Customs & Immigration Necessary at Frankfurt Germany Airport???
 

We're US citizens traveling (on our way home) from Rome to DFW with a 1.5 hour layover at the Frankfurt Airport. Both flights are on Lufthansa. As long as the Rome to Frankfurt flight is on time, will 1.5 hours be a long enough layover? Will we have to go through Customs and/or Immigration if we're just connecting?

Thank you, Fodorites!!!

OOOPS! It's a 1-hour 20-minute layover.

You will go through immigrations and security.

At Frankfurt, if you're arriving from Rome and travelling on to a destination outside the Schengen area (as you are):

You DON'T go through immigration. There's no Customs control on journeys within the EU or on outbound passengers.Even if your luggage isn't through-checked at Rome to your final destination (which would mean collecting your bags and checking them in again), your baggage won't be subject to Customs inspection

You DO go through outbound passport control. You DO go through an outbound security inspection

If you have a through ticket and your bags are through checked, it's the airline's responsibility to get you on a flight home.

LH at its main hub is pretty good at making tight connections. If your inbound flight is delayed (not uncommon ex-FCO), they will try to make sure you make your DFW flight in time by using priority security line and even holding the plane at the gate. If you have an hour or less, there will usually be a LH agent at the gate as you disembark (so make yourself known to them) who will escort you through security and to your departure gate. As it's a US-bound flight, there may be additional security at the departure gate (e.g. put down) but it shouldn't delay you further as everyone else should already be on board.

If your connecting flight is in the same terminal, 1:20 should be enough time to make your flight to the U.S.

ALL LH flights use the same terminal - Terminal 1.

Call it what you like. You are still dealing with an immigration officer who is checking your passport.