dr.sull

Does anyone have experience of connecting at Oslo, non-schengen to non-schengen? I have several hours between flights and hoping to make use of lounge at OSL but it's usually before passport control. If I'm connecting, I wouldn't ordinarily pass through immigration entering Oslo. I wondered if I am able to access the lounge if I went via connections channel.

BAECAddict

The lounges at OSL are in the Schengen area (i.e. before passport control when leaving) so you’ll have no issue. Also note that the connections channel was closed when I passed through in early September and so you had to go landside and re-clear security when connecting from non-Schengen to Schengen. It’s been that way since the pandemic and I don’t get the impression it’s changing. I suspect part of the reason is because on-arrival duty-free is massive in Norway and you would otherwise by-pass this going through the connections channel.

Calm down dear

Yes I have done non-schengen to non-schengen at OSL. However this route bypasses the lounges and you end up in the non-schengen gate area with rather limited food and beverage outlets and no lounge access but there were plenty of nice and quiet places to sit. The bypass is quite neat, go straight to the head of the immigration queue and there is a small locked door on your left, you have to get the attention of a queue dragon and they get a person to accompany you through the door to a private security line.

KARFA

if you go through passport control, then about 50m down the corridor after there is a connection point on your left which includes a security check, taking that one will take you down to the schengen area and you can head off to the lounge. coming back to the gate for departure you will go through exit passport control. you don't need to go fully landside to get to the Schengen area,

Schwann

From my experience last year (and as others have suggested) I believe that route is now closed and everyone transferring must go through Norwegian immigration and through security.

KARFA

also i guess in this case the OP doesn't want to be stuck in the non schengen area anyway for several hours, so it is not worth them trying that non-schenge->non-schengen route.

bhbloke

Immigration was horrific a few weeks back, they seemed to delight in closing desks and backing the line up way into the terminal. And this was a Sunday so fairly quiet

Emirates were getting nervous and pulling pax to the front, I made it through to my QR flight but I walked straight onboard.

In future I won't bother with the lounge and will head straight through.

cauchy

Was at OSL immigration a few weeks back - above-average wait for Europe, but wasn't outrageous. There are also a few quirks, e.g. if you're connecting to Longyearbyen/Svalbard, even though this is ultimately non-Schengen it leaves from a Schengen gate.

MaxFlyer

Non Schengen to Non Schengen transfer is still possible but you have to get an immigration officer to call someone to take you through and the side door and go through security.

As others have said, if you want to go to the lounge then you have to go through immigration. However, recently the immigration queues going back to the Non Schengen area can get very very busy. On a recent flight with Qatar, the station manager was telling everyone at check-in not to leave going through immigration too long as they had to offload lots of passengers as they hadn’t got to the gate as immigration was backed up all the way into the main terminal.

squeeler

I went through recently on a very delayed flight from LHR. My plan had been to spend the day in Olso city before my return to LHR in the early evening. That prospect vanished as I ended up with only just over an hour to go back.
So I went to the passport desk where the officer listened to my story. He sent me to the above-mentioned door where I rang the bell and waited. After about 10 mins I was taken through to the small security section and processed into the non-Schengen area. I asked a friendly customs officer if I could get to the lounge and he explained where it was and directed me to the closed exists from the passport desk. He told me to knock and wait. One of the doors duly opened, I repeated my story and was allowed into the Schengen area, and could thus access the lounge.

I reported it here.

Back-to-back (B2B) / Immediate Turnarounds at BA Destinations

EvilDoctorK

Given the lounge in question probably the best decision .. it's not great and quite small ( especially if you're there around the time Emirates / QR flights are going )

becks1

Despite asking twice and showing return boarding card, I was sent through immigration and right back through exit immigration today.

It was a bit of a faff, luckily no queues at either passport control. Arrived back at gate as Group 1 boarding was happening.

Felt tight, but doable. Perhaps tightened by catching up time from a go-around on inbound flight.