European Cruise (not round-trip) Flight Question

[tri-ingTheBigSky]

Assuming everything goes as currently planned, we're on the 11-night Northern Europe from Dover to Copenhagen next July. While researching and planning for flights, it looks like we'll have a 2-stop flight home from CPH. For you well-seasoned travelers out there, will we need to process through customs in (likely) Paris or Amsterdam before flying on to Minneapolis for our final flight? If so, is their CBP process better than processing through, say, ORD and rechecking bags to the final destination? The layovers are on the shorter end for that kind of stress (just over an hour), or should we embrace the reality that we'll be laying over for more like 5 hours. If the latter is the case, we might bite the bullet and upgrade to Delta One just for the Air France lounge in CDG.

 

[BadPinkTink]

What is the route on your way home?

When you fly transatlantic your bags are checked to your final destination if you are flying on one booking, ie your flight is Copenhagen to Minneapolis with a layover in Paris. You will get two boarding cards, one for each flight. This means that in Paris you don't go through to departures but you will follow the flight transfer signs and go direct to your next gate airside, without having to go through security again. In the transfer you will have to just show your passport and boarding card for your next flight.

If you have 2 separate flights ie you fly Copenhagen to Paris on one booking and then a separate booking for Paris to Minneapolis, then you will have to collect your bags in Paris and re check in again for Minneapolis.

Either case, when you arrive back into USA and get off the plane in Minneapolis, thats when you will do customs. The only European country that you do USA customs is Ireland, as we have a special arrangement to have USA Department Of Homelands in our airports.

 

[tri-ingTheBigSky]

What is the route on your way home?

When you fly transatlantic your bags are checked to your final destination if you are flying on one booking, ie your flight is Copenhagen to Minneapolis with a layover in Paris. You will get two boarding cards, one for each flight. This means that in Paris you don't go through to departures but you will follow the flight transfer signs and go direct to your next gate airside, without having to go through security again. In the transfer you will have to just show your passport and boarding card for your next flight.

If you have 2 separate flights ie you fly Copenhagen to Paris on one booking and then a separate booking for Paris to Minneapolis, then you will have to collect your bags in Paris and re check in again for Minneapolis.

Either case, when you arrive back into USA and get off the plane in Minneapolis, thats when you will do customs. The only European country that you do USA customs is Ireland, as we have a special arrangement to have USA Department Of Homelands in our airports.

Thanks for your response! Final destination is a small regional airport. Used to be international, but flights to Calgary dried up a decade ago.
When folks at airports like ours travel home from anywhere international that is a one stop flight, we still must gather our checked bags in our first US stop, go through CBP, recheck our bags, and head on home. I’ve had ok experience with this in MSP, and multiple horrific experiences in ORD. In either domestic airport, a 75 minute layover wouldn’t cut it.
But I’ve never flown one from one country, laid over in another, and gone on to the US (aside from the Dominican Republic laying over in San Juan where the process was done once there, obviously). Assuming we’d have to rinse and repeat in MSP, current schedules have a 2 hour layover or more to my final destination. Plenty of time there.

Or, since France and Denmark are both EU nations, is the layover more akin to a domestic one in the US without the baggage hassle? I guess I’m asking will we process through French (or the Netherlands) customs in a similar process to what I laid out?

 

[BadPinkTink]

Its the USA that has the rule that you collect your bags at the first airport you land at. There is no rule like that when you travel country to country in Europe.

The only thing that would concern me is the length of time between your two flights in Paris Charles De Guelle. I've flown multiple times to / from that airport and its huge and hard to get around if you have to change terminals.

Even if your 2 flights are in the same terminal, I would allow a minimum of 90 minutes. If you have to change terminals I would have a minimum of 2 hours.

I would also be prepared that you (people) may make the connecting flight, your bags may not. Your bags have to be taken off the first flight, and get taken to the second flight. Having a longer time between flights reduces this risk, as it gives the airport staff longer time to do what the need to do.

Copenhagen to Paris is like USA domestic. It does not matter that you are flying onwards to USA. You check in, drop your bags and go to departures. Your boarding card will be scanned and you go through security. There is no customs as you are going from one European country to another.

 

[tri-ingTheBigSky]

Its the USA that has the rule that you collect your bags at the first airport you land at. There is no rule like that when you travel country to country in Europe.

The only thing that would concern me is the length of time between your two flights in Paris Charles De Guelle. I've flown multiple times to / from that airport and its huge and hard to get around if you have to change terminals.

Even if your 2 flights are in the same terminal, I would allow a minimum of 90 minutes. If you have to change terminals I would have a minimum of 2 hours.

I would also be prepared that you (people) may make the connecting flight, your bags may not. Your bags have to be taken off the first flight, and get taken to the second flight. Having a longer time between flights reduces this risk, as it gives the airport staff longer time to do what the need to do.

Thank you! The bag thing is a hassle, but I understand not staffing customs in my 10 gate little airport. If this trip happens (I assume it will), they can get the bags to me a week later . First time on Magic, first time in Europe (been all over our continent), and 20th wedding anniversary!

 

[BadPinkTink]

Just an FYI customs is when you enter a country, not when you leave a country. Leaving a country, they don't care, see ya bye bye, but when you enter a country its whats in your bags, we don't want certain things brought into our country.

 

[Intr3pid]

If you route your return flight through the US, you will first have to do customs in the US and then again in Canada. Why not route it through YYZ or YUL? If, for some reason, you are delayed in customs or with bags, you can take the next of the several daily flights to YYC.

 

[tri-ingTheBigSky]

If you route your return flight through the US, you will first have to do customs in the US and then again in Canada. Why not route it through YYZ or YUL? If, for some reason, you are delayed in customs or with bags, you can take the next of the several daily flights to YYC.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. We’re in the intermountain US. Calgary used to be our one nonstop international destination, but that went away years ago.

