London Travel Answers

We flew in from Isla de Tenerife a couple of years ago and had to go thru passport control at that time. We stood in the wrong queue for a while...it was obscured by something at the time.... The worst bit was getting a taxi...it was the middle of the night and and taxis had to be ordered from an office and the we waited and waited...not arriving at our hotel till 3am.

I am a UK Passport Holder but don't remember ever being excused Passport Control when entering any UK airport from the EU - or from anywhere else.The only difference is there is an EU passport holder lane.

passport you are not excused, I do it all over Europe. Then Rome is Rome;;;;) Happy landing at Gatwick

The other posts have reminded me...EU control was first ...so you need to bypass it. Our non EU queue was actually shorter in this instance.

The Passport controls whether EU or non Eu are Border controls.

For heaven's sake! The point is that the UK is not a SCHENGEN member! So you have passport control when travelling between Spain and UK. Italy and France ARE Schengen members, so there are no passport controls when travelling between them. EU issue relates more to CUSTOMS (immigration controls persons, customs controls goods), where there is an EU customs union, of which the UK is a member. Consequently there are no customs controls on commercial goods at internal borders (although as drugs issues are not harmonized at EU level, there can be spot checks for those purposes, at the frontier or elsewhere).

I know it can be confusing. Some countries in Europe are members of the Schengen agreement, some countries are members of the EU and many are a member of both. The UK is in the EU, but not in Schengen, so there is a passport control but no customs control.

Yes Christine it certainly is a bit tricky. Last time we landed in Manchester on way to Ireland (from Australia) we had to go through cabin bag check and immigration before boarding for Ireland even though our main luggage was checked through to Ireland...then we just walked into Ireland as if on a domestic flight ....we did not expect that. So in effect it seemed as if we were entering UK and there was no check of our main baggage by customs in Ireland nor UK.

The UK is not in Schengen. So you *must* go through border control and Customs (they are *not* the same thing and happen separately) when you arrive from any country, Schengen, EU (not the same as Schengen), non-EU, whatever. In many of the Schengen airports I have used, passengers to countries outside the Schengen Area fly from different gate areas, showing passports to border control officials as they enter the gate area and not being allowed to leave it once they have done so. BUT....the UK and Ireland share a Common Travel Area (includes the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands too). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common... This is not the same as Schengen. Border controls may differ. I honestly can't recall what happened when I last flew into the Republic, but there were no border controls when I arrived back in the UK from N Ireland (although the police were watching passengers and we were only allowed to walk through a particular area a few at a time...presumably CCTV monitoring).

How about flights between Italy and Spain? We will do that tomorrow going from Milan to Barcelona

unless very recently change and with all these intriguing laws it might, you will have passport control in Barcelona. I did. schengen.mai.gov.ro/English/... the site for schengen explains the EU ,Schengen, agreemements and possible future members, this is from the Romanian section that i was there recently. and yes we all know or should know passport control and immigration border controls are different check points; some even ask you for passport control before getting inside the plane just before entering it right at the plane door like in Romania lol!!!,and they pass all the test for Schengen in 2011, just wait for EU council ok the best response is to have your passport ,boarding pass with you at all time ready to show it to whoever wants it. Easy. Cheers, over and out

"How about flights between Italy and Spain? We will do that tomorrow going from Milan to Barcelona " I already answered this. Italy and Spain are both in Schengen, so no passport controls apply between them. You will leave from and arrive at a dedicated domestic/Schengen terminal, access "airside" by showing only your boarding card, and on arrival in Barcelona, pick up your luggage and go with no further controls. That said, groundstaff are quite likely to ask to see your passport at check-in, to check a) that you are the person whose name the ticket was booked in and b) that you have any necessary visas (or confirm that you don't need one) - because if by any chance you are of a nationality to which particular restrictions apply, if the airline lets you on the plane and you are refused entry into the country of destination, the airline that brought you has to take you back. They also require you to show passport and boarding card when you board the plane, again to see that the name is the same (in case you passed on your boarding card to someone else after check-in). anti-terrorism measure This does not equate to "passport control" by immigration officials: it is the airline checking your identity and looking out for its own commercial interests.

