Originally Posted by
megaloman
Assuming it's a single ticket BA will check all your documents at the port of departure. Before pandemic it used to be possible to get docs checked before attempting b2b - not sure how it works now, but I'd assume it should be possible. Remember, if you have no visa/right to enter the country where you attempting to do the b2b, BA won't let you board the plane - back to back is seen as a trip there, even if you just want to do an immediate turnaround at the gate. Since you're asking about Schengen visa, I'm assuming you don't hold UK/EU passport.
When transferring at HEL from LHR to JFK there's no need to enter Schengen - you'll stay in the non-Schengen part of the terminal.
The important bit is whether
I can get my visas checked in LHR for a booking starting in SOF - thanks for answering this! Hopefully there will be more recent post-pandemic stories before my trip in November.
I can add a few clarifications. I do have a Schengen (and US) visa, so I can enter both Bulgaria and Finland, however, I usually need to get my visa checked before I can check-in for a Schengen or US flight.
Does BA even require a Schengen visa check to allow checking in for SOF-LHR and LHR-HEL segments, when these are parts of a longer itinerary to the USA?
I am not concerned with the positioning flight to SOF - all docs for this can be checked in LHR before I take any flights as usual. My concern is the SOF-LHR-HEL-JFK trip with an overnight layover in HEL, which means I will need a Schengen (and possibly US) visa check in SOF. I'd expect the US visa to be checked in Helsinki, because the HEL-JFK check-in may not even be open when I check-in for SOF-LHR-HEL. I don't have any checked bags and the positioning flight from LHR to SOF is on a separate booking from SOF-LHR-HEL-JFK-etc, but I think these don't matter for the purposes of this question.
I tried to highlight the important questions in a long post
