Airport Airport

FRA Frankfurt Airport Security Times

IATA Code:

FRA

Timezone:

UTC/GMT +2:00 hours

Airport local time:

Thursday, 11:11am


Wait times are steady
Updated today, Thursday 14 May 2026
11:02 AM (UTC/GMT +2:00 hours)
Add Your Time
  • Data

    Qsensor makes use of data from Frankfurt Airport.

  • Disclaimer

    Waiting times may not accurately reflect your experience. It is advisable to arrive at the airport well in advance and follow the recommendations of the airlines and airports.

  • Airport Last Updated

    11:02 AM (UTC/GMT +2:00 hours)

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Wait Times by Day of Week

Average wait times based on the last 3 weeks of data.

6m
Mon
6m
Tue
5m
Wed
5m
Thu
5m
Fri
5m
Sat
5m
Sun

The average wait time at 11 am at this airport is 6 minutes

Based on data from the past 3 weeks.
Current: 6 min (Similar to usual: avg wait time is 6 min)

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Latest Airport Arrival Time
Domestic 1h 45m before departure
International 2h 15m before departure
How we calculated this

Bag drop closes 45-60 min before departure. With an estimated 45 min bag drop queue, you need to arrive at the desk 90-105 min early. After that, allow 5 min for security (avg on Thursdays) and 20 min to walk to your gate, which closes 15-20 min before departure. Finally, add a 15 min buffer.

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Best & Worst Times to Fly

Based on historical security wait times across all days of the week.

Best Time
Night
9pm - 4am
5 min avg wait
Worst Time
Morning
8am - 12pm
6 min avg wait
Flying in the Night instead of Morning could save you up to 1 minutes in security lines.

Your Guide to Navigating Frankfurt Airport (FRA):

Frankfurt Airport (Flughafen Frankfurt am Main) is the busiest airport in Germany and a critical node in the global aviation network. Serving as the primary home base for Lufthansa and a central hub for the Star Alliance, it operates as a massive complex, handling tens of millions of passengers annually.

The airport is organised into two main terminals:

Terminal 1: The larger complex hosting Lufthansa and its partners (Concourses A, B, C, Z).

Terminal 2: A separate facility hosting Oneworld, SkyTeam, and other international carriers (Concourses D, E).

Frankfurt Airport FAQ

The current Security wait time at Frankfurt Airport is approximately 6 minutes.

Security wait times at Frankfurt Airport vary throughout the day. Check the historical wait time chart on this page to find the quietest times.

It is tight but officially possible for many connections. As of March 2025, Lufthansa increased the Minimum Connecting Time MCT to 60 minutes (from 45-50) for many transfer types (e.g., Schengen to Non-Schengen) to ensure reliability.

Warning: If you booked your flights on a single ticket, the airline will rebook you if you miss your connection. If you booked separate tickets, and miss your connecting flight, the airline will not rebook you on a later flight.

You have two free options:

  • SkyLine Train: Runs every 2–3 minutes connecting the terminals. It has separate carriages for Public (Landside) and Transit (Airside) passengers, meaning you can often switch terminals without clearing immigration.
  • Note: Service may be suspended during maintenance or severe weather; check for alerts. Shuttle Bus: Yellow buses run between the terminals every 10 minutes from the curbside (Landside).

Look for signs to the Passenger Tunnel (between Concourses A and B). This airside tunnel allows you to transfer between these specific piers often faster than taking the SkyLine, though you will still need to pass through passport control as you are entering the Schengen zone.

Yes. You can use FRA SmartWay to book a specific security time slot for free. Slots can be booked up to 72 hours before your flight. If your flight departs in less than 30 minutes.

It depends on your train ticket:

Go to Regionalbahnhof (Tracks 1-3): If you are taking the S-Bahn (S8, S9) to Frankfurt City Center, or a Regional Express (RE) to cities like Mainz or Wiesbaden. This station is located on Level 0 (basement) of Terminal 1.

Go to Fernbahnhof (Tracks 4-7): If you are taking a long-distance ICE or IC train to Cologne, Munich, or Amsterdam. This station is located in “The Squaire,” connected to Terminal 1 by a pedestrian bridge (Level 3).

Note: The Squaire also contains amenities such as restaurants, a hotel and office space. It’s also located.

