Leaving Berlin / taxis / customs
 

Details:
Flight out of Berlin leaves at 06:55 on Sat July 19th to USA, so going through customs. Thinking we should take a taxi so that a) we don't miss our flight and b) so that we avoid multiple train/bus changes spending 45 minutes enroute where there would be a 15 minute taxi ride. Would be leaving at 05:00 from Melia Berlin.

Fragen:
1. Should we leave earlier? (How long does going through customs at 6 a.m. take?)
2. Do taxis run in Berlin as early as 5 a.m.?
3. Which taxi service do you recommend?
4. Thanks! :)

Taxis run all night long. I have a cousin who drives a taxi in Berlin and he likes the night shift that starts around 10 or 11 pm.

Customs? You mean US customs? I thought the only US customs per-clearence facilities in Europe are in Shannon and Dublin.

Presuming you are actually leaving Berlin on one of the few US bound flights, what you go thru at TXL is 1. passport control to exit the Schengen zone and 2. carry-on security check. If you are doing this, 6am will be most likely to be too late. Check info are posted at the operating carrier's web site.

However, I would recommend you look at your itinerary carefully. According to matrix.itasoftware.com, the Berlin departures relevant to US returns between 6am-8am on July 19 all seem to require a layover at a European airport such as FRA, BRU, CDG, ZRH, AMS, LHR, before changing a plane to the US.

United 9:35am to EWR and Air Berlin (American)10:00am to ORD are the few flights that actually connect Berlin to the U.S.

If you are doing a layover in another Schengen country, you need even less time at the Berlin airport.

Customs? You mean US customs? I thought the only US customs per-clearence facilities in Europe are in Shannon and Dublin.

Presuming you are actually leaving Berlin on one of the few US bound flights, what you go thru at TXL is 1. passport control to exit the Schengen zone and 2. carry-on security check. If you are doing this, 6am will be most likely to be too late. Check info are posted at the operating carrier's web site.

However, I would recommend you look at your itinerary carefully. According to matrix.itasoftware.com, the Berlin departures relevant to US returns between 6am-8am on July 19 all seem to require a layover at a European airport such as FRA, BRU, CDG, ZRH, AMS, LHR, before changing a plane to the US.

United 9:35am to EWR and Air Berlin (American)10:00am to ORD are the few flights that actually connect Berlin to the U.S.

If you are doing a layover in another Schengen country, you need even less time at the Berlin airport.

The OP means immigration and security, not customs which you go through upon entering a country, not leaving it. Many people don't seem to understand the difference between immigration (passport control) and customs (declaration of goods).

If I am leaving Berlin at 6:55, with layovers in BRU and at IAD (USA), landing in Tulsa if that matters, with German goods in my carry on, what will going through the airport be like? At what point do they check the declaration of goods and passports? At BRU?

Michael, thanks for the help!

When you leave you don't have to declare goods - the only thing you might do is if you made a big purchase and want to claim back the sales tax, you might take it to a window in Berlin, but that is outside of all the airport lines, and well before immigration. You will go through immigration, where they will check your passport, and security (checking bags) (not sure about the order, can't remember, but that's how it is in other airports), and then you might have a tiny bit of time to go do some shopping. Then it's the mad rush for the gate. All that happens in Berlin. You will not have to do immigration again in Brussels, but if I understand correctly, at your first port of call in the US you will have to do immigration, customs and security in that order.

Lavandula

Aside from the duty free/tax return issue (if applicable), your flight from Berlin to Brussels will be handled as a domestic flight. So there is only a security check and no passport control/immigration.

If you fly Lufthansa or Brussels AIrlines to Brussel from Tegel, there is no need to be at Tegel airport any earlier than 6am for a 6.55am flight. So you don't have to leave the Melia any earlier than 5.30am.

Passport control will be in Brussels when leaving the Schengen area.

P.S. Taxis run 24/7 in Berlin. You don't have to pre-book one, your hotel will call you one if there are not any waiting outside the hotel. Expect a waiting time of appr. 5 minutes or less. You don't call a certain taxi company - all have the same tariff.