oliver2002

Greece and the other southern European Schengen members are looking to get an arrangement in place to get tourists to come back. This is being done in coordination, if you are part of Schengen (a multilateral agreement) you cannot unilaterally open to some and expect other Schengen members to enforce/accept your new rules.

Since tourism is a substantial part of the economy of these countries I expect that they will find a compromise for this summer. May 14 sounds too soon, so lets see what they come up with.

Conan126

Jumping in to clarify. So there has been much written about Turkey and Greece opening fpr US citizens with vaccines or negative test (Turkey has been open for neg test). So what is the transit rules. If I am reading correctly, one can fly between the US stopover for a few hours at Frankfurt Airport and then take a flight to Istanbul. Turkey requires 72 hour negative Covid test, and it seems like Lufthansa requires 48 hours. And I am lucking at the beginning of June.

Then on reverse would like to go from Athens to most likely Munich (could be Frankfurt) back to US. Munich is showing all flights in Terminal 2, most likely mid-June. And as of right now the US requires negative test. So, basically the question is can one transit to another country with a negative Covid test? And I am one of the fortunate that had the vaccine.

oliver2002

Transiting FRA to Turkey is no problem, you just have to have a negative test in hand. Flying from Greece to the US via FRA or MUC is also no issue with a test.

airoli

...but getting from Turkey to Greece is the tricky bit as this is where you enter the Schengen space. And as of right now, US citizens without residency permit in Europe are not allowed to do that.

Conan126

Didn’t the The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority start allowing flight from Turkey starting this past April 5? And then, as of right now - God knows how things are changing daily - Greece will allow vaccinated US citizens May 14? And that is what is so confusing for all people who want to travel. What are the requirements now, two weeks from now, Covid Negative test, IATA vaccine passport, etc. Which I’m trying to make sure my ducks are in order.

ISTFlyer

Flights from Turkey to Greece have resumed but only passengers eligible to enter Greece or transferring to a third-country ( non-Schengen ) are permitted to board those flights.

Greece's plan for 14 May & onwards isn't confirmed yet so it's not 100% certain that vaccinated travelers from the USA would be granted entry at that time. Same applies for those who would present a negative PCR or a positive antibody test.

nk15

And they picked the worst possible time to restart these flights, right on peak surge for both countries (from the beginning of the pandemic), with Greece having 3,000-4,500 new cases per day and Turkey 40,000-55,000 new cases per day. Great logic there.

84fiero

Greece would not have to leave Schengen in order to admit third-country travelers. Have Iceland or Malta left Schengen? No.

This is incorrect. There is no single consistent set of criteria among EU/Schengen countries, for admitting third-country citizens. Some nations do in fact base admittance on prior history and not citizenship or permanent residence. Ireland only imposes quarantine and testing, not an outright ban. Malta looks at where one has been in the past 14 days, with a red, amber, and green country scheme. Iceland of course admits vaccinated travelers from all over. The Netherlands admits residents of 7 non-European "safe countries", e.g. AUstralia, SIngapore, etc - and it's explicitly stated that "It does not matter what your nationality or the purpose of your trip is" so a Canadian or US citizen residing in Singapore would be admissible. There are other examples of differences in general policies. Also exemptions within those policies for family connections, students, certain workers, etc.

ISTFlyer

Details for US citizens that could travel to Greece has been revealed:

Unfortunately, USA-FRA-Greece wouldn't work as the passenger must enter to the Schengen area from one of the Greece port of entries that are determined.

Another poster has posted a link of a news article related to this and some details could be found over there:
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Conan126

Perhaps I am misreading the article and the following article https://greekreporter.com/2021/04/14...us-eu-britain/ but how does that change if the final destination is Athens? Is this not any different from going USA-FRA-IST?

ISTFlyer

USA-FRA-IST-ATH is OK because you are entering the Schengen area in Athens. Turkey isn't in the EU, nor in the Schengen area.
USA-FRA-ATH isn't OK because you are entering the Schengen area in Frankfurt. The FRA-ATH flight is an intra-Schengen flight.

Conan126

Ok, so if I wish to do this itinerary ORD-IST via AMS spend a week in Turkey then IST-ATH for a few days (US citizen with vaccine proof) and then depart ATH-ORD via MUC or FRA, that is fine since all I am doing is transferring on the same day in and out.

ISTFlyer

Until the return part, everything seem OK and acceptable.

However, you would be denied boarding for the ATH-FRA/MUC leg because you might be not admissible to enter Germany and as there are no border checks for flights arriving from Greece in Germany as they are both in the Schengen area. It would be much safer if you enter and leave the Schengen area through one of the Greek borders.

ahmetdouas

They don't allow same day transit with proof of onward journey? I am sure Swiss allows it in Zurich Airport, check it out.
Worst case if all fails I guess transit via LHR, many options into GR from there.

ISTFlyer

The OP is a US citizen and the case you mentioned is for Non-Schengen to Non-Schengen countries.
An US citizen could not board an intra-Schengen flight to any country that doesn't allow US citizens.

However, transferring in LHR would work as ATH-LHR is an international flight.