Budapest to Frankfurt - passport control ??
 

Are there any lengthly (15 mins or more) passport or customs checks in Frankfurt, on a flight from Budapest??

Stu Dudley

There aren't ANY passport or customs checks as both are members of Schengen

Thanks alan

We have a 1 hr 20 min connection for our flight to SFO - which would be a little too tight if passport control was involved. It's tight even without passport control.

Stu Dudley

Well, that's a little different. On an internal flight you will not normally have been through a passport control in Budapest. However, you should have to at Frankfurt.

We fly Toulouse to Frankfurt and have to go through a passport check in Frankfurt to get into the International area. This has never been long for us, but we have EU passports.

However, you will also have a security check of your hand baggage. We almost missed our last flight because of the check, and the fact that our gate was at the other end of the airport. Just keep moving fast.

Meant to say that we fly Toulouse to Frankfurt on our way to Toronto. So, an internal flight before an international one

It's different when you need to connect in FRA!
You go through passport control and security.
But 80 minutes is not tight - it's normal (when your plane from BUD lands on time).

You will not have passport control on the Budapest - Frankfurt flight, however, you will need to clear immigration before you board the FRA to SFO flight. You have a tight connection, but FRA is an efficient airport. Just get to security and passport control as quickly as possible.

Is it the same airline for both flights? If so then you will have plenty of time. Even if you have to change terminals 1 hour 20 is plenty of time to change flights in Frankfurt.

>>Is it the same airline for both flights? <<

All segments of the flight were ticketed with United - but the Budapest to FRA is operated by Lufthansa. I have been through the Europe to USA passport control in Europe dozens of times, and usually it is a non event. However, we've spent more than 1 hr in line for US to Europe passport control - although SFO to FRA to Geneva in '08 was quite fast.

So - it seems like I will only go through the outbound to SFO passport/immigration control - no additional Budapest to FRA passport control.

Stu Dudley

Be aware that FRA is undergoing a lot of construction (expanding it and rumor has it that it wants to be the largest airport in Europe)so the procedures may not be as smooth sailing as one would expect.

We were recently at the airport, arriving from a Star Alliance flight. Upon arrival we were bused to the international terminal (another wait until bus is full), then went through passport check, then security check(line was long because the agents were going through passengers' bags so, so Slowly). Then upon arrival at the departure gate, we need to line up again, answer questions from gate agents and then reissued another boarding pass by Continental. FYI, we had a 2.5 hr layover in FRA and after all is said and done, we had ~ 20 minutes left. But this was at the height of summer season, so maybe it won't be too bad now??

We will be doing this Budapest-FRA-SFO trip on Sunday Sept 26.

>>we had a 2.5 hr layover in FRA and after all is said and done, we had ~ 20 minutes left. <<

That's not good!!!

We arrive from Budapest at Terminal 1 and depart for SFO at Terminal 1 also. Is it safe to assume that it's a short walk. Any chance that we will be able to stay within the secured area & not have to go through security at FRA?? therefore only passport control??

Stu Dudley

I've made quite a few connections through Frankfurt, including three times so far this year, and I agree with JoyC that it can be a bit unpredictable with the construction, etc.

I've definitely made 1:20 (and less) connections, so with the right circumstances, it is perfectly doable.

I'd be prepared for the possibility that one of your flights may use a remote stand and buses to/from the terminal.

The walk could be reasonable, or it could be pretty long. We connected in FRA from Copenhagen earlier this month (all Star Alliance in T1) and had a very long walk. Other times, not so bad. If your flight to the US is on United, my experience in the past couple years is that United flights to the US leave from the high A gates (around A55 or so; used to leave from C gates). If that's the case, it may involve taking a train or the long underground walkway/stairs/elevator (as we did a few weeks ago).

As far as security, with one exception, I've always gone through security on my connections in FRA, a couple of times more than once. The one exception was the trip a couple of weeks ago--no security checkpoint in FRA whatsoever, which surprised me quite a bit. So, again, unpredictable...

On the positive side, I've always had pretty good luck with United and Lufthansa issuing each other's boarding passes, although that is never a given. And, for the most part, we haven't encountered long lines at either security or passport control.

Good luck! It's a big terminal, but I've always found it pretty well signed.