We are planning to fly Boston - Oslo in mid September arriving Oslo early afternoon on Tuesday September 19th. We would like to take a flight that afternoon to Bergen. How long should we allow for collecting luggage and clearing immigration and customs in Oslo?

We will return to Oslo to spend a few days later in the trip.

Thanks!

Can you check your bags all the way through to Bergen? If so, then you would take baggage claim and customs out of the equation.
If you are flying the same airline or on partner airlines from BOS to Oslo, then Oslo to Bergen, then chances are good (but not 100%) that you can tag your bags through to Bergen.

What are your connecting flight options/times you can consider?

Thanks. If we book on one ticket we can hopefully check the bags in to Bergen. As Oslo is first stop in Norway, and we are continuing on a domestic flight, we should assume we may need to do both customs and immigration in Oslo. Does anyone know how this works in Oslo?

We're looking at two options. Book tickets through to Bergen. Booked as one ticket, the layover options are under 1 hour 30 min, 2 hours 15 min, or 3 hours. Possibly longer. We are switching from International to domestic and from Icelandic to a code-share with SAS, so forget anything under 2 hours. Is 2 hours 15 min reasonable? 3 hours? Look for something longer?

The other option is to book round trip tickets to Oslo, and book the Oslo - Bergen flight separately. I am considering this option for two reasons. First, the round trip fare may be better than a multi stop fare. Second, we can book with Norwegian Airlines, and avoid having a SAS flight on our ticket. SAS is under Chapter 11 reorganization. I'm not worried about booking the short flight with them. They are still flying and the Oslo-Bergen tickets are in the $100 range. I am a bit concerned that if we needed to use our trip insurance they could use the Chap 11 to wheedle out of paying a claim. Norwegian has frequent flights between Oslo and Bergen. We just need to figure out how much time to leave between flights.

The idea of booking through to Bergen on the Icelandic ticket will be my pick, unless we save a large amount by booking the flights separately. In any case, we need to figure out how long a layover to book.

Has anyone had a transit stop in Oslo recently?

As Oslo is first stop in Norway, and we are continuing on a domestic flight, we should assume we may need to do both customs and immigration in Oslo.

That is not correct. You pass through immigration at your first stop in the Schengen zone, of which Norway and Iceland are both a part, and customs at your final destination. If your bags are checked through to Bergen you will not see them before then. Customs is nothing more than passing through an exit door. If you have nothing to declare you simply walk out of the green lane door after you collect your bags, and never stop or talk to anybody. No more complicated than walking out of the supermarket.

I had an overnight layover in Olso last month. The lines for passport control were very short. I should make the disclaimer that March Is probably not Oslo's busiest month.

It’s been a few years since I flew from London to Oslo, but what sticks in my mind is how pleasant and quiet Gardermoen Airport was, and how smoothly passport control and customs went. This was in July. The UK was an EU member at the time, and Norway wasn’t and still isn’t, but customs was just walk through the green door as J62 stated. Since you will already have gone through passport control when you entered Schengen in Iceland you won’t have to do it again in Norway.

It seems as though there are no non-stop flights from BOS to Oslo, so it would seem to me the best routing might be to take a one-stop BOS to Bergen, connecting in Iceland, Amsterdam, or Copenhagen.

Assuming you'd need to connect at a hub somewhere in the Schengen zone just to get to Oslo, your question about immigration at Oslo would be moot. A flight to Oslo (or Bergen) from any of those gateways would be considered a domestic flight into Norway.

If there are non-stops BOS to Oslo, then your immigration question is valid. Looking at the Oslo arrivals schedule I see very few flights originating outside the Schengen zone, which means very few passengers needing to go through immigration...

A huge THANKS! to all of you. I had no idea about how the Schengen immigration system works! You have saved us from booking a ridiculously long layover.

We are planning to buy tickets on Icelandic, and make a stopover in Iceland on our return trip, so we will go through any immigration or exit procedures in Iceland.

This is also a great reason to booking through to Bergen. We won't need to deal with the checked suitcase in Oslo. A huge thanks for all of your replies. This is great news!

Wendy, I can’t say enough about how great my Icelandair flights with changeover at Keflavik Airport (Reykjavík) were. The airline has positioned itself as a one-stop alternative to nonstop flights between North America and Europe. What I noticed was most flights from both directions converge at Keflavik within a two hour timeframe, allowing you to stretch your legs before boarding the connecting flight. Keflavik Airport Terminal is small, and the staff are very efficient in helping passengers with the changeover.

There seemed to be two waves of flights, one in the morning and another in afternoon. Once, partly because the fare was lower, I booked one flight arriving at Keflavik in the morning and another leaving in the evening. That gave me enough layover time to go through passport control, hop on the Flybus to Reykjavík, and walk around the city. For my return to the airport I bought a ticket on a coach that stopped off at the Blue Lagoon on the way. That was a wonderful day!

I flew from Oslo to Reykjavik last month. Both Norway and Iceland are Schengen so the will be no customs. It's like a domestic flight in the US, you just pick up you bags and exit. As for leaving Iceland, I flew back to the Schengen zone so someone else might be able to answer that.

If you have any questions about Iceland please post or message me. It's all very fresh in my brain.