Airports, passports & Customs question
 

Hi everyone,

I've never flown internationally before and so I have a technical question. I'm sure I'll find this out on the day I travel, but, ahem, I'd like to know in advance!

In 6 weeks I'm flying on SAS, Seattle>Copenhagen>Düsseldorf (Germany). There's only a 1-hour layover (1 hour! eek!) in Copenhagen between flights. Denmark is a Schengen country as is Germany. Does anyone know (i.e. has anyone flown the same or similar itinerary recently) what will occur regarding "passport control"/immigration and Customs? Is it just passport-checking in Copenhagen and then Customs in Germany? I can't imagine trying to get baggage and go through Customs and re-check it all with a 1-hour layover! That would be seemingly impossible. My impression of Customs is that you go through Customs if/when you are ENTERING the new country... i.e. leaving the international section of the airport, which I should not be doing in Copenhagen. Am I right? Please help! ;-)

Thanks,
Debbie

Hi Debbie,

You check your bags through to your destination (Germany). You shouldn't have to claim them in intermediary stops; they'll be loaded onto the next plane for you. You'll have to go through passport control in Copenhagen. Shouldn't be any big deal. Just hand in the passport and any paperwork given to you on board the plane.

You will go through passport control in Copenhagen, but your baggage will be checked on to Germany. It will be tagged to indicate that it originated in a non-Schengen country, and you will have to clear customs in Düsseldorf. Passengers who board the flight in Copenhagen will have a Schengen tag on their baggage and will not have to clear customs in Germany.

Thank you both for the info! I feel much more relaxed now :-)

Debbie

I was wondering the same thing. I fly SAS from Seattle to Copenhagen and then on to Paris next week and only have 1 hr. to make that connection. Hopefully, the airport will easy to navigate and hopefully I will make that flight.

How does passport control work on return? First flight segment between Schengen countries, then board plane back to US? Just check-in, go through security, then no passport control at first airport, but stop for passport control within international area at connecting airport before boarding to US?

Kay2: indeed just as you describe. All airports in the Schengen-zone are split into a Schengen and a non-Schengen section. Between these sections, there is a passport control checkpoint.

This is to Barb (or, okay, or anyone else that's flown through Copenhagen lately also)...

So how did it go? You made your connection? How was the flight? How did it go with passport control and customs? I'm leaving SEA>CPH>DUS in ... holy poo... 9 days! :-)

Thanks,
Debbie

I would be really woried with the one hour connection. We have been ah hours connection time before (admittedly it was Gatwick), the first plane was late landing and we had to run to get the next one. We only got it because it was late in leaving. Never again!
At least check to find out if the worst happened if you would have a long lay over before the next available flight.

My family has made the SAS Copenhagen connection several times with only an hour given (in one case they held the next flight to Frankfurt until the connecting passengers made it), but the first time their luggage didn't make it. We live 90 minutes outside of Frankfurt, and their luggage was delivered by van to our door 16 hours later. Pack extra undies in your carry-on :) We love SAS and have family coming over on them again next month.

We ran into the "less than an hour" problem returning Paris to Houston with a connection to Denver. Since Houston was the 1st point of entry, we had to deplane, get luggage, clear customs, get luggage resent and get to new gate!

Luckily my husband enlisted the aid of a porter (which we normally don't need) who saved our late derrieres! He quietly but quickly saw us all the way up to and through customs guiding us to the quickest agent and made her aware of our delema before sending us off to the right gate as he continued to reload our luggage for the connecting flight.

We couldn't have made it through in time w/o this knowledgeable help. It was worth whatever it cost.

Hi, You will have no trouble in most of Western Europe with customs if your the normal traveler. They barely even look at my passport, and when going from country to country there on a train recently there were no checks at borders.
Where the real hassel is coming back thur Seattle. It's much better in SF. If you can't hold it for a long time, be sure and go potty before leaving the plane. The last time they made us all wait a really long time until we got our baggage and came thur our own customs. They asked us endless questions about where we went and such. You can not even open your purse to get a tissue or medicine and they don't let you sit down. Then they take your baggage away once again while you ride the train to the other terminal and wait an even longer time for your baggage. In SF it's just the oppisite, they give you a room with a toilet and actually tell you it might be best to use it before going thur customes in case there is a wait. The baggage moves faster and they don't make you wait for it a second time. They have a 5 minute goal. They even said welcome back and didn't ask any strange questions. Unfortuantly for my next trip I have to come back thur Seattle because it's a free trip and that's the only place I could get it from in the time frame I wanted to go on, so let's both hope they have changed their policeys.
Another thing is leaving, be sure and have on shoes that are easy to slip on and off, cause they make you take them off, sometimes several times just going thur the normal flying even. And take a small amount of food because it's a long trip, about 9 hours from Seattle to Europe and the airline food is pretty awful.

You make it sound horrid to come back into Seattle. Ugh. I'm insulin-dependent, so unfortunately I'm not a "normal traveler" in the sense that I must carry syringes & stuff with me. Ah well. Nothing I can do about that... I'll keep my glucose tabs in my pocket then in case I have a low blood sugar since I can't open my purse around them ;-)

Debbie