Any recent Voyager report?

[lincslady]

On the subject of 'flat' business class seats - watch out for this one; we have flown with seats (a while ago on Singapore airlines) and the seats did go 'flat', but were at an angle, so your head was higher than your feet, and you slipped downwards. I believe there are websites which give good clues as to which airlines have the best fully reclining and horizontal seats. The airlines themselves are not going to tell you, if theirs are not the best.

[Jay23]

Hmm...I think I preferred the simple plain white ship and think the blue stripe detracts from the elegance of Voyager.

 

Thanks for sharing, JMariner.

 

I agree Gilly.

 

(from a fellow Gloucestershire girl) !!

[Hambagahle]

Forgive me for jumping into this thread somewhat late, but I just saw it...

 

I love the stripe, for what that is worth!!

 

However I would like to write something about transiting via Frankfurt. Which I hope will be helpful...

 

There is a different process depending on whether you arrive in Frankfurt from outside Schengen or from within Schengen. Different terminal and gates etc

 

If you arrive from outside Schengen - the USA, the UK, Africa, Middle East etc - then you must go through Immigration into Schengen at Frankfurt IF you are leaving the airport there OR if you are in transit to another Schengen destination whether it be in Germany, or any other member state. Your baggage, on the other hand, goes straight through to your final destination provided that it has been tagged to do so.

 

If you arrive in Frankfurt from a Schengen country and are leaving Frankfurt for another Schengen country there is no Immigration to go through and you simply walk to your next gate. Baggage is tagged for the destination and goes through without you seeing it.

 

Similarly, if you arrive from outside Schengen and are going to outside Schengen, then there is no Immigration. You are in transit "extra Schengen" and you use those gates.

 

So - USA to Sweden via Frankfurt - Immigration in Frankfurt not Sweden

USA to Turkey via Frankfurt - Immigration in Turkey not Frankfurt

Switzerland to Sweden via Frankfurt - no Immigration whatsoever anywhere

 

I hope this explanation helps. It might also help to know that while most EU members are Schengen members this is not universally true... The UK and Ireland are not Schengen. Switzerland and Norway are...

 

All this said, I hate, loathe and despise the Frankfurt airport and would do anything, anything at all rather than transit there. The comments made by someone about having to carry bags down/up steps with no lift and no escalator are absolutely true... and the place is messy, crowded and badly lit!

Edited November 21, 2013 by Hambagahle

[Pepc]

Now I'm totally confused!

My question was if we were flying from Stockholm, Sweden and Orlando, Florida and had to change planes in Frankfurt, Germany . . .

Please clarify your response Hambagahle.

Thank you in advance.

[Pepc]

Meant to type:

 

. . . from Stockholm, Sweden TO Orlando, Florida and had to change planes in Frankfurt, Germany . . .

[Travelcat2]

Gerry, I LOVE your explanation and have copied it for future reference. Until reading some of your previous posts, I had no clue was "Schengen" or "extra Schengen" was Even with your explanation, it is fuzzy in my mind. Am I simplifying it too much when I post that you will go through immigration on flights from the U.S. to most places overseas (through Frankfurt) but will not when you fly to the U.S. through Frankfurt? This has been our experience. We do try to avoid Frankfurt but would like to try Lufthansa's new seats and planes at some point.

[nana541]

Ditto detesting Frankfurt, it's nasty dirty and the pits!! (The airport that is, not the city)

[Patti22]

If you want to be totally confused, Google Schengen Treaty.

[debijaynes]

Gerry, I LOVE your explanation and have copied it for future reference. Until reading some of your previous posts, I had no clue was "Schengen" or "extra Schengen" was Even with your explanation, it is fuzzy in my mind. Am I simplifying it too much when I post that you will go through immigration on flights from the U.S. to most places overseas (through Frankfurt) but will not when you fly to the U.S. through Frankfurt? This has been our experience. We do try to avoid Frankfurt but would like to try Lufthansa's new seats and planes at some point.

