Flight from E-Burg>Prague>Frankfurt>US

[Jeff and Tatiana 0]

For me to avoid the whole, stop here and then stop there situation. I booked Tatiana through Moscow, then it stopped in London, then straight to Dallas, TX. Like you I was trying to be sure the POE was where her final destination would be, that often is not easy to find and arrange without changing airlines and long layovers. If you can arrange the Russia city to one western Europe to then Alaska, that is best if you can arrange it.

Good luck!

Let us know what you decide I am curious about the transit visa and how long it would take. For the purpose of getting her parents to visit that I am going to start planning and arranging for in the next 6 months.

Jeff & Tatiana

[AKguy 1]

Yeah this is turning into a cluster f.

Condor airlines didn't know the answer. And the German Embassy in Washington told me to talk to the Russian Embassy (of course).

Anna has to do her part tomorrow and make some local calls. Based on what she finds out is when I'll make the ticket changes.

Last resort is canceling all tickets and routing her through Finnland.

E-Burg>Finnland>NY>Minneapolis>Anchorage Healthy layover in Hellsinki, but she's done it before when she came here last summer.

[Brad and Vika 129]

####### What a mess! We are both curious now - let us know how it turns out.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Yeah this is turning into a cluster f.

Condor airlines didn't know the answer. And the German Embassy in Washington told me to talk to the Russian Embassy (of course).

Anna has to do her part tomorrow and make some local calls. Based on what she finds out is when I'll make the ticket changes.

Last resort is canceling all tickets and routing her through Finnland.

E-Burg>Finnland>NY>Minneapolis>Anchorage Healthy layover in Hellsinki, but she's done it before when she came here last summer.

All this got me curious as our son is coming next week and has a layover in Zurich. Moscow>Zurich>New York, but it is ony 3 hours and they have a visa free transfer area. So no problem. I am then meeting him in New York as Alla was worried he would not make his connection, go to the wrong terminal, yada, yada. He is a budding rocket scientist (seriously) and I think he could handle taking the AirTrans from Terminal 4 to terminal 5, but Alla is a Ukrainian mother and that overrules all else. VJ members can consider driving some distance and even having their fiancee take a train for part of the way to a bigger city.

If a fiancee is willing and able to travel to Moscow or Kiev, then arrive at a major POE (JFK, Atlanta, Washington DC, Chicago) and you can drive there to pick her up, it saves lots of headaches and expense.

I know it will all work out for you Shawn, sorry you have the headache, seems strange since you are the only state that is actually connected to Russia in the winter...but it is summer and that is a pretty fair piece to walk.

I know this is not an option for you , Shawn, I mean Vladvistock to Anchorage is pretty severe sh*t and you are'n't just going to be able to pick her up in Seattle and drive through Canada to get home...oops, that whole K-1 thing just BITES, doesn't it!

[AKguy 1]

All this got me curious as our son is coming next week and has a layover in Zurich. Moscow>Zurich>New York, but it is ony 3 hours and they have a visa free transfer area. So no problem. I am then meeting him in New York as Alla was worried he would not make his connection, go to the wrong terminal, yada, yada. He is a budding rocket scientist (seriously) and I think he could handle taking the AirTrans from Terminal 4 to terminal 5, but Alla is a Ukrainian mother and that overrules all else. VJ members can consider driving some distance and even having their fiancee take a train for part of the way to a bigger city.

If a fiancee is willing and able to travel to Moscow or Kiev, then arrive at a major POE (JFK, Atlanta, Washington DC, Chicago) and you can drive there to pick her up, it saves lots of headaches and expense.

I know it will all work out for you Shawn, sorry you have the headache, seems strange since you are the only state that is actually connected to Russia in the winter...but it is summer and that is a pretty fair piece to walk.

I know this is not an option for you , Shawn, I mean Vladvistock to Anchorage is pretty severe sh*t and you are'n't just going to be able to pick her up in Seattle and drive through Canada to get home...oops, that whole K-1 thing just BITES, doesn't it!

You know what they say, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Yeah I don't think Alla's boy will have any problems. And yes I know the way the maternal female mentality thinks, she'll only be relieved once he's set foot in the house.

If I would have been aware of all the could be visa issues before hand, this all would be a no brainer. I might have even gone for my original route and had Anna get a Schengen visa. (which she still might). I was trying to accomplish a few things though. She didn't want to go through Moscow. I wanted her to arrive and have her POE in Anchorage. And do this all for about a grand. And then we got word about visa issues...

I'll have it all worked out by this weekend. Last peek at tickets has got her a 7 hour layover in Helsinki and 19 layover in NY. She's got the K-1 visa in her passport and has friends in NY if she wants to get out of the airport, though I'm not thrilled about it, she'll be able to get out for a bit. Still trying to fine tune that 19 hours though.

[slim 1,519]

She's going on information from "friends" who've all done the same trip... right.

Shoot, I'd just leave it alone then. Sounds like she has it all worked out herself. I'd let her go on about her merry way. "So you're absolutely sure you don't need a visa? OK. Well, I'll see you in Anchorage."

[AKguy 1]

Tempted to if it wouldn't cost me some big cash to make it all better after I got a phone call.

I couldn't do that to her though... not yet at least!

[clueless_in_usa 8]

That's what I thought too. Only other real question is her having to recheck her baggage in Frankfurt.

