How to schedule train connection from Frankfurt Airport
 

We Fly from Istanbul to Frankfurt in October. We are US citizens.
We are wondering how many hours we should allow after our arrival to catch a train from airport to another German destination? I notice there are Savings Fares that are for a specific train and Standard Fares that are flexible but more money that we can buy now from the Bahn site. Can we buy the train ticket when we are ready to go(have luggage and have cleared immigration and customs) or should we get train tickets now?
We would like to get things set up in advance but we dont want to "eat" the tickets.
Any advice on how to handle the train ticket?
Thanks very much

Steve.

Depends on where you are going after you land? Just Heidelberg or the Rhine or other near-by locations to Frankfurt, I would just buy the tickets after you land as these trains are mostly Regional trains with no savings if you buy them ahead of time. Long distance trains like to Berlin or Munich are best purchased ahead of time, but you need that cushion of time between landing and traveling onwards. That is where the risk comes in.

If it was me, I would simply plan on staying a day in Frankfurt after landing, sightseeing there and head off early the next morning on your long distance train. No risk, no stress and Frankfurt offers a lot of sightseeing possibilities.

It probably won't take you an hour to clear immigration and customs, unless coming from Turkey complicates things. I tried to use the saver fare last trip but my flight was late and My train was long gone. However the ticket for my wife and I was only 29 Euro so I thought it worth the gamble (regular fare which I ended up paying was 102E)

Well you either have to put a few fudge factor hours in between your train-specific discounted ticket and your expected time to be able to take the train if the plane were on time - since they are non-refundable if missed put an extra few hours - sit in an airport coffee shop - even McDonalds - have breakfast somewhere in the airport's extensive shopping mall, etc.

If buying a full-fare and fully flexible ticket I'd wait until you get to the airport trainstation - porbably the Fernbahnhof or long-distance airport train station and not the Regional or local train station with S-Bahns and short-distance regional trains (unless going to one of those places!).

There are several fares on full-fare trains that can vary as to their types and routings - simply go to the Fernbahnhof and ask for the next convenient train to your destination - trains rarely sell out there are so so many of them. So you'll get the next optimum train by waiting - otherwise you may have to alter your ticket if the fare does not match the various fares on different types of trains.

Seat reservations are option on most German trains and cost a few euros - in 2nd class IME a good thing to have if you want to have two seats adjoining each other - in first class there are always it seems several empty seats so I do not reserve in 1st class but would in 2nd class.

For lots of good info on German trains I always spotlight these IMO superb sources: www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets and how they work - www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. Coming from Istanbul planes are not as likely to be as late as trans-Atlantic ones may be still you never know - Frankfurt is a notoriously crowded airport where planes may have to wait for gates, etc.

Is no one ever worried about a long delay, strike, weather, mechanical problem.. cancellation?

That's the risk of the low-cost tickets.

You can;t look at it that you are risking the full fare. All you are risking by buying in advance is the super cheap fare. If super cheap is not available I would not buy in advance.

Thanks.
I should have mentioned that we are catching the train to Koblenz to begin 5 days in Rhine and Mosel area.
After that we go back to Frankfurt to fly back to US.

There is no advantage to buying tickets ahead of time if you are only going to Koblenz. This trip will be on Regional trains, so just buy your ticket after you land.

So head to the Regional Bahnhof not the long-distance or Fernbahnhof for regional trains to Koblenz - there are IC and ICEs from the Fernbahnhof to Koblenz but they only are about 20 minutes faster all told and cost 28-30 euros it seems but dumpier regional trains cost 24 euros or so so for that small amount I would take a direct ICE or IC train if it comports to your time and not the much less comfy IME regional trains most of which require a change of trains.

IMO head to the Fernbahnhof and take the next IC or ICE connection - for the extra 4 euros it will be well worth it - go in style and not on some potentially overcrowded regional train - ICE and IC trains have better luggage storage possibilities, etc.

Thanks for the great information. We are off in a few days.