this baggage thing can be a bit tricky, i found this out on last trip in transit through hong kong, i was booked on star alliance all the way to Moscow, had a 11 hour stop over in hong kong and maybe this is why my baggage appeared in the baggage retrieve area,, i actually didn't expect it but there it was, "i thought i better check",, hell of a surprise..
but reality was i guess i didn't ask in new zealand about such or receive that luggage check in number one shows with your boarding pass when catching next flight,, "one can never be to sure without that little ticket"
Spearman,
As one arrived in the terminal have you never noticed different direction signs, one will say 'baggage reclaim' and another will say 'flight transfers'?
And please, for your own best interests, ignore what dunromin said, I've seen in another thread that guys are saying he talks cr@p and I will reitterate that by what he has said in his post in this thread.
kiwinorth,
Next time, as you check your baggage in look for the three letter airport code on the suitcase's baggage tag and that is the airport that your bag is checked thru until.
"However, in theory! If one were to not have checked any luggage, and purchased separate tickets on a different connecting airline, one should be able to hang-out in the transient terminal w/o needing any sort-of visa (as MartinFcc and others pointed out). So therefore, it should be understood in Moldova how international airports work (not only Moldova for that matter) if someone can proof of a further destination they should not deny boarding. E.G. I could still purchase a single itinerary from KIV-FRA-USA and the lovely people in Chisinau don't know if my real intentions are to try to enter Germany. "
No..the officals in Moldova will most likely not let you board. If you try and leave the airport without a visa then you will be sent back and the airline who got you there will be fined. So they wouldn't let you board. Maybe Martin knows this but if you have USA as your final distination and you try and leave in germany then the airline is not going to be fined because they haven't done anything wrong and whats more that airline has a flight for you to leave Germany to USA. Sure you may have connecting flights and no luggage but how do the officals in Moldova verify this (ie your ticket is still valid or its not fake).
"USA airports do not have transit areas and they are international airports. Most people from FSU
countries cannot connect through US cities for flights to other countries without visas. "
I think you'll find LAX has one. Not a very good one, but you don't enter the US if your on an Air NZ flight from Auckland to London via LA. However I know my wife couldn't do this without a transit visa, so we had to go via Hong Kong.
Well thew reason Aerosvit, allbeit temprarily, started a Birmingham (UK) to Kiev route was for a cheap option for Birmingham's large Indian community to travel to Delhi via Kiev and indeed it was sometimes cheaper to book BHX-DEL rather than BHX-KBP.
But, providing one was travelling with only hand luggage there was nothing to prevent one from terminating their journey in KBP, there was nothing illegal about it providing that one had any required visa to enter Ukraine.
I did something like this a couple of years back, I was booked Rome-Amsterdam-Birmingham but I had a day of business to conduct in The Netherlands so I simply terminated my journey in AMS having booked myself another ticket AMS-BHX for that evening which was a far cheaper option that taking a stopover in AMS on my original ticket.
Ben...I was talking about a transit area without needing some type of visa. No international airport in USA ( as far as I know)has an area similar to the restricted area such as Paris where no visas needed to connect.
In LA when leaving your plane on an international flight, you go directly to passport control/immigration, pick up your luggage, go through customs, then go to your connecting flights. I am not sure if you can have your check-in luggage by pass this( go from flight to flight), I do know there are dogs snifing all luggage.
"In LA when leaving your plane on an international flight, you go directly to passport control/immigration, pick up your luggage, go through customs, then go to your connecting flights."
Not on a Air NZ flight Auckland to London via LA :) But you still need to be able to enter the US without a visa or have a transit visa.
Ben...I saw your link....believe me....I've been through that international terminal in LAX many times....only 1 way through as I mentioned, I guarantee it. These website links are for general use, I would rely on actual experience. Visa is needed, whether staying in USA or connecting to another country( if you are not from one of 27 countries with visa waiver program).
