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Many years ago (in 2019) I made a trip to Germany with friends, departing by plane from London (LHR) and arriving in Munich (MUC). Munich's international airport has two terminals. For practical reasons, we took different flights. I arrived first, in Terminal 2; while my friends arrived later, in Terminal 1. Given my arrival was earlier, so I had time to cross to another terminal, we planned to meet in Terminal 1.

In hindsight, the way I should've taken to Terminal 1 should've been:

  1. Starting in Terminal 2, follow the signs for the exit.
  2. Pass immigration in Terminal 2.
  3. Exit the terminal building.
  4. Walk across the Munich Airport Center to Terminal 1.

Instead, what I did was:

  1. Starting in Terminal 2, follow the signs for Terminal 1.
  2. Board the shuttle bus for Terminal 1.
  3. Enter Terminal 1. I do not recall passing through any control point (security/immigration) before entering Terminal 1.

Being in an unfamiliar place, late in the day, and tired from the flight, I was on autopilot navigation to Terminal 1 and did not realise the problem until it was too late: I was in the airside departure area of Terminal 1. There wasn't an exit. After wandering around lost for what felt like forever, I was eventually able to get out with assistance from staff. When passing immigration in Terminal 1, the officers were bemused at what had happened.

My questions are:

  • Should my journey from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 have even been allowed to happen? In my experience, changing to the airside departure area of another terminal is typically only possible if you have a boarding pass for a flight connection from the other terminal. I did not have a connecting flight so would not have had a boarding pass.
  • If MUC actually does allow this, why does it? Given many airports don't allow changing terminals without a boarding pass and it enabled a situation where it's not possible to exit the terminal (without special assistance), why does Munich allow for this possibility?
  • If it was not supposed to be allowed, how was it allowed to happen? (There might have been some specific detail about the journey that I took which allowed it to happen but I cannot recall.)
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    In many airports, checks for boarding passes are not systematic when you switch terminals. Boarding passes are usually checked at security, which you may or may not have gone through depending on your origin. Commented May 29 at 23:14
  • Some airports even encourage going through security at another terminal/concourse in case of long queues, then changing terminals/concourses airside. The layout of MUC is such that this does hardly make sense between T1 and T2, but I did that before at both Frankfurt (FRA) and Stuttgart (STR) airport. Commented May 30 at 7:23
  • The key problem is: I was able to change terminals without a boarding pass AND being airside on the departures level there was not a signed path to immigration and the exit. I would understand not needing a boarding pass to change terminals if staying on the arrivals side or if there was a path to immigration and the exit. Commented May 30 at 10:44
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    @Wing People who want to exit usually follow exit signs. People who follow "Departure gates X-Y" usually have a boarding pass, but they don't check that. Once you are in the departures area, there are no signs for exit as this is not a standard scenario, but you could find a way out. You were still in the non-Schengen area (as you had to go through immigration to exit), and you probably arrived from a "trusted" origin not requiring a security check. Consider US airports (and some elsewhere) where domestic arrivals and departures are mixed (not segregated). This is the same. Commented May 30 at 11:15
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    @Wing A boarding pass check would have kept you from going somwhere you where not supposed to go to, I agree. But checking boarding passes takes time and money, and I assume that the number of people taking the wrong way is small enough to not warrant a permanent boarding pass check between the two terminals, but rather solve all incidents like yours on a case by case basis. Commented May 30 at 11:58

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Munich has airside connections between both terminals. See map below.

You can think of Munich airport areas as having 3 legal flavors: "airside non-Schengen", "airside Schengen" and "landside". To go between landside and airside you need to go through security and to go between "Schengen" and "non-Schengen" you need to go through immigration. The flavors are the same for all terminals so shuttles between terminals that connect the same flavors do not need any further inspection and are free game.

Should my journey from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 have even been allowed to happen?

Sure. As long as you connect to the same flavor, it's fine. Airside shuttles are common in many airports. FRA operates a train between both terminals with cars for "airside" and other cars for "landside".

If MUC actually does allow this, why does it?

Because it's much more convenient for the passengers and reduces effort to operate the control points. In some cases the airlines pay for the shuttle anyway.

If it was not supposed to be allowed, how was it allowed to happen? (There might have been some specific detail about the journey that I took which allowed it to happen but I cannot recall.)

Again: as long as you stay within the same legal "flavor" and transportation is available, the terminal doesn't matter.

EDIT based in comments:

This essentially meant I was 'stuck' airside in the non-Schengen part of Terminal 1 as there were no signed exits.

I'm not super familiar with Munich, but that's a bit unusual for a German airport. For example if you arrive in FRA from the US you typically arrive in Terminal Z. There are plenty of signs to the exit from inside the terminal.

There is also an immigration bypass between Terminal A and Z which allows airside transfer between Schengen (A) and international (Z) without having to go through security again. The bypass is available from both sides .

Why was a boarding pass not required to change terminals?

As long as you move between the same flavors there is no legal requirement for you to have one, so it's up to the airport. For example in Charles De Gaulle all international arrivals are routed either to the exit or to "connecting flights" with a security check that includes a boarding pass check.

That's not the case for Munich (or Frankfurt). If you arrive from a "trusted" country, you exit directly into the terminal area and you can either walk to a connecting gate or to the exit.

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  • Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on Travel Meta, or in Travel Chat. Comments continuing discussion may be removed. Commented May 30 at 17:22
  • @Willeke: what's done is done, however, I would like to highlight this discussion on Meta. Commented May 31 at 15:25
  • Some Stack Exchange Sites will not remove comments, others do. This one will not accept new comments soon after the move of comments, no matter what other SE sites do. Commented May 31 at 15:53

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