Separate ticket transfer at AMS from US under COVID
 

Convoluted reasoning has me on flight with lots of financial incentive to not refund/cancel from the US to AMS June 29th-July 8th. If they have not opened to tourists at this point one idea was to buy a separate ticket to CDG for at least the first half of those dates if not the whole trip.

What is the feasibility of a separate ticket transfer at AMS going off without a hitch to CDG? Covid wise is the question, I understand the risk of flight delays/luggage/etc? Delta historically will check luggage through if we transfer to AF/KLM. As long as I can prove I have continued travel it seems I'd be fine but curious more experienced peoples thoughts.

This is a very useful thread. The website also says that you need proof that you're welcome in the country you're heading and makes it sound like something formal. Were you asked for something like that when entering Schengen in Amsterdam ClipperDelta ?

Since you must pass through passport control in AMS to enter the Schengen zone, what's to stop the border guard thinking you just booked a throwaway ticket to enter the Netherlands illegally?

FWIW, the check-in agent for your DL could also check Timatic and see that you aren't allowed to enter the Netherlands and deny you boarding.

Hotel reservations can be faked / cancelled. So that's not much proof of intention to go to France.

Could it all work fine and nobody cares? Of course. But there are a lot of opportunities along the way to ruin your trip...

I'm in a similar situation for mid August. I was hoping to do the same if AMS is not open for tourism, buy a separate ticket on to another European country. I'm hoping that by then things will be opening up, if not an the transfer is not possible then maybe I can move the dates.

As long as you are admissible to your final destination, and your airline(s) will label your luggage all the way to your final destination, I don’t think there are any problems for your transit at AMS.

I’m pretty sure that, unless you are admissible to the NL, you will be denied boarding.

Yes, this. Flights within Schengen are domestic wrt. immigration, there is no way to board a flight from AMS to CDG without entering the Netherlands first.

- DanishFlyer

But why can't you be admissible to NL under the "transfer" exception?

You’re either admissible or not. People could just stay in NL rather than move on.

People can also overstay their visas. Or commit other crimes. If the attitude is "if we let this person in, they might be lying and will actually break the law," you might as well close up the airport entirely.

So long as you have an onward ticket and follow the transfer rules, I don't think they are just going to assume you are trying to trick them.

The rules are: A transfer is when you change planes and continue your journey within a few hours, and in any case within 1 day without leaving the airport where you transfer.
https://www.government.nl/topics/cor...hanging-planes

Note that the rules used to say without leaving the transit area (meaning the non-Schengen area) and have now changed to not leaving the airport.

I just don't see a huge difference between having the tickets be booked altogether vs separately (especially if you don't check bags).

Try explaining that to the US where airside international transit does not exist. To do this in the US you need to be admissible to the US. Same thing here.

As per normal procedure since the pandemic started, you have to show that you are allowed into the Schengen country you are traveling to when you go through passport control if you hold a passport from one of the “forbidden” countries.

Also just flew through AMS yesterday from a Schengen country back to the US. With a US passport and residence permit of the Schengen country, at initial check in, only had to show the test results for entry into the US and of course my US passport. At AMS passport control, showed my US passport and Schengen residence permit (or anything else that shows you were legally allowed to enter Schengen with a US passport originally). Then at AMS departure gate, had to show my US entry test results, the signed CDC attestation form and of course your passport.

The Dutch govt website makes a big deal about the form. But no one has ever collected it IME…when I was going through Passport control to enter Schengen earlier this week, I wasn’t asked for it but I heard another officer ask an American couple at the next counter for the declaration. They said they had no idea what he was talking about but they had all the other correct paperwork for Schengen entry and were eventually allowed to proceed.

No. Not same thing here. The Netherlands/Schengen is not the USA. If the OP is admissible to France, he can enter Schengen at AMS.

So which is it?
 

I hope Sjoerd is right because I will fly LAX-(AMS)-BIO (Bilbao, Spain) on July 17. A single ticket with a five-hour same-day layover in AMS. Yes, I know I have to enter Schengen at AMS. Not really interested in a discussion of comparisons with the US or whether it *should* work, only whether or not it *will* work. I have a paper CDC vaccine card.

BTW, my return is BIO-(CDG)-LAX. I far as I know, I must have at least a quick test result to check-in at BIO for the return flight because the US govt currently requires it.