Transit without visa but returning to the same country
 

I'm looking to transit at LED, with a stop of less than 24 hours. Transit without visa should apply.

However, a transit usually is defined as arriving from one country and departing to another country. Would there be an issue at LED if onward ticket is to the same country as I arrived from?

Some countries (eg China) is extremely careful with the "departing to another country" for their TWOV.

Have you looked at the rules on TIMATIC?

I don't have timatic access since staralliance.com updated their website and removed every useful tool...
iatatravelcentre.com lists only one rule for TWOV in my case and that is

"Passengers transiting only are exempt from holding a visa when: Holders of onward tickets for a max. transit time of 24 hours."

-- Added
So it still boils down to "are you in transit if you depart for the same country you arrived from"?

Just get a visa and be done with it. I would never, ever travel to Russia without a valid entry document. regardless of any "official exceptions"

What country would it be? And what airline? What can happen at LED is actually not as relevant as what the carrier will say when you are about to board the plane. You'll have to argue with the airline, which is not likely to let you fly to Russia. But that's what usually happens. Perhaps if you answer the questions above, you get better responses.

Just had same on Dec 28 on United Airlines ticket.
IAH-MUC-LED-MUC - per Embassy rules and Timatic and United, no visa needed.

My United flight was late from IAH and had to abandon MUC-LED-MUC.

There's a link to TIMATIC on the SkyTeam website, among other possibilities.

Original idea for routing would be HEL-LED-HEL-xxx, all on AY. I also have the option of routing RIX-LED on BT (or ARN-LED on SK), then continue LED-HEL-xxx on AY. In all cases I will be holding an onward ticket, with departure within 24h.

What happens at LED is very relevant to me. If the airline refuses to board me, then so be it. No harm done. If Russian authorities refuses me onwards travel from LED, then harm done.



Exactly the kind of experience I was looking for. To bad you didn't get to fly the last part.

Thanks - by the look of the answer provided by that service, the one I used is also powered by timatic. Identical answer, and no mention of transit to third country.

In the old version of timatic that was available on staralliance, I remeber there used to be a footnote defining a transit as a travel to third country.

IIRC using the SkyTeam TIMATIC link, clicking on something like the word transit leads to a definition which is totally irrelevant (and confusing) for TWOV as it applies in mainland China.

That is exactly how I remembered it, but this version (timaticWeb2) is embedded in the site and has no footnotes or definition links.

I don't think the Russian authorities would bother with checking that you're not "transiting" to the same country that you've just arrived from. However, the airline might.
Anyway, RIX-LED-HEL-xxx seems like a perfectly legal (and reasonable) transit route.

Any updates or recent experiences on this topic?