My sister-in-law has asked me to sort out flights for her to The Phils. One option involves transferring at Frankfurt ;stopover of 4 hours. It is the cheapest option, but would she need a visa for Germany? My hunch is no, because she would be staying "air side" whilst in Frankfurt, and for less than 24 hours. Does anyone know definitively please?
As long as they do not transit via ANOTHER Schengen country they are fine. In thatcase they would not stay airside as the next flight would be an "Schengen" domestic flight. Flying direct to the UK from Frankfurt will not be a problem in my opinion
Im not conclusive on this but surely “transiting” any airport anywhere doesn’t/wouldn’t require a visa.
If you ( god knows why ) transit through two Schengen countries on the way to the UK you will need a visa.
The word “transiting” in airport terms generally translates to “passing through”. Passing through means you are not actually hitting terra-firma of the host country which generally means no visa required. Edit: I was actually thinking from the perspective of an single transiting international flight but yes if you transited to multiple Schengen area airports then your point is valid, unlikely but valid
www.schengenvisainfo.com/transit-schengen-visa/ John posted the above link, it makes it clear in case #2 that citizens of the listed countries require a visa even to transit via the international transit area in the airport. The point is that citizens of some countries require an 'Airport Transit Visa' just to arrive at one gate and exit at another gate, this is true not only in the Schengen area. If you ever watched the TV series UK Borders (or something like that) or its international equivalents this situation came up quite often for people that first world countries deem to be less entitled countries, the world is only open for the lucky ones like ourselves born in rich countries, everyone else has to jump through varying degrees of complex hoops.
Yes I seen the list and see the PI isnt a designated country especially for the OP but I must admit I wasnt aware of the transiting visa requirement. I guess we are the lucky ones in that a UK passport gets us very far, quite literally. The Tom Hanks film Terminal came to mind when reading this post tbh, where he was quite entitled to land at the airport but forbidden to exit the airport (aside from flying back out).
Its a real pain in the US even for UK citizens that you have to go through immigration and pick up your bags at many airports even if transitting. I face this when going to the Cayman Islands to see Mica.
Was you transitting with the same airline throughout the entirety of the flight? So once you get you bags you then have to check-in again?
Makes no difference. Airports like Atlanta and New York are classed as ports of entry. Transitting is very easy but you do have to pick up your bags. My last trip was all American Airlines to Cayman. Manchester - Philidelphia - Miami - Cayman. Picked up the bags in Philly but then checked them all the way through to Cayman. Same coming back. I had an hour and 15 mins each time between flights to do immigration, pick up bags, do customs, check the bags again ( really easy as ticketed through already ), go through security again. I lost some weight and hair line.
Here's an article on the BBC today of a Zimbabwean family refusing to go home. Thailand doesn't accept refugees or asylum seekers so they have apparently gone to the Philippines. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42784553