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-   -   ?'s on connecting flight to US from EU (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/s-on-connecting-flight-to-us-from-eu-304158/)

mdtravel Feb 13th, 2008 12:36 PM

?'s on connecting flight to US from EU
 
For our upcoming trip, my wife and I will be flying from Brussels to Frankfurt on Luthansa, then from Frankfurt to Charlotte on US Air.

We have never had our connecting flight be in the EU before so I'm not sure what to expect in either Brussels or Frankfurt in terms of passport control.

We will be carrying on. Will we go through passport control in Brussels, then do nothing but board in Frankfurt? Or will we, as non-EU citizens, have to exit and re-enter in Frankfurt?

I'm sure this is easy, but we've never done it this way before.

flanneruk Feb 13th, 2008 12:41 PM

Your citizenship is irrelevant.

The flight to Frankfurt is, in effect, a domestic flight: there's no passport control. You exit the Schengen area at Frankfurt, where you go through outgoing passport control.

Robespierre Feb 13th, 2008 12:45 PM

...but provide time for the security check at Brussels. My boys and I got through it in a few minutes last August, but it could take more than an hour. Security in Frankfurt is already calculated into your air itinerary.

jamikins Feb 13th, 2008 12:49 PM

I believe you would not go through passport control for your Brussels to Franfurt flight as they are both in the Shengen Agreement, so you woudl go through passport in the US only. Thats how it works when you travel to Canada...

jamikins Feb 13th, 2008 12:49 PM

Sorry you would go through passport control for your US flight.

mdtravel Mar 10th, 2008 07:39 PM

I'm looking at the Frankfurt airport website but don't see what I'm looking for.

Arriving from Brussels, departing for Charlotte.

What concourses will I arrive in and leave out of? Just trying to figure out how far we'll have to go, how we'll get there and how much time to allow.

Cowboy1968 Mar 10th, 2008 10:46 PM

LH from Brussels arrives at Terminal 1, Concourse A.
US Air to Charlotte departs from Terminal 1, Concourse C.
You should have 2 hours to connect, which I think is okay. I would not idle too much but go straight to the gate for Charlotte.

Since 1A is a loooong pier, walking distance to 1C can vary a lot. It's also hard to foresee if passport control and security checks are a mess or a breeze. Frankfurt is not my favorite airport.

Brussels requires some time, too. Usually LH check-in is not really crowded. But after check-in, I would recommend to go to your gate immediately, since Schengen flights depart from midfield terminal A which is quite a walk. My personal average waiting time at security in Brussels is some 10 to 15 min - but some less unfortunate colleagues of mine have spent more than 30 min in line.

xyz123 Mar 11th, 2008 02:27 AM

As I remember there is no passport control leaving the eu...also flights tothe USA out of Frankfurt have special departure gates...as you may or may not know the US government has this imbecilic rule that a separate "random" screening be done before passengers are allowed to board a US bound flight...how random it is depends on the airline however Frankfurt does this one step further....they pat down all passengers and inspect hand luggage of all passengers headed to the USA which slows the boarding process imensely.

mdtravel Mar 26th, 2008 05:11 PM

Thank you for the great information Cowboy1968. Very useful and much appreciated.


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