See what happenes when I try to save a buck on airlines? "A box? You're shipping me in a box??" But baby, Fed Ex is sooo much cheaper!

Actually I just wanted her 1st POE to be in Anchorage... and the price was good.

AKGuy:

She will have problems in Prague, not in Frankfurt. The Czech Republic is her first point of entry to the European Union. She will be boarding a plane to another Schengen country there. Because of that, she will need a visa to enter Prague (and later land in Frankfurt). The schengen agreement allows people to freely circulate across member states (like the states in the U.S.), as though there were open borders. There are more checks than in the U.S., but circulation in between shengen states is fairly open, reason why she will be required a visa to enter Prague.

Tell her to go to the Czech embassy and get an emergency Short-Term visa (as the Czech consulate says: "Airport transit visas are only good for short stopovers while you are waiting a few hours for your onward flight in the airport's international transit area.". If she presents her US visa and tickets as evidence, she should be given the visa quickly. With that visa she will have the right to fly to Frankfurt, and even go to a hotel there (after entering Prague, she will not have to go through immigration in Frankfurt).

Without a Schengen visa she will NOT be allowed to fly out of Russia because she is not flying directly to the US from Prague. You can do so in Frankfurt (for sure) as long as you stay in the international area of the airport and don't try to cross the passport control points. That means, if she flies from Russia to Frankfurt and then to USA, she can stay in Frankfurt without a visa, but only within the passport control points. That is also possible in Amsterdam and I believe Zurich. I think London does not allow it anymore.

In Summary: Do NOT fly between Prague and Frankfurt without a Schengen Tourist Visa.

[slim 1,519]

I couldn't do that to her though... not yet at least!

Give it a couple years, you'll be more than happy to let her handle it.

[AKguy 1]

And the beat goes on.

Ok, I'm in the process to get her tickets from E-burg to Frankfurt. I'm about to pull the trigger when I notice a little bit of text on the would be S7 airlines) itenarrary. "Terminal 2". As in the flight from Moscow would be arriving at terminal 2 in Frankfurt. Which then made me look up which terminal Condor airlines operated out of.. of course, terminal 1. Since I have no idea how they handle their international passengers, I'm going to put up 60 more bucks and have her go S7 to Moscow and then Lufthansa to Frankfurt since the L is based out of Terminal 1.

It's always gotta be something!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

You think if I rebook her ticket and have her only flying through Frankfurt that we'll solve this problem without getting a visa?

Not affraid she'd not be able to get that visa, we're just getting tight on time. Wait for visa, or, click click click click... click done.

If she's only laying over at the airport and stays in the "secure area"...doesn't try to leave past the gates, I see no reason at all why she would need a visa for that layover. My wife has flown from Belarus - Alaska, and Alaska - Belarus, and never needed a transit visa for a layover in an EU country for the fact she had a connecting flight going either to the USA or Belarus. BTW she laid over at Frankfurt airport for 23 hours on her way here to Alaska.

Edited July 2, 2010 by Why_Me

[payxibka 10,045]

If she's only laying over at the airport and stays in the "secure area"...doesn't try to leave past the gates, I see no reason at all why she would need a visa for that layover. My wife has flown from Belarus - Alaska, and Alaska - Belarus, and never needed a transit visa for a layover in an EU country for the fact she had a connecting flight going either to the USA or Belarus. BTW she laid over at Frankfurt airport for 23 hours on her way here to Alaska.

Because on the original itinerary they had a Prague to Frankfurt leg.... in the EU (Schengen) this is a "DOMESTIC" flight.... no ability to stay in the international arrival area. You must be admitted into the Schengen travel area to do that leg of the flight.

I had a PIT-FRA-VIE-ODS itinerary... I had to enter the Schengen in FRA to fly to VIE and then exit the Schengen to finish the last leg of my flight. I NEVER left any airport but I was admitted to the EU

Edited July 2, 2010 by payxibka

[AKguy 1]

That's exactly the reason, 2 Schengen countries. Then the other tickets I was going to book had her skipping Prague and going straight to Frankfurt, but it turns out it was a different terminal than the one we needed, visa would still be needed. I just finished with the tickets and she SHOULD be ok now. ... now I get to look for tickets for when he parents come here in a couple of months. At least I know what to look out for now!

Thanks for the help "team"!

Shawn

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Because on the original itinerary they had a Prague to Frankfurt leg.... in the EU (Schengen) this is a "DOMESTIC" flight.... no ability to stay in the international arrival area. You must be admitted into the Schengen travel area to do that leg of the flight.

I had a PIT-FRA-VIE-ODS itinerary... I had to enter the Schengen in FRA to fly to VIE and then exit the Schengen to finish the last leg of my flight. I NEVER left any airport but I was admitted to the EU

Very good explanation Pay. I had wondered as I have been through several airports and was never asked for any ID, but this explains it, I never went through TWO EU airports on the same trip.

Incidentally, Sergey came through Zurich on his way from Moscow and had no problems at all...again though, only ONE EU country.

[AKguy 1]

I believe there is more to it, Gary. We, as Americans, shouldn't have a problem. I've been through 2 EU countries (Prague and Amsterdam) before going to and coming back from Russia. The problem resides with the country the passenger is a citizen of. That's what I gather anyway.