BusinessElite25

Hey CPH experts! I'm looking at some LifeMiles tickets and can only find availability starting from CPH to BKK to MNL on Thai. The flight leaves CPH at 13:50. The positioning flights I found arrive from LHR at 9:30 (BA) and 9:40 (SK)

I'm assuming 4 hours would be enough to get stamped in, get bag, recheck bag, security, stamp out etc but hoping someone can reassure me? US passport. Looks like BA uses C27 and Thai C29 today so would that be as simple as walking to next gate if I'm carry on only? and follow up question if I booked on SK would they be able to check bag all the way to MNL from LHR?

Thanks for any advice!!
(LHR-CPH and BKK-MNL all have award space on lifemiles, but it will only price lhr-bkk or cph-mnl, and I don't think a 1.5hr self connect in BKK would be ideal)

danielstrandby

It would indeed be a simple stroll between non-Schengen gates if you go for carry-on only. Four hours (assuming regular operations) is more than enough for rechecking bags, even on a non-EEA passport; most often, it can be done in less than 90 minutes. I imagine SK's third-party check-in agents at LHR will not be eager to interline, though it obviously cannot hurt to try.

RobOnLI

I came to this thread because I wanted to check if US-CPH-Schengen routings required security at CPH. The CPH website says yes. People on this board say no because the US is considered a "sterile" flight. I have enough layover time and it's a single ticket on SK so I'm not super worried. Just curious is all. Would rather have the extra time in the lounge for a quick shower. I never have to go through security control when connecting in FRA/MUC (my normal stopover points getting around Europe).

This made me laugh. It's been several years since I've transited CPH but that's the only airport that consistently questions me. As mentioned above, I usually go through Germany or Portugal and they don't ask a thing. CPH, on the other hand, has a 100% track record of asking me how long I'm staying, where I'm going, what I'm doing. And, to make it worse, CPH also 100% of the time insists on exit stamping right next to my entry stamp. That's usually fine but I used to travel on a multi-expanded passport (can't do that any longer on US passports) that was almost full and one time they couldn't find the entry stamp. I didn't know where it was either so that delayed me after I was accused of being in Schengen illegally. Finally he found it and apologized. But ever since that day I make a point to watch exactly what page I'm stamped in on because I don't want that hassle or accusation again. The next time I went through CPH (after the 'incident') I just told them exactly where to find the entry stamp. Germany, Portugal, Italy, etc. couldn't give a flying hoot about the entry stamp and at this point are simply stamping over everything else instead of turning a few pages (I'm on a relatively new passport so there's empty space in the back).

-RM

Tennen

In the past decade or so, I've never had to re-clear security at CPH coming off of an SAS flight from the US. You should have time to enjoy a shower, but be warned that the SAS Lounge's shower rooms don't have a WC, are tiny, and can get hot (because of the room size).


IMHO, even though they ask the usual questions, CPH passport control people are efficient and courteous. I had no problems when I had to cross back and forth the same day to retrieve a forgotten item in the lounge on the other side (IIRC, it happened more than once in different directions at the SAS Lounge and the Eventyr Lounge).

sejarzo

Where is gate E124? Does the "1" prefix mean that passengers gather at E24 but a bus takes them to the plane that is parked elsewhere on the tarmac?

Also, as I assume people have noted, the maps of CPH on the official website are ridiculously incomplete. Even the one dated January 2024 show only one passport control point at the junction between C concourse and the main airside terminal, and nothing to the east other than an arrow to E and F gates. The only other information on the site is on the passport control page, which states there is another passport control point available "near the E gates."

My plan is to fly ORD to GDN and return, both via SAS and connecting via CPH, with a 5+ hour layover on the return. I hope to use Eventyr lounge, but the CPH-ORD flight often leaves from E124 rather than a C gate. I have seen comments that there is a way to transit between C and E without exiting the C passport control point, but there is nothing I can see on the official website maps that confirms that is possible.

How does one keep track of any changes to gates if waiting in the Eventyr lounge? Is there a departures board visible there?

Thanks!

joorinainen

Follow up: QR did check our baggage through so we had ample time in CPH. In the early morning hours passport check was deserted and the airport is not massive so there was plenty of time to visit lounge etc.

CPH-Flyer

The Exyz gates are the non Schengen E gates, they are not remote. So E124 are regular terminal gate. From D104 there is a sign directing to E and F gates, which leads me to believe it is connected, but I neve walked to the end.

The Eventyr Lounge has a departure screen, or you can use the airport website or app to get push notifications.

sejarzo

Thanks for the info re Eventyr.

I would post a picture that explains my confusion but I can't do that yet--not enough posts.

All I can say is the latest aerial view on Google Earth from July 2022 shows just the single bridge over an access road that connects pier E to the main terminal airside, and E gates with a jet bridge for boarding don't show any with 3 digits. Has an additional walkway