 

[Disneypeach]

I’ve gone from Copenhagen to Atlanta changing planes in Paris CDG and I will avoid CDG as a connection point if I possibly can in the future. Had to go thru security 3 times because of a “you can’t get there from here” set up. Had 90 mins between flights and even running thru the airport (we arrived on time) I was close to missing my connection. Others around me had already missed their connection and were in standby to catch my flight.

You know it’s bad when the Air France checkin person in Copenhagen gives you a map of the connecting airport!!!!!

 

[tink too]

Both CDG in Paris and Schipol in Amsterdam are large and can take a while to navigate. We live in the UK and were going to Barcelona via Amsterdam - we had to run through the airport & just made our flight due to distance between tetminals/gates.

 

[auntlynne]

Not your routing - but we had to go through passport control when changing planes in Frankfurt on a flight from Barcelona to Florida (We never left the secure area, either).

Another family from our cruise was detained because their was no proof of how they got into Europe (EB Transatlantic cruise). All their cruise documents were packed away

None of this was normal procedure to me.

CDGaulle does seem huge.

 

[MickeySwirl]

I second needing at least 2 hours for a layover/change of planes in CDG. We missed our connection once (we had 90 minutes) and it took us the whole day to get rerouted.

 

[tri-ingTheBigSky]

Thanks for the replies! With a 14 and 12 year old in tow, we’ll be sure to choose the longest possible layover (within reason, of course).

 

[mmmears]

We've routed through CDG on the way home, once from Copenhagen and once from Oslo, in 2018 & 2019. CDG is big, but we did make the connection both times. You don't go through any sort of customs in France. That happens when you land in the US. If you want to speed things up with customs, consider getting Global Entry. We breezed through customs since it lets you skip the line pretty much.

I'm not sure I would pay extra just for the Air France lounge - it's not that nice. Having said that, it's still better than sitting at an overcrowded gate for a few hours. If you do fly in J/F then your waits at the airport should also be shorter (but there are no guarantees with that one). We made the shorter connection with no issues flying in J, and DD had no issues flying in economy on yet another trip, so I'm not sure it really makes all that much of a difference.

If you're taking the Norway/Iceland cruise, enjoy! We thought it was amazing. Hope this helps.

 

[tri-ingTheBigSky]

We've routed through CDG on the way home, once from Copenhagen and once from Oslo, in 2018 & 2019. CDG is big, but we did make the connection both times. You don't go through any sort of customs in France. That happens when you land in the US. If you want to speed things up with customs, consider getting Global Entry. We breezed through customs since it lets you skip the line pretty much.

I'm not sure I would pay extra just for the Air France lounge - it's not that nice. Having said that, it's still better than sitting at an overcrowded gate for a few hours. If you do fly in J/F then your waits at the airport should also be shorter (but there are no guarantees with that one). We made the shorter connection with no issues flying in J, and DD had no issues flying in economy on yet another trip, so I'm not sure it really makes all that much of a difference.

If you're taking the Norway/Iceland cruise, enjoy! We thought it was amazing. Hope this helps.

It does, thank you!
In your experience, would business class be worth it over premium economy for the lay flat seat alone? Premium economy on Delta looks like domestic first class with a better footrest. Our flight to LHR is likely to be red-eye. I don’t know how much we’d actually sleep on a 9.5hr flight beyond broken naps and if it’s really worth $1300pp, but we want to enjoy London as rested as possible once landing somewhere between 8 and 10 am. It’s within our budget, but it’s also a sizeable savings for WDW in ‘23.

 

[SirDuff]

A number of people have pointed out that you don't go through customs, which is true. However, you do go through passport control in France, if you are connecting from another Schengen country (since it is your exit from the Schengen area). Unlike the US/Canada, most other countries have passport control (though not customs) on exit (as well as entry). Amsterdam does not have a "fast track" for business class but Paris does (most terminals), which can help (though I've never had long lines in Paris - Amsterdam is another story (though it varies widely)).

Coming from another European country, you won't do security in either Paris or Amsterdam (they do re-do security if you are coming in from a country where they don't trust the security screening enough).

In terms of upgrading, I would definitely not do it for the lounge (you can always just buy lounge access if you feel you really need one). I don't know if Delta has an arrivals lounge at Heathrow? United does and it can be nice if you plan to go straight into the city. I almost always fly business on overseas flights (but I have high status on SkyTeam and Star Alliance, so can use points/certificates to upgrade if flying for personal travel) and do find it makes a difference in arriving rested. My few experiences in Premium Economy didn't feel like much of a difference over Economy, to be honest.

 

[mmmears]

It does, thank you!
In your experience, would business class be worth it over premium economy for the lay flat seat alone? Premium economy on Delta looks like domestic first class with a better footrest. Our flight to LHR is likely to be red-eye. I don’t know how much we’d actually sleep on a 9.5hr flight beyond broken naps and if it’s really worth $1300pp, but we want to enjoy London as rested as possible once landing somewhere between 8 and 10 am. It’s within our budget, but it’s also a sizeable savings for WDW in ‘23.

Well, I'm flying from the west coast, so it's over 10 hours for us, and in that case, yes the lie flat seats make all the difference. I won't do those flights in economy, extra legroom or not. We also arrived, not really refreshed, but in much better shape than we would normally in coach, and get much more out of our first day or two because of it. If you're flying through LHR, though, check the taxes and fees on the J seats. I think it will be ok on Delta, but Just double check. The fees when flying on British Airways are really, really high, which is why we have tried to route through CDG when possible. We use points for these flights whenever possible, so it's hard for me to say it's worth thousands of dollars for the upgrades (although the difference you are quoting isn't all that high).