Few Questions About Trraveling Internationally
 

So the deal is I am considering where to book my flights. The end all goal is to end up near Maastricht, NL. So I can either fly to Amsterdam or to Brussels. I have been considering two different flights.

Option One
Chicago-Helsinki
Helsinki-Amesterdam
Via Finnair

Option Two
Chicago-Dublin
Dublin-Brussels
Via Aer Lingus

The layover times and prices are similar for both of these. I would like to know what the opinions are of these two Air line companies and what your advice would be for me.
This is where the new traveler questions come from:
When flying into EU when will I go through Customs and Immigration?
How long does it take approximately?
What does it mean By Green, Red, Yellow lanes?
Will I be responsible for transferring my checked luggage when transferring to my connecting flight in either Helsinki or Dublin?
This is my first time traveling internationally as well as alone because I am only twenty-one and I do have plenty of experience traveling within the states and I know that traveling internationally is a whole different league. So if you would be as kind as to answer my questions as well as give any advice when it comes to traveling in EU I would very much appreciate it. Thanks, Kay

Kay, I'll leave to others to advise on the merits of Finnair over Aer Lingus.

If you choose the Dublin option, you probably won't go through immigration/passport control in Dublin as you will be <i>in transit</i> and not be leaving the air-side of the airport to "enter" Ireland. You will go through immigration/passport control when you arrive in Brussels. I was just in Brussels last month and think I may have spent 10-15 minutes in line arriving and leaving. There is no way to predict how long it will take you to go through passport control/immigration because it depends how many other flights arrive at the same time. I think the longest time I ever spent was about 25-minutes.

If you fly via Helsinki, you will go through passport inspection there. Finland, Netherlands and Belgium are all part of the Schengen Zone and have no internal border controls.

The color coded lanes are diffent doors or lines when you exit the arrivals hall. The green lane is if you have no goods to declare to customs. The others are if you do.

If your flight is booked on one ticket, your luggage will be transferred to your second flight in Dublin or Helsinki and you won't see it until you arrive at your final destination. When you check-in, just be sure to tell the agent your final destination and make sure he/she tags it properly.

airlinequality.com reviews on both your carriers.

Aer Lingus for me.

You're seeing an American Airlines flight on ORD-HEL, not Finnair. (It's a "code share" flight carrying a Finnair flight number, but with an AA plane out of Chicago.)

American uses Boeing 767-300 planes on that route; in economy you'll have limited leg room and no personal video screen; Aer Lingus will give you maybe an inch more leg room, and you'll also probably have to use the overhead screen, instead of seatback.

I wonder how much more it would be to fly via London on either American or British Airways? On both the AA and BA flights (777s on either, or 747s on BA) you'd have personal video screens, and a somewhat more comfortable seat (esp. on AA on a 777.)

Both Dublin and Helsinki are easy airports to navigate on the connections.

UA has a non-stop to AMS. Have you checked that one?

UA also flies ORD-BRU. The train ride from brussels to maastricht is shorter than from amsterdam.

Here's a map or plan how to transfer at Dublin airport T2 (Aer Lingus terminal).
http://www.dublinairport.com/Librari...plan.sflb.ashx
I would have thought, too, that you could stay airside for tranfers, but the map says you will pass through passport control in DUB as well.

In Brussels, it is slightly more convenient to arrive from a non-Schengen destination like Dublin than from a Schengen destination like Helsinki as the Schengen terminal is a much longer walk from the central baggage claim which is located in the main, the non-Schengen terminal.

After baggage claim, you will have 3 exit options in Brussels. Green for nothing to declare, red for good to declare, and blue (marked with the EU flag) for arrivals from the EU.
The latter is not for you as your trip originated outside the EU and your luggage got checked through. There will only be occasional spot controls at the "nothing to declare" exit so you can expect to walk right thru.

After leaving baggage claims, it's just a short walk to the elevators/escalators to get to the underground train station in the same building.

Neither option is great. The equipment AA uses is poor and Aer Lingus pretty much stinks. Going via Dublin is shorter, so would choose that I guess. But I would see about other options if the price difference were not terrible.

As for immigration and customs times.. It varies. Immigration is the big question mark, but I doubt it would be more than 15 minutes in either Brussels or Amsterdam. Customs is usually a non-event; if you aren't leaving anything of value in the EU, then you have nothing to declare and should simply walk through the green lane.

If you are okay with connecting, what about doing so in the US and, eg, taking Jet from Newark to Brussels. It is a much nicer flight than, eg, US from Phl to BRU. Just a thought, but not ideal either, of course.