Teen transferring in Frankfurt?

[Anonymous]

There's a camp my teenager wants to attend next summer in Norway. There aren't direct flights from here to Oslo. Would you be comfortable with your 16 year old flying alone and transferring in Frankfurt? He's generally a good traveller and has flown alone on direct flights many times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a camp my teenager wants to attend next summer in Norway. There aren't direct flights from here to Oslo. Would you be comfortable with your 16 year old flying alone and transferring in Frankfurt? He's generally a good traveller and has flown alone on direct flights many times.

Can you find a route where the connection is in the US? I would consider that.

I've flown to Europe many times and been stuck overnight in Amsterdam a few times.

Kids can't rent hotel rooms. So in the off chance of a messed up flight situation, it might be easier to handle it from the US side. For example, getting stuck in NYC or Newark is within driving range.

We had our 15 year old do an unaccompanied transfer in Minneapolis both ways to camp last year.

[Anonymous]

Frankfurt is an easy airport to navigate. If he’s a seasoned traveler and it’s not a super short layover, I would feel comfortable with this.

[Anonymous]

Yes I would

[Anonymous]

Yes, as long as the connection was a good amount of time. I’m sure Frankfurt has plenty of English-speakers. I’d look up airport maps and go over how to switch terminals, if that’s going to be necessary.

[Anonymous]

Frankfurt is easy to navigate, in my experience but you ultimately know your own kid. I would game out certain scenarios with him like what if his bag is lost or his flight is canceled.

[Anonymous]

Frankfurt can be a bit of a pain. Instead of jetways, they often load you on a bus and make you drive a long way to and from the plane.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but make sure he has a long connection time. He will have no problem finding people who speak English. Frankfurt can take a while a get through though.

[Anonymous]

Does he have any experience dealing with glitches at the airport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Does he have any experience dealing with glitches at the airport?

Not alone

[Anonymous]

Yes. There’s a first time for everything and a responsible 16yo will figure it out. Congrats to him.

[Anonymous]

Coming home it would be fine but going there I wouldn’t want a glitch to cause him to be late to the start of camp. I world have him fly out of NY on a direct flight then coming home transfer planes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but make sure he has a long connection time. He will have no problem finding people who speak English. Frankfurt can take a while a get through though.

Frankfurt can be messy for tight connections.

[Anonymous]

Frankfurt airport is HUGE. Do you have a plan for what happens if he misses the connection?

[Anonymous]

Can you find a direct flight from NY? If so, do that.