riku2

I did not understand that either. Do you mean that arriving in LHR with a domestic connection means your baggage cannot be transferred to the domestic flight without clearing customs (like in the USA) ? We have done HEL-LHR-ABZ a lot and the baggage never has to be collected but do they separate out EU originating luggage from other luggage?

or do you mean some passengers arrive without the right paperwork to transit through UK airports and their luggage has to be removed, slowing down the luggage of the other passengers (surely this doesn't happen that often?)

Courmisch

The UK requires visa even for international-international air transit:
https://www.gov.uk/transit-visa/dire...e-transit-visa

As this discussion demonstrates, this is not well-known, and leads to occasional denied boardings at HEL. That and people who just did not get a visa to enter the UK or Ireland.

OH-LGG

How their bags are loaded if they do not have visa to enter UK ?

intuition

A LOT of people need transit visa if they stay airside .in UK airports. Perhaps this is what was meant.

Courmisch

I assume that the visa was checked at the gate only rather than the bag drop.

It's happened to me (to mainland China).

flyingeph12

I would find it hard to believe that AY does not check visas at check-in if you're traveling with a passport that requires a visa. Often times, visas are checked at boarding, but that doesn't mean that's the only time visas are checked. Also, I don't think flights to LHR generally have a visa check (at least as far as I recall), so this issue should be caught at check-in in any event.

r2d2

If you do self-service check-in, nobody will check your visa before the gate. Even bags can be left without a visa check at the self-service bag drop.

TSA is stringent here and self-service bag drop is not available for flights to the US.

flyingeph12

Can you do self-service check in when traveling to a country and with a passport that requires a visa? I haven't gone to Mainland China with AY, but with AA I can't check in online when going to China on a US passport.

Also, what would prompt a gate agent to check for a visa on a HEL-LHR flight—and whatever that alert is, why doesn't it come up when the passenger tries to check in, even if online? I would guess that the majority, if not most, passengers on a regular HEL-LHR flight do not require a visa to get on the plane. Any passengers connecting from a country that would require a visa should have had their visas checked at their point of origin, no? And how many people originating in HEL need a visa to enter or transit the UK?

intuition

I agree it should be checked at the origin and am curious to why there would be bags in the system.

One thing I can think of is that European residents do not need either passport or visa for a Schengen trip. ID cards are rarely checked for such trips. If this trips has airside transit in e.g. LHR, and the resident does not hold a Schengen passport, then suddenly there is a visa problem.

lkrt

I'm not sure I understood right, but all LHR flights require ID card / passport control for immigration purposes and also airlines require it. So how would you fly into LHR then?

UpperDeck87K

intuition

This is rather far-fetched, but I am thinking perhaps you are able to fly e.g. OUL-HEL-LHR-MAD and you might be able to drop bags on the first flight, having them checked to final? If so, bags would be cleared but passenger is trapped in immigrations at HEL.

For a OUL-HEL-MAD flight there is no need for a visa, or even a passport, so I could see this beeing overlooked at bag-drop for the first itinerary.

(I am only trying to find a scenario where the issue talked about may occur. I agree with Courmisch the transit visa is not well known, but struggling to find actual cases where this will mean bag en-masse is being offloaded at HEL)

flyingeph12

And of course, it also needs to be the case that the person originating in OUL needs a visa to transit LHR. A person with an EU passport wouldn't need a visa.

intuition

Hence the first comment that this visa requirement is relatively unknown as people assumes everyone with permanent residency in Europe also holds a European passport...

flyingeph12

Anyways, I think the additional 10 minutes is probably a buffer for deicing and weather issues, since the dates seem to align with the winter season.