A recent trip through Frankfurt made me certain of one thing: it can’t be the best European airport ! Nein ! No way ! And here is why…
The morning flight departed on time, but landed in Frankfurt with 15 minutes of delay, because of “stronger than expected traffic”… Ok, these things happend, but that was only the starter… Many airports do give better conditions to the national company, because they are historically important customers. But the Lufthansa Boeing 737 I flew on did get a parking spot so far away from the runway that taxi time had been something like 10 minutes !
Then the bus was late ! Yes, you read it correctly, the bus ! Germany biggest airport, one of the major hubs of Europe still have bus transfers ! I personally enjoyed it because the 10 minutes drive was under many 747, and I just love the 747… but what a loss of time !
The way out to the public area was then within acceptable time. I head to the lavatories, to change from travel clothes to business clothes… and beleive me or not, finding a free WC in Frankfurt is not an easy task ! I lost 10 more minutes waiting for it !
On my way back, security kept my notebook for 10 minutes. I don’t mention the queue to security, this is common to all airports. But after I walked through the metal detector, my laptop and other bags took 10 minutes for being x-rayed ! Because of this, I lost my shopping possibility and my wife got no memory from Frankfurt.
Once I got my laptop back, I went to the gate as quickly as possible, just to discover a SECOND SECURITY CHECK ! So the security dance restarted: watch, phone, keys, money, laptop, toothpaste and aftershave in the bucket… I tried to ask the person in charge why we were double checked, but the single answer I got (despite asking in english and german) was “Yes”.
Finally, at the gate, the agent anounced that passengers with a barcode on their boarding card could use the automated boarding passage. I went there, just to find out that the reader was offline ! The anouncement if probably part of the “procedure”.
After passing the boarding gate, I piled up in a bus, with all other passengers, starting for a new 10 minutes ride… followed by 10 minutes of taxi…
So no, Frankfurt is not the Best European Airport !
Update (13 FEB 08): I went again through Frankfurt earlier this week. I don’t know if it is because flights from Switzerland can not access the Shenggen area, but the experience was even worse. The plane parked at the terminal, and I was hoping for a jetty, but no ! Passengers have been deboarded to a bus, and we had to wait for 5 minutes under the aircraft generator whining… No comment.
On the flight back, I set a new record: 45 minutes from the time I entered the queue for security screening to the moment my laptop got out of the X-Ray machine ! I never saw that before… Passengers even applaused when the staff opened an additional screening line… what a pitty !
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