Twenty-seven countries participate in the Visa Waiver Program. Citizens of these countries do not need visa to enter USA: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Believe this or not, and despite those 9/11 'flyers' learning to fly in USA, there remains no appropriate USA visa for pilots to enter USA for the purposes of pilot training in a leased simulator.
A couple of years ago I was sending pilots across to USA, for simulator training, under the visa waiver programme simply because there was no appropriate visa for them to apply for.
Beemer, trust me its true!!! I work with people who take this flight 4-5 times a year. General use? It seems a little detailed don't you think. The transit area is a room for Air NZ (more like a holding pen) but its still an international transit area (only a few airlines can do this). You'd ever see if unless you were on a flight from NZ to London via LAX. You still want to guarantee this :)
Transiting in Los Angeles
To meet the security requirements of US Customs and Border Protection, travellers in transit in Los Angeles on NZ1 to Auckland or NZ2 to London must remain in the transit facility. Here is an outline of the transit procedure you can expect.
1. When you leave the aircraft in Los Angeles, Air New Zealand ground staff will direct you to the transit area where you will be required to present your passport and completed U.S. Immigration form to officials for inspection
2. There is no requirement to complete the Customs form when in transit
3. Boarding passes must be retained for the continuation of your journey
4. Entry formalities require all travellers aged 14 - 79 to have a photo and prints of index fingers taken by officials (US and Canadian citizens exempt)
5. US Customs and Border Protection processing may result in a delay to enter the transit facility; we understand queuing can be uncomfortable so will be offering refreshments while you wait to be processed by the authorities
6. If you need to use a toilet before entering the transit area, please ask one of our Air New Zealand ground staff for directions
7. Once in the transit facility, complimentary refreshments and snacks are available to you.
Should you require any assistance in the transit facility, please do not hesitate to speak with any of the Air New Zealand ground staff.
""No..the officals in Moldova will most likely not let you board. If you try and leave the airport without a visa then you will be sent back and the airline who got you there will be fined. So they wouldn't let you board. Maybe Martin knows this but if you have USA as your final distination and you try and leave in Germany then the airline is not going to be fined because they haven't done anything wrong and whats more that airline has a flight for you to leave Germany to USA. Sure you may have connecting flights and no luggage but how do the officials in Moldova verify this (ie your ticket is still valid or its not fake).""
Good point Ben2006,
And the only way to know if the connecting tickets aren't fake is verification through a partner airline. ;)
But, ideally!! It is not illegal to purchase a ticket from a non-partnered airline. Is it?? So, if FRA is an international airport (which should have a international transient area)AND my fiancé DOES have a visa to enter the U.S. AND would have supporting evidence of further travel thru Germany AND since Air Moldova is not a customs organization AND the fact that this very situation has to have been happening everyday since the dawn of international travel. How can Air Moldova (or anyone else) seemingly 'force' someone to buy a ticket from a partner airline because they don't know (or maybe I don't know) how things work? What if there was no partner airline? What if my girl had a visa to Darfur Africa and I wanted to fly her there via Air Moldova to FRA then via Darfur International Airlines to Darfur?
The above statement was purely rhetorical, but maybe some of you could enlighten me on this.:)
Spear
Ben, can I ask you what country they are citizens of? Is this for everyone on plane? They must not be NZ citizens because they could go through customs, move about freely and not have to stay in 'holding pen' and wait for connecting flights. Business travelers maybe???? Just curious, Ben.
You mentioned you didn't take this flight because your wife would need visa.
I am not doubting you if people you work with have done this....it is certainly not the norm, maybe NZ has a special for certain travelers. I have taken numerous other flights and have never heard or seen this.
I'll guarantee for 99.9% of passengers!! :))) Guess there are exceptions to every rule.
Beemer its for people traveling to london from Auckland. The plane stops in LAX and some people carry on. But they can't stay on the plane, they all have to get off and get their passports checked. All passengers going to london on this flight have to go to this holding pen (although if they wanted they could go through customs but the plane stops for only an 1 hour or two at the most). Air NZ can do this as they have the facilities in place. To be able to do this you need to have a passport from a country in the Visa Waiver Program or a US transit visa. I couldn't be arsed to get a US transit visa for my wife just to stand in a holding pen in LAX.
