hour drive after flying for almost a day. Besides, I had actually checked fares for SA and they're the same price as flying out of Corpus--but you only spend 5 minutes in security in Corpus!
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Old Oct 5th, 2011, 09:09 PM
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Hi rachie205,

By the time you consider the travel from München to the airport (45 minutes), arriving early for the flight (60 to 90 minutes), the flight, then arriving early for the flight to the USA . . .

You may just find taking the train from München to Frankfurt to be easier, cheaper, and, yes, quicker. The trip from München right to the Frankfurt airport takes only 3h30 with 0 changes. If you buy your ticket in advance, you can find fares as cheap as 39 Euro per person.

You don't have to arrive early to get the train, and, as I said, it'll take you right to the airport. The train *may* be delayed, but normally the delay will be about five or seven minutes, nothing drastic.

You can get all the information you need at the German rail site

www.bahn.de

Good luck!

s
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