I always just arrive 5 minutes prior to departure. If I miss a train, not a big deal. I'll just take the next one sometime later. Most train tickets are flexibl

I always just arrive 5 minutes prior to departure. If I miss a train, not a big deal. I'll just take the next one sometime later. Most train tickets are flexible and merely specify the day you're going to take a particular connection. You might miss out on your seat reservation though. Also I might just be unlucky that it takes me >1h just to get from my apartment to the airport in Berlin, but generally trains beat airplanes for most destinations I have in Germany. For some destinations they're competitive, but rarely ever beat trains by more than a few minutes, while still being much more of a hassle. I'd rather relax in a comfortable train for 4 hours with every amenity I could wish for, going straight from city center to city center, than deal with airports for two hours just to spend an hour in a cramped airplane while still having to organize transportation between the airport and the city each leg.