Latin American flying to Europe

Old Apr 10th, 2021, 01:45 PM
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Latin American flying to Europe

Hey guys! My El Salvadoran boyfriend will be traveling to Bulgaria soon, a trip which takes 3 connected flights. He'll be staying for a month at most, maybe two--which doesn't require a Visa, only a passport, under Bulgarian law.

I was curious if anyone has made a similar trip from Latin America to an EU country, and what your experiences were concerning checks at the various airports as well as the destination. Were you asked a lot of questions at any of the connecting airports or when you were arriving? We also want to be sure there'll be no risk of his being denied access to any of his connecting flights because he doesn't have a VISA within the European Union. (His connecting flights may well include USA/Amsterdam/Heathrow, depending on the ticket he buys.)

Thanks a bunch!
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Old Apr 10th, 2021, 04:05 PM
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While I dont have experience coming from Latin America, I would guess that the biggest risk would be a connection in the US.

The few times I've transited through an airport in Europe to a destination outside the relevant customs/passport zone, whether the connection was in the EU or the UK, I don't recall actually ever going through passport control - I just stayed air-side, before immigration.

Anyone flying into a US airport, however has to actually enter the US. There is no way to simply stay air side / before immigration.

Last edited by J62; Apr 10th, 2021 at 04:12 PM.
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Old Apr 10th, 2021, 04:59 PM
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Welcome to Fodors. I suggest you register on Flyertalk and ask your questions there. They have residents and passport holders from almost every country and most fly all. the. time. But mainly - they will be able to walk you through Timatic which is the website every airline uses to determine if they will allow you to board a flight. Whether you are allowed transit and/or entry per covid-19 regulations, nationalitypassport, country of residence, where one has been the preceding 14 days, reason for travel etc. Every specific traveler/situation will be different.

(FlyerTalk is owned/managed by the same company that runs Fodors but you have to register separately)
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Old Apr 11th, 2021, 02:10 PM
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You can use AF/KLMs Traveldocs website to enter the itinerary, making sure you list all the transit points and dates accurately and it will tell you what the restrictions are.

https://www.traveldoc.aero/

It is similar to TIMATIC, except as a traveller, you cannot access TIMATIC yourself as it is used by airline and travel agency staff.

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Old Apr 11th, 2021, 03:24 PM
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"You can use AF/KLMs Traveldocs website . . ." Good idea.

But just to clarify the main reason I recommended FlyerTalk is that many (sometimes it seems like most) of its members have access to Timatic and they look up/check potential flights/trips for newbies just about every day. They often identify issues that us mere mortals wouldn't recognize or understand. Just another option . . .
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Old Apr 12th, 2021, 03:18 AM
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Originally Posted by janisj
"You can use AF/KLMs Traveldocs website . . ." Good idea.

But just to clarify the main reason I recommended FlyerTalk is that many (sometimes it seems like most) of its members have access to Titanic and they look up/check potential flights/trips for newbies just about every day. They often identify issues that us mere mortals wouldn't recognize or understand. Just another option . . .
Thanks so much Janisj! I'm definitely going over there to see if anyone's got any experiences to share!
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Old Apr 12th, 2021, 03:19 AM
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Oooh, that's real useful, thank you balthy!!
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