Landing in Germany for the first time is exciting. You’ve survived the long flight, collected your bags from the belt, and now you just want to get out of the airport and start your new chapter. Simple, right?
Not quite — at least not if you’re an Indian traveller arriving in Germany for the first time. Because right at that first step, there’s a small thing waiting to catch you off guard: the airport trolley.
How It Works Back Home
If you’ve grown up travelling in India, you already know how trolleys work — or rather, how easy they are. At almost every Indian airport, trolleys are freely available both inside and outside the terminal. You walk up, grab one, load your bags, and go. No fuss, no coins, no questions. They’re everywhere, easy to find, and completely free to use. Coming in or going out — same story.
So naturally, when you land in Germany and spot a row of trolleys, your first instinct is to grab one and start loading your suitcase.
That’s when you notice the chain.
The Trolley Chain Situation
At many German airports, luggage trolleys are chained together with a coin lock. To release one, you push a coin into the slot on the handle — 50 cents, €1, or €2, depending on the lock — and the chain pops free. When you’re done, you wheel the trolley back to a trolley bay, push the chain back into the slot, and your coin comes straight back out.
The important thing to understand: this is a deposit, not a payment. Nobody is charging you for the trolley. The coin is just collateral to make sure the trolley comes back to a bay instead of being abandoned in a car park. Return it, get your coin, done.
It’s a perfectly logical system once you know it. But if you’ve just landed after a long international flight, your pockets are full of Indian rupees, your mind is running on no sleep, and you’re surrounded by heavy suitcases — figuring this out on the spot is a bit of a rude welcome.
That’s exactly what happened to me.
I stood there looking at the chained trolleys, confused for a moment, then realised I needed a Euro coin. I had none. I ended up asking people around me for change, and thankfully someone helped me out. Not the most graceful start to life in Germany — but a memorable one.
And in case you’re wondering whether this has all gone digital by now — it hasn’t. Coin-operated trolleys are still the norm at German airports, and at supermarkets and stations too, so it’s worth being ready for one.
That said, it isn’t identical everywhere. At a few airports the arrival trolleys are free, and some use a card-operated system instead. So don’t assume either way, and don’t panic if what you find doesn’t quite match what’s described here. Arrangements do change over time — treat this as what to expect, not a guarantee.
What To Do So This Doesn’t Happen to You
A few simple things that would have saved me the scramble:
- Carry a few Euro coins before you land. If you’re exchanging currency in India before your trip, ask specifically for coins, not just notes. Two or three coins in 50 cent, €1 and €2 tucked into your jacket pocket will cover you at any lock you meet.
- Buy something small before you collect your bags. If you land without coins, stop at a café or vending machine, pay with a note, and take the change. Sorted.
- Ask at the currency exchange counter. Most airports have one near arrivals, and they can sometimes give you change even without a full exchange.
- Keep the coins in an easy pocket. Not buried in a suitcase in the hold. You want them reachable one-handed while pushing luggage.
And once you’re finished with the trolley, return it to a bay and reconnect the chain. Your coin comes right back. The system works quite well once you’re in on it.
The Plastic Token You’ll See People Using
Here’s something I noticed once I’d been in Germany a while. At shopping centres, I kept seeing people release a trolley without digging for a coin at all — they’d pull a small plastic disc off their keyring and use that instead.
It’s called an Einkaufswagenchip. It’s made to the same diameter as a €1 coin and works in the lock the same way: push it in, take the trolley, get it back when you return it. Banks, insurance companies, supermarkets and hardware shops hand them out free as giveaways, usually with a logo printed on them — which is why so many people end up with one on their keys without ever having bought it.
There’s a small legal quirk behind them, too. A chip isn’t allowed to be an exact copy of a coin: German rules mean it has to be made slightly thinner than the real thing, so a €1-format chip comes in at around 23 × 2 mm against a real €1’s 23.25 × 2.33 mm. Close enough for the lock, different enough to be legal.
I should be straight with you: I’ve only ever watched other people use these. I’ve never used one myself, so I can’t tell you how well it holds up day to day. If you do try one, two things are worth knowing — a €1-format chip only releases a lock that accepts a €1 coin, so it won’t help at a lock that specifically wants €2, and it’s no use on the day you land, because these get handed out once you’re already living here.
For your first hour at the airport, real coins in your pocket are still the thing that actually gets you a trolley.
Why This Matters Beyond the Airport
This isn’t a one-time airport quirk. The same coin-lock system is on the shopping trolleys at Aldi, Lidl, Rewe and Kaufland, on lockers at railway stations, and at plenty of other places you’ll pass through in an ordinary week.
So the airport is really just your introduction to it. Once you’ve understood the chain-and-coin idea, you’ve understood a small piece of daily life in Germany.
And since the lock is purely mechanical, it isn’t checking what you feed it — only whether the size is right. Coins from other countries that happen to match the diameter and thickness will release the chain just as well as a Euro coin, which is why those keyring tokens exist in the first place. Whatever you put in is what you get back, so there’s nothing lost either way.
You’re Not Alone
If you’ve ever had a moment like this — standing confused at a foreign airport, missing something that seemed obvious in hindsight — you’re in very good company. It’s one of those small culture-shock moments that nobody warns you about, but almost everyone experiences in some form.
Once you’re out of the terminal, the next thing you’ll want is a working German number. I’ve written about getting a SIM card in Germany, including a shop scam worth knowing about. And when you get to the bigger task of finding somewhere to live, my guide on renting an apartment in Germany covers the documents and terms to prepare for.
Have you come across this situation yourself? Maybe it wasn’t trolleys — maybe it was something else that caught you off guard in your first hour in a new country. Share your experience in the comments below. Whether it made you laugh, stressed you out, or both, I’d love to hear how your journey started.
Questions or comments?
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