RobynFrance

Greetings,

We have the option of going through Munich or Frankfurt on our way to Budapest. We will be on Lufthansa in either case. Is one airport appreciably easier to navigate and faster on immigration and the change than the other. We are Americans traveling from Charlotte.

Many thanks,
Robyn France

Cowboy1968

More or less a no-brainer: Munich!

You'll stay in same terminal building - which is much easier to navigate than FRA.

You won't do immigration at neither FRA or MUC but in Budapest until some date in March 2008, when the Schengen area regulations will also be implemented at airports.

traveller1959

I second München for the same reasons.

RobynFrance

Great--thanks so much for your help. It makes our decision easy.

Take care,
Robyn France

tcreath

Robyn, way off topic but I just wanted to say that it's nice to see a fellow Charlottean on these boards! There doesn't appear to be too many of us around here. I moved to the Charlotte area (Matthews) from St. Louis last year.

Unfortunately I don't have an answer to your question yet. We will be traveling through both airports (into FRA and out of MUC) in April.

Tracy

StCirq

Munich, hands down.

I don't have enough bad things to say about trying to make a connection in Frankfurt, though admittedly I've had only one recent experience. I thought I was going to have to take out a mortgage and settle in there.

RobynFrance

Hi St. Cirq--thanks for seconding the group opintion--we shall book thru Munich without a second thought.

Tracy, are u by any chance taking a river cruise starting in Budapest--or something altogether different. We are going thru Munich on the way to a few days in Budapest and then returning from Prague--again thru Munich based on the opinions offered here. Please let me know how your experience goes. We love going out of Charlotte as we can get to the USA and drive home directly without a layover--we live in Winston-Salem and usually go to France each year.

Many thanks again to all,
Robyn France

tcreath

Hey Robyn,

I'm not, but a river cruise sounds wonderfully relaxing and looks like lots of fun. We are headed back to Germany this year, and taking my younger brother with us. Our trip starts in the Rhine/Mosel area and then we head down to the Berchtesgaden/Salzburg area before staying in Munich for a night and flying home.

I like flying out of Charlotte, but this time we are flying out of Raleigh Durham because there were better FF mile flights available. We had to use AA, and there are more AA flights out of RDU. We usually go to Europe several times a year and it's nice to be able to go directly from Charlotte (or Raleigh) to Europe without any layovers...something that is no longer available in St. Louis.

Best wishes,
Tracy

Have a wonderful trip!

Grcxx3

another vote for Munich.

We have no choice but to go thru Frankfurt every year......YUCK!!!

mjs

No question, Munich.

greg

Of course, Munich.

logos999

Yes, München.

metre

most definitely Munich.

smaller airport and easier to navigate around.

and usually Lufthansa makes the fares a little cheaper to encourage you to go there rather than the overcrowded Frankfurt Am Main airport.

wombat7

If I had a choice of a root canal and changing at Munich or no root canal and Frankfurt my dentist would be rich.

Unfortunately I have to change at Frankfurt (I think that last vowel should be the first vowel in the alphabet!) on my next trip in a couple fo weeks time - have to change going there and coming back! My own stupid fault, I left it too late to book the ticket and my preference of transfering through Heathrow (yup LHR!) was gone.

sctroyenne

How funny, I've been telling everyone how weird Frankfurt airport was since I came through there on the way home from Paris. From going down the stairs from the plane onto the tarmac to boarding the bus that would drive us to the terminal to being called to the gate an hour and a half before boarding (inside which was absolutely nothing, not even a bathroom), to having my passport checked 4 different times within the space of 10 feet, to having the security guy ask me "what did someone ask you to bring on the flight" and get mad when I didn't understand why his phrasing of the question confused me, I just found the whole experience odd. Glad to know others also have it on the list of airports to avoid for life.

logos999

It's not THAT confusing in FRA and if you read the signs, you'll get where you have to.
Interestingly in FRA airport the immigration guy asked me where I was going. When I answered to Denver, CO he told me, he wouldn't want to set foot in that country as long as he's alive.
That was rather odd to hear from a state official, I didn't comment...

tcreath

sctroyenne, your situation with the gate and security may have been due to a security advisor and not just because of the airport you were in. The last time I flew through Brussels, on my way from Rome to the US in 06, they had all US flights confined to the end of a terminal and there was extra security similar to what you mentioned above. The bathrooms were closed off and all concessions were closed, and we had to go through a separate security line every time we left the area. I think that sometimes this happens when there is a higher level of threat or security issues.

Tracy