GUWonder

Thanks for the info.

Anyone here ever been hit with a fee for this, and if so what was the fee?

etiene

I don’t think anyone above stated it (though their information is correct) but baggage carousels are in a secure area of the airport in Europe, even for domestic arrivals.

lynxy

Are you sure? I've never seen that when waiting for my bags in TLS, whether coming fron EU or not, same belt (and almost never customs agents )

maalloc

About 6 months ago, I had a failed connection in CDG. My two options were to take a train to my final destination on my dime, or overnight in CDG and take a morning flight the next day under Right to Care.
I was going for option A, but the gate agent tried to slap me the luggage retrieving fee (I remember 200 € but maybe it was 300 €?). Arguing that I saving them to cost of a hotel + cost of travel fell into deaf ears.
So I went for option B. Might have been bad luck (it's the only time I tried to shorten a trip in CDG), but the agent was quite adamant about it.

Fabo.sk

Always in France, but not always in Europe.

The difference here is whether you land at an international or domestic airport. Most airports in Europe are international, but for example if you fly to the north of Sweden or Norway, (or say to a small airport in Turkey) you may end up on a domestic-only airport. In such case you would have to go through customs in your point of entry, whether that is Stockholm, Oslo or Istanbul.

On.. arrival? identify bags?

How did that work, did the PAF stop the de-boarding until all baggage could be unloaded near the aircraft? and then if you had a checked bag you didn't continue until you found it?
Or were pax stopped before boarding the connecting flight?

I can't quite imagine how that happens.

Not secure. Non-public, but not secure.
Nothing to do with walking off or not though.

That's just stupid. You have the right to interrupt your journey in case of a delay.

Goldorak

Yes I'm sure, but I haven't been to TLS for a long time (before Covid), so things may have changed.

lynxy

Yes they have definitely changed.
And also given how lazy the ground handling agents are in TLS I'm surprised they ever agreed to such an additional amount of work to split the bags (My last flight with checked luggage was in LP, where the delivery started more than 30 minutes after landing and for some reason our bags managed to get on the belt almost at the end, what a nice experience)

irishguy28

In Europe there is no strict separation of "domestic" vs international (in reality: Schengen vs. non-Schengen) all the way to luggage collection. By the time you reach the baggage carousels, you have already cleared immigration (where required), and there is no longer any segregation between passenger types/origins once you can collect your luggage.

Luggage checked in within the EU customs area has a green edge.



Passengers exiting the secure/airside area of any EU airport with luggage having labels lacking this green edge - or with the luggage label already removed - will be very conspicuous to customs personnel.



And it's not like in the US where every passenger has to make a customs declaration, and/or interact with a customs employee, even if this is just to hand over a card stating they have nothing to declare (even though I think this is no longer the case in the US?). Customs will intervene where they have reason to, rather than making a big show to eyeball every single arriving passenger. But, if they are going to make a random intercept, they can instantly tell from your luggage label (for example) whether your luggage was checked in outside the EU customs area.

So, logistically there is no issue with funneling "domestic" passengers through the same path that passengers arriving from outside the EU must follow upon arrival at Marseille, to follow your example. It doesn't mean that "domestic" passengers are in any way hindered, nor does it lead to any greater workload for customs personnel.

irishguy28

Yes, and it's currently €275

GUWonder

How recently was that €275 hit, and do they currently accept cash payment for such charge for baggage reunification?

Not sure what legal right AF has to willfully hold a traveler’s property hostage to payment for baggage reclaim at an airport where the bag is sitting at the time of the traveler wanting their own property returned to them.

Fabo.sk

It's ever slightly more complicated, purely domestic airports do not need neither passport control nor customs, but can not have international flights even from Schengen area. Perhaps flights without baggage interlining.

You can also have international airports with customs but without passport control, which would allow for Schengen connections, but that wouldn't make much sense to build. Perhaps due to staffing, such as non-Schengen terminal area exists, but is not used.

You are correct though that baggage carousels are invariably in such area where there is no segregation between schengen and non-schengen pax.

Plus, there is the added complication of non-Schengen arriving pax might still be arriving from the Community and therefore not subject to customs restrictions

Nico40

In my experience, this works particularly well with Strasbourg (where AF buys a whole carriage of the train and manages its inventory as agreed when TGVs substitued flights a few years ago, instead of paying a fee per pax to SNCF like on other lines). Same as CDG - Brussels, but less expensive aswell.
Indeed, luggage has to be collected in CDG, and if the train ticket is claimed at the designated ticket office AF won't even know that the passenger hasn't boarded the train. I'd say this is the most robust option - if pricing is relevant.

Another option (which I haven't used myself so far) is to take advantage of the Italian law and book through airfrance.it. By law, Italy allows to skip a segment provided the airline has been advised at least 24h before :
https://wwws.airfrance.it/informatio...-particulieres
"In deroga al paragrafo che precede, per i passeggeri in possesso di biglietti Air France acquistati in Italia tramite il sito www.airfrance.it, ovvero per il tramite di biglietteria Air France, agenzie di viaggio o call center Air France, si applica quanto segue. Tale passeggero non è tenuto a pagare una tariffa aggiuntiva a causa di un nuovo calcolo e eventuali costi amministrativi nel caso in cui informi Air France che non possa, per qualsiasi motivo, utilizzare il biglietto per tale volo e voglia comunque utilizzare il biglietto per le ulteriori tratte o, nel caso di biglietti multi-tratta, le tratte del ritorno. Tale comunicazione deve avvenire entro 24 ore successive all’orario di partenza della prima tratta inutilizzata del volo di andata ovvero, qualora l’orario di partenza del volo di ritorno sia entro le 24 ore del volo di andata inutilizzato, almeno 2 ore prima della partenza del volo di ritorno, chiamando il Call Centre al numero +39 01 44 979 902."

Ditto

Actually when it comes to customs it should be more of an EU vs. non-EU, but even within the EU there are some restrictions - https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/w..._within_the_eu

brunos

Are there French airports with scheduled flights which are not "international".?
Many of the smaller airports (e.g. Bergerac) mostly cater to foreign flights, especially from UK.
Then you pass immigration (if needed) as soon as you disembark, but the bag delivery is common area and bags are distinguished by the tag that Irishguy28 mentioned.
Note that even if you arrive from France a custom officier has the right to check you bag (that happened once to my wife in Nice).

mlin32

Yes, like the aéroports of Pau, Caen, Tarbes.