Transferring through DME
 

Hi,
I have some upcoming flights on AirBerlin DUS > DME and then on S7 from DME > KBP.

From what I can see, in DME the flights arrive and leave from Terminal A. I am a US citizen with a US passport and am trying to confirm I will be able to transfer through DME without a Visa.

From what I can find, it seems I should be OK as I am only in DME for 3 hours (<24 hours). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Yes,should not be a problem at all,just follow signs to "Transfer",reclear security and in 5 minutes you will be back airside.

PS As a AA EXP you are entitled to access S7 Airlines business lounge (its quite basic,but better than nothing),you are also entitled to choose the emergency exit row seats,and bulkhead row seats.

I did this a few months ago when I visited Armenia. It works fine with a US passport and no visa. When you get off your flight, you'll come into a big room with transfer desks and a seldom operating currency exchange. The transfer area is on your left-hand side and behind you a bit as you come out of the hallway.

There is no possibility to buy any Russian rubles once you go into the transit area. Usually there is no possibility beforehand either, but you might want to see whether you can get some before you go through if you'll have a long transit. If you use a credit card in Russia, it can send up a lot of fraud alerts.

When airBerlin checks you in, they will print boarding times on your S7 boarding pass. These are NOT correct! You need to be at the gate much earlier! This is because S7 uses bus gates for many of their flights, and the boarding time is much longer. You do NOT want to be stranded in Moscow with no visa and no way out so be sure to get to the gate early and don't miss your flight.

Although my long layover was not much fun, I was pretty pleased with the service on both airBerlin and S7. Have a nice flight!

If you're in the S7 business lounge the staff will usually advise you when to proceed to the gate. There is a separate car for business class/status pax.

Baggage Handling at DME
 

I recall reports some years ago about checked-in bags getting ransacked at DME. Is that still an issue? Would it be advisable to wrap the bags in plastic?

Anyone with current info: A BA-->S7 7 hr layover at DME shouldn't be a problem w/o transit visa?

As long as you are heading on from DME to a country you either have a visa for or don't need one for you should not have a problem with anything under 24 hours that you have an onward ticket for.

Thanks. I'm going to ASB. I have a LOI from my tour agency which will allow me to get a visa on arrival at the airport. Will the DME authorities give me trouble, and is there additional paperwork I should get?

Be careful and check if your destination was part of the Soviet Union. There are some parts of the FSU that require transit visas to change planes in Moscow, or at least this used to be the case for transit at SVO.

Hmm; interesting. Destination is ASB, which is part of the FSU. Any idea how to find accurate info on whether this applies?

Does not apply to ASB as Turkmenistan is not a member of the Customs Union or similar organizations.
Countries affected are Belarus (flights are considered domestic, Russian transit visa required at all times) and Kazakhstan (though some flights depart from international terminals, I'm almost sure that a visa will be also required).

Very helpful. So I take it that OSS (Osh, KG) is okay? (S7-->S7 connection OSS-DME-HEL). I'll be flying into ASB and out of OSS, both with layovers in DME.

Right, flights to Kyrgyzstan are also arriving/departing to/from the international side of the airport and no visa is required for transit. However, this might change in the future IF the country joins the customs union (no date set as far as I know).

Thanks for all the advice. So, I'm ticketed from DUS-DME-ASB. I want to make sure I don't get problems boarding a flight to DME and/or arriving in DME. I have the Turkmenistan Letter of Invitation (LOI) from the government, but the visa is on arrival at ASB. Would this be sufficient? Should I request anything else from the Turkmenistan travel company I'm working with?

Is that LOI in Russian? That could matter once you get to DME and might even in DUS.