Transit at Incheon Airport
 

Hi all! I will be travelling with Korean air and I am interested in the transit tour by the airport/airline.

May I ask how the transit/immigration procedures are like?

Are there any requirements(I am from a visa-exempted country) for the transit tour for the airport/immigration side?

Finally, do I need to register for the free transit tour?

Thanks!

As far as the procedure, you will need to clear immigration first then head to the Transit Tour desk.

But first you should check how much time you have in transit. There are various tours of different lengths. Also it depends what time you arrive at the airport.

As for signing up for the tour, it is done at the Transit desk the day of arrival. More info can be found here and also here.

Hi! Thanks for the reply!

So, I wouldn't have to go through security checks and proceed up to level 3?

How about the arrival/disembarkation card? What do transit passengers have to fill in under address section?

Thank you!

Sorry I should make it more clear. If you want to do a transit tour, you should go through immigration. But if you go to the Transfer desk, you do not go through immigration. You do security and then up to departure level. No way to leave the airport at that point. So on arrival, you have two choices. 1) Go through Immigration. This will allow you to take the transit tour. 2) Go to Transfer desk. This will get you to security and eventually to upstairs to the gates for your next flight. You stay in the airport and it is very difficult to get streetside from this point.

Arrival card will need to be filled out if you go through immigration. As to what address to use, I am not sure! I've never had to fill it out for a transit tour before. I know someone on this board knows the answer however.

Be careful about the terminology here. In the third paragraph, you seem to mean the landside Transit TOUR desk, the same as in the first paragraph, and not the "Transit" desk which is airside and totally different.

Hence the confusion. Good thing I have you here!

Transit Tour desk. Landside after immigration.
Transfer desk. Airside before immigration.

Hope that makes it more clear. Apologizes for any misunderstanding!

FWIW, immigration at ICN (w/ USA passport) this past Thursday was slooowww; approx 1 hr from deplaning to clearing. Just reporting a recent experience, maybe the long lines are normal.

This has been common at ICN over the last year or two. The lines to leave Korea can also be long, so plan to arrive at the airport early.

Well, maybe there's hope, but likely depends on the fare: on 6/11 checked in at UA & apparently because we were ticketed in Biz First were handed an admission chit to Fast Track (which is located at the far left of the Departure Hall). And that is exactly what happened; minimal line & quick exit processing from KR. (Note: am reporting only the in-airport time. Traffic *to* the airport was very heavy & turned out to be an adventurous cab ride after we gave up on the KAL Limo-Bus ... which I'll report elsewhere).