 

Flying TO the US from Venice we had to go thru the "border"" and show passports.

 

Nasty airport! Wanted to click my heels together and march in double time to the gates!

[Travelcat2]

Flying TO the US from Venice we had to go thru the "border"" and show passports.

 

Nasty airport! Wanted to click my heels together and march in double time to the gates!

 

 

Well, that blows my theory. Thanks for posting -- I learn something new all the time.:)

[EAGLESLOVER]

I certainly agree with you regarding FRA. Recently flew to BUD via FRA and it was even worse than a year ago. It literally took 45 minutes to get from one gate to another and we had to go through passport control and security in 2 separate locations.(No one in that airport smiles)

We were fortunate to fly home through Munich and that was a real pleasure. FRA is certainly to be avoided if at all possible.

[RachelG]

Our good friends who went on the AMA river cruise with us this past month had separate airline reservations than us and were routed through Frankfurt on the way to Budapest. It literally almost killed our friend, Tom (not Orpington--a different Tom). By the time they walked up and down through several sets of stairs and had 3 gate changes, he was weak and sweaty from carrying the luggage all over. He has had multiple bypass surgeries, and though he does just fine normally, it was almost too much for him. It took 2 days to recover. So a word to the wise-- if you can't avoid Frankfurt (which is the best option), get a wheelchair if you have any health or mobility issues at all.

[freddie]

As we have just last week returned from a cruise from Venice to Rome, having transited in FRA on both the flights from Seattle to Venice and Rome to Seattle, I commend Hambagahle on her very cogent explanation of the immigration issues at that airport. (I will also respectfully suggest that TC2 not try to summarize that explanation, as she did not get it right. The Schengen/extra Schengen dynamic cannot be reduced to a single sentence, or even two.)

 

As an illustration of how it works, when we flew into FRA from SEA, we had to go through immigration/passport control there. After our flight from FRA to VCE, we did not go through immigration/passport control when we landed at Venice because it is within the Schengen group (sort of like flying domestically in the U.S.). For our return flights, we did not go through any immigration/passport control at Rome (FCO) because we were flying to FRA. At FRA, we did have to go through immigration/passport control before going to our flight on to SEA on Lufthansa.

 

If Debijaynes had to go through immigration/passport control in Venice, she was likely flying to London or directly back to the U.S. from Venice, which would be a connection outside of Schengen, requiring the passport control.

 

Whilst we would generally agree that FRA is a dreadful airport that is best avoided, it is tough to avoid when one flies to Europe on LH. We have had some ghastly experiences there, with long lines at two separate passport control points and broken-down escalators. However, amazingly enough, on our transit there last week, we had the quite marvelous good fortune to have all of the escalators, elevators, moving sidewalks and other such devices working perfectly, allowing us to move between rather two distant gates with ease and in less than 20 minutes.

 

Further, passport control was a total breeze, taking less than five minutes. (It helped enormously that the Business class line was open, with very few passengers in that line.) The other particularly memorable element of that passport control was that the two passport control officers were not only extremely good-looking (like a couple of young German movie stars) but also totally friendly, smiling, and engaging, making pleasant conversation and joking with the passengers as they processed the passports. Perhaps the two guys were auditioning for "Germany's Hottest Public Servants" TV series or something like that; but we were the lucky recipients of a remarkably pleasant passport control experience. Sadly, we do not delude ourselves that this will likely be the norm in our future transits at FRA.

Edited November 23, 2013 by freddie

[Travelcat2]

"Freddie" I already addressed this issue. I "asked" if the summary was correct and understand that it is not even though we have flown through Frankfurt to the U.S. without going through immigration/passport control in the past.

 

It is important to also understand that your experience is not necessarily the experience others have had. Lines can be very long and the walk from one terminal to the other very difficult.

 

Gerry's explanation was great, however, we are not all attorneys and do not necessarily understand the reasoning behind the "horror" (my words) of Frankfurt!