Its probably only 0.001% of passengers that do this :)
SpearMan,
Nobody is forcing you to buy a ticket from a partner airline, the matter here is of immigration law and, in regards to baggage, airline insurances and aviation security.
Now as far as Air Moldova are concerned she is destination FRA thus they are only obliged, perhaps under company/immigration directive, to check her baggage in as far as her final destination on that ticket, FRA.
I don't know if you've mentioned which carrier it is FRA-USA but let us say it is United. Now if Air Moldova do not have express permission, authorisation, to check baggage in on behalf of United then they simply are not allowed/authorised to do it. Now it may be possible that your lady may be able to sweet talk the Air Moldova staff in to checking it in all the way through but at present we are at the planning stage and, at present, it is a bag of worms.
Some other complications that I foresee is that these baggage tags are computerised ones, able to be read by scanners, and I question if Air Moldova would have it in their system for the computerised code for a United flight from FRA to USA.
Furthermore, and when your lady may go to the transit desk in FRA to pick up her ticket/boarding pass, they will ask if she has any baggage and when she may announce that Air Moldova checked it all the way thru then the sh1t may hit the fan because it is known/believed that security is not up to spec in such countries as FSU countries.
The bottom line is, as I have already said, at the planning stage this is a bag of worms thus if I were you I would make enquiries how easy or difficult a German transit visa may be and then all your worries may be solved.
I guess I am partly right, for these passengers to hold a passport from country in visa waiver program, would be a hassle to appy for transit visa. I see why you didn't get visa for your wife. I know many people who get flights that avoid having connections in USA because of visa issues.
"But, ideally!! It is not illegal to purchase a ticket from a non-partnered airline. Is it?? So, if FRA is an international airport (which should have a international transient area)AND my fiancé DOES have a visa to enter the U.S. AND would have supporting evidence of further travel thru Germany AND since Air Moldova is not a customs organization AND the fact that this very situation has to have been happening everyday since the dawn of international travel. How can Air Moldova (or anyone else) seemingly 'force' someone to buy a ticket from a partner airline because they don't know (or maybe I don't know) how things work? What if there was no partner airline? What if my girl had a visa to Darfur Africa and I wanted to fly her there via Air Moldova to FRA then via Darfur International Airlines to Darfur?"
Then fly with another airline that can ..or get a transit visa because in this case thats exactly what they are for :). Getting a transit visa in your girls case would be easy if you can show you have tickets booked and a US visa.
The airline can refuse you boarding if you don't have a visa for your final distinition. This is black and white, when you start talking about not having checked in bags, visas for 3rd countries, other connecting flights its a grey area. Whos responsible if the first airline is delayed and the person misses the connecting flight. What if the person don't have funds to buy a new ticket? What happens then? Of course it could happen, but in Moldova they have a guy check each and every passport.
Spear...I am not as familar with what officials in moldova will or will not do but in Franfurt, there should be no one to have to see until boarding plane, unless check-ins need to be picked up( you will know in chisinau what will happen). You don't have to buy ticket from ailine partners but I think it will make things much simplier to book whole trip on one booking
As I said, in a few weeks I will know what will happen because I booked separate flights from KIV-FRA and FRA-LAX with 2 different( one world partner) airlines.
Thanks fellas..
So, ok.. It would seem probable that more restrictions and controls are put on FSU countries.
Don't get me wrong. I plan on making a single reservation from KIV-USA, as I want to mitigate any problems.
Beemer18, you will not have any problems anywhere with seperate bookings because of your citizenship. However, I would be interested in your return leg from KIV-FRA, and if you see a 'international transient' turn-off before you get to passport control in FRA. I want to know if I need to get my eyes checked:)
But one difference is beemer, I think, is that you don't require a visa for Germany thus you will not be deinied boarding the first flight for lack of a visa but, if the check-in staff are friendly and not too busy, ask them the question that if you required a visa for Germany would they deny you travelling.