Sorry about extraneous "anti-terrorism measure" - I really should learn to do preview before posting! (Tripadvisor permits editing within a few minutes of posting..)

@qaminari As an American in Europe for only the second time forgive me for asking questions for various agreements I am unfamiliar with. I didn't see anything in your first post about Spain and I just wanted to make sure what passport regulations were in affect or not.

Putting it simply: If you fly from one Schengen country to another you will not pass border control on arrival. You will show your passport at check-in and, in a few airports, may still have to show it to get airside. If you fly from Schengen to any non-Schengen country you will have to show your passport at check-in and at a border control on departure *and* on arrival. You will also have to pass through Customs once you have reclaimed your baggage (you may not see anybody there, but they will be watching you).

Rich, don't worry. There are many Europeans who also get very confused about Schengen and EU and who belongs to which and who doesn't. Enjoy your stay and hopefully you'll get through all passport controls and customs very quickly.

UPDATE Arrived in sunny, yes sunny London at 9:15 a.m. this morning. Spent about 3 minutes in passport control, bags were waiting and bus into city. Can I fly into Gatwick on all my trips? Need to divert some of the US flight traffic here. How long are the runways?

Doesn't work like that, Rich. You were just very lucky. :-)

hahaha yes indeed, but it takes one and Gatwick is famous lol!!!

I'll take lucky and EasyJet every time. Speaking of airports and having to go through Heathrow and my home base of O'Hare tomorrow. For a 7:45 a.m. Flight out of Heathrow tomorrow, what time would you advise us getting to Heathrow?

Check in time -as a general rule the advice for international, long haul flights is to arrive as early as possible but usually 3 hours before scheduled departure. You should check this out on your airline and the Heathrow websites - there may be a little lee-way if you check in online but it did not make much difference when we flew to and from LAX last year.

to USA especially I agree with Ranger49, 3 hrs before departure time. Cheers

Definitely 3 hours for flying to the US from Heathrow, imo. Check your carrier's website too. You may well be checked-in and through security within an hour or so. But you may well not be...so why risk rushing and hassle? If you have time airside just relax, eat, drink, wander the shops, people-watch.

As has been repeatedly pointed out, there are no immigration controls when travelling between Schengen countries. If travelling by road you don't even need to stop, although most borders set a lower speed limit (e.g. 70 kph) for a couple of hundred metres either side of the actual border. When flying, of course, you must show photo ID (passport or national identity card) for security purposes but this is NOT an immigration check. The United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen Agreement and everyone arriving at a UK border from anywhere apart from Ireland is required to show a passport/ID card.

Quick update from our trip through Heathrow this morning for our 7:45 flight back to Chicago. Heathrow Connect at 4:42 Arrival at Heathrow at 5:07 In Line for Check in at 5:11 (a little unorganized as they had two lines and people who arrived after use by 15 minutes got checked in first). Will write American Airlines about that. Through check in and drop off bags by 5:35 Through very short security line at 5:45 In waiting area by 5:55. Bottom line on a Tuesday morning from Terminal 3 it was very much a breeze. Arrived in Chicago and took less then 2 minutes to get through passport control. They had 12 agents (4 more then our landing in Heathrow) and we just beat in another Jumbo Jet from Korea so that worked to our advantage. Back home now after a wonderful holiday and now getting ready to download pictures and tips. Thanks for all the help while we were on the road!!!

Glad you enjoyed it and are now safely back home. :-)

glad all went well, and enjoy your trip, now get to work on the tips, photos and videos I know you took plenty lol! Until next time Cheers

I think between Sue and I we took about 80 to100 per day. But of course those include various VT hotel and food pictures for tips.

That's 80 to 100 each. Of course we will delete some of those as we edit.

thats a lot of editing to be done ;;)