Hidden Schengen Visa Rule for Transit via Frankfurt and Munich, Rakesh Decodes and Saves His Travel on Time

Like many other Indians, Rakesh is traveling to India with his family this summer (in July). He proudly holds a Green Card for his permanent residency in the land of American Dream. He had booked his flight tickets from Seattle to Bengaluru with Lufthansa when Indian Eagle was offering US-India flight discounts celebrating Women’s Day 2025 through March. After having secured a good deal for the summer travel, they got busy making a bucket list of things to do and see in and around Bengaluru this time.

Their round-trip itinerary has two Schengen airport layovers – Frankfurt and Munich in Germany – which requires a regular Schengen Visa for smooth transit. We had sent him the booking confirmation email and Lufthansa flight tickets with a note that the itinerary he purchased may require a short Schengen visa or airport transit visa in Germany. It seems that he overlooked the note as he was under the impression that Green Card holders are exempted from this visa requirement in the Schengen area.

He woke up to this requirement for his journey through Frankfurt and Munich, when a user post in some Facebook community group caught his attention. In the post, an Indian from San Francisco shared his ordeal of being denied boarding by Lufthansa for not having a Schengen Visa for his flight itinerary similar to Rakesh’s. Taken aback by the post, Rakesh took no time to call Indian Eagle’s customer helpline and confirm whether a regular Schengen Visa is required for transit via two airports in Germany.

He got into a dilemma over whether he should cancel their reservation with Lufthansa and book a new round trip with one-stop flights from Seattle to Bengaluru with some other airline, or apply for a short Schengen Visa. Cancelling the scheduled travel would have incurred him a hefty airline fee for each of four travelers in the booking, though the itinerary was refundable. On top of that, a new booking would cost him more than what he paid (minus the Women’s Day discount) in March.

After two days of deliberation, he chose to apply for a regular Schengen Visa. It was the third week of April; thankfully, not too late to meet the transit visa requirement for their US-India round trip with Lufthansa. Many travelers like Rakesh are still unaware of this critical visa rule involving transit between two Schengen airports in Germany. Most of them realize this late, and thus have no other option than cancelling their travel in the eleventh hour and seeking last-minute flight tickets with deals.

Indian Eagle, the most trusted travel-booking partner of Indians and Americans, thanks Rakesh Gupta for this story. We wish him a safe and happy trip! Subscribe to Travel Beats, a leading US-India travel news community for latest updates on airlines, airports, transit visas, routes, etc.