Lufthansa Rail allows you to connect into or out of Frankfurt Airport using the train. For example, you can book the first leg of your flight from Cologne Hauptbahnhof, take the train to Frankfurt Airport, where you check-in your luggage at the AirRail Terminal (which is located next to the train station).

Take the S-Bahn lines S8 or S9 from the Regionalbahnhof (Regional Station). Trains depart every 15 minutes, and the journey takes approximately 15 minutes. Purchase tickets at the turquoise RMV machines or red DB machines before boarding.

Yes. You can stop in the designated Drop-off Areas located directly in front of the terminal doors (P39/P35 at Terminal 1 and P17/P19 at Terminal 2) for up to 10 minutes free of charge. This is allowed twice per calendar day. If you stay longer than 10 minutes, charges apply immediately.

Do not use the drop-off lanes for pickups that require waiting. Instead, use the Short-term Parking areas:

  1. Terminal 1: Use P31 (Level 0), which offers direct access to arrivals/departures.
  2. Terminal 2: Use P18 or P19 (Surface parking). Rates are typically €2.50 for 15 minutes or €5.00 for 30 minutes.

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Live data: For the majority of the airports we track we use live data from the airport. For the remaining airports we provide a modelled projection, combined with crowdsourced data.

Search: By airport name, IATA code, city, county, country or region. To save you time, we keep your last visited airports on the front page. If you can’t find an airport, contact us using the contact form and we will look to add it. 

Current average wait time: The airport’s latest average security, passport control or customs queue wait time. If the airport has multiple queues, we display the average of them. If you want a more granular view that includes wait times for individual queues, take a look at the terminal level wait times. We regularly update each airport’s data,  but make sure you click the “i” icon to check when the last update was made.

Terminal level wait times: The latest security or customs queue wait time for individual terminals. Click on the terminal to access more information at the terminal level. Please note that this data is not available for all airports. We are working to expand this functionality to as many airports as possible.

Historical wait times: The typical wait time on different days and times over the past 2 weeks. Click the filter at the top right of the graph to cycle through the days of the week.

Add a security or customs queue wait time: How was your airport security experience? Contribute to the community by inputting your wait time. This feature is only available for airports where Qsensor does not automatically track data. To add a wait time, simply click the “Add Your Time” button on the airports page and follow the instructions.

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Please note that this data is monitored and may be modified or deleted if found to be invalid.

Click the “i” icon to view and take note of more contextual information on each airport. “Airport Last Updated” denotes the last time the data was refreshed.

Our sources for wait time data vary and may include air travel data aggregators, federal agencies such as the TSA, CATSA CBP, or information from the airport and its affiliated service providers. For some airports, Qsensor utilises its proprietary queue modelling technology to project wait times. Additionally, we crowdsource data from passengers who have input their wait time using the “Add Your Time” button.

Qsensor is not affiliated with any airport, airline, or associated service provider.

We regularly check queue times and flight delays for accuracy, however all times are estimates and waiting times and delays may not accurately reflect your experience. It is advisable to arrive at the airport well in advance and follow the recommendations of the airlines and airports.

There are a wide array of ways that queue data is measured. Including but not limited to looking at how long a passenger takes to get from scanning their boarding pass to exiting the security or customs area. Auditing passengers on how long it took them to pass through security or customs as well as Qsensors’ proprietary system for user added wait times. 

For airport wait times, we currently support over 140 airports worldwide. Whether it be London Heathrow, Istanbul, or Miami – we have got you covered. More are added all the time. Is Qsensor missing an airport that you want to be supported? We are more than happy to accommodate your request, get in touch via the contact form. 

For flight delays and cancellations, we currently support 12 airports, with the goal of expanding coverage going forwards.

Qsensor automatically tracks wait times for a variety of airports including London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, Amsterdam Schiphol, Kempegowda Bangalore, Madrid Barajas, Hong Kong, Istanbul, and many more!

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Get insights into flight on-time performance and make better travel decisions. Please note, this feature is not available for all airports, but we’re adding more all the time!

To keep wait times relevant, the message “There is currently no data for this airport.” is shown when no traveller has recently inputted a wait time.

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For airports Qsensor automatically tracks, this message may also be shown if we haven’t recently gotten data from the airport. This typically rectifies itself within 12 hours.

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