Is it possible for a Thai woman to transfer from international flight to internal European flight at airports in Europe. In other words stay air side of immigration, thus avoiding having to get a Schengen visa. From memory it is not possible at Charles de Gaulle, but is possible at Schipol. My memory of Frankfurt is not clear enough.

Many thanks in advance.

Where is her final destination, if the final destination is in Schengen I'm pretty sure she would need to clear Immigration where she first enters the Schengen Area.

You talk about an internal flight.

Where is her final destination, if the final destination is in Schengen I'm pretty sure she would need to clear Immigration where she first enters the Schengen Area.

You talk about an internal flight.

Her final destination is not relevant. The internal is internal European, as in flying to another EU country.

Thanks anyway.

I would imagine that most European international hub airports have the same ability for international transit passengers to stay 'airside' and pass onto the final European destination. However, I would check what terminals and gates the onward internal European carrier uses at the international arrival/transfer airport just in case the operate like a domestic carrier and have all their facilities 'land side.'

My wife has transited through Amsterdam and Copenhagen as a transit passenger to a non-Schengen European country, staying 'airside' (and bored witless at CPH!) without issue.

Is it possible for a Thai woman to transfer from international flight to internal European flight at airports in Europe. In other words stay air side of immigration, thus avoiding having to get a Schengen visa.

It is not possible. All passengers arriving on a non-Schengen area flight need to clear immigration before boarding Schengen area flights.

The reason is that for Schengen area flights there is no immigration and no customs.

Where is her final destination, if the final destination is in Schengen I'm pretty sure she would need to clear Immigration where she first enters the Schengen Area.

You talk about an internal flight.

Her final destination is not relevant. The internal is internal European, as in flying to another EU country.

Thanks anyway.

Her final destination is very relevant.

The Schengen region does not cover the entire EU. If for example, she was flying on to the UK then she should be able to transfer without entering any Schengen countries, if the final destination was Italy then she would pass through immigration at her first Schengen country.

I would imagine that most European international hub airports have the same ability for international transit passengers to stay 'airside' and pass onto the final European destination. However, I would check what terminals and gates the onward internal European carrier uses at the international arrival/transfer airport just in case the operate like a domestic carrier and have all their facilities 'land side.'

My wife has transited through Amsterdam and Copenhagen as a transit passenger to a non-Schengen European country, staying 'airside' (and bored witless at CPH!) without issue.

Thank you for confirming Amsterdam is okay. I will give CPH a miss having spent far too long there, on one occasion in the past.

Where is her final destination, if the final destination is in Schengen I'm pretty sure she would need to clear Immigration where she first enters the Schengen Area.

You talk about an internal flight.

Her final destination is not relevant. The internal is internal European, as in flying to another EU country.

Thanks anyway.

Her final destination is very relevant.

The Schengen region does not cover the entire EU. If for example, she was flying on to the UK then she should be able to transfer without entering any Schengen countries, if the final destination was Italy then she would pass through immigration at her first Schengen country.

Perhaps my original post was not clear enough. She is not going to a Schengen area country, only transiting through a hub. The question was which ones work?

Amsterdam is now confirmed as okay. What about Charles de Gaulle? My memory suggests it is not okay.

As she is transiting to an EU country outside of the Schengen Area, the CDG website suggests that she will not pass through Immigration so would not require a Schengen Visa immigration-passport-customs-paris-cdg-airport/

Why are you being so secretive about the final destination? You think it is irrelevant but someone may be able to give precise, exact and up to date info. You may even get some free advice on flights, airlines and airport transit facilities.

The non-Schengen EU countries (at the last count) are UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania.

Up to you.

As she is transiting to an EU country outside of the Schengen Area, the CDG website suggests that she will not pass through Immigration so would not require a Schengen Visa immigration-passport-customs-paris-cdg-airport/

Thank you for the link, which I read with great interest.

However, I remain very dubious, both from personal observation (always having to change terminal) and the horrendous experience a Thai friend had there when she was traveling to the USA several years ago. She was threatened with being arrested.

Generally, I prefer to deal with human beings rather than the internet and websites which are sometimes incorrect and often not up to date.

I take it that the horrendous experience a Thai friend of yours had at CDG, unlawfully being threatened with arrest, was inflicted by a human being, not by the Internet or a website.

You need to check that the airline from Amsterdam or Charles De Gaule has a transit desk. If they don't she will have to clear immigration to check into the next flight and get a boarding pass.

So flying into Amsterdam and then onto Stansted on a budget airline, might not work if the airline does not have a transit desk (which a lot of budget airlines don't to reduce costs).

If you can check all the way through from the original departure airport and get the boarding card and luggage check through to final destination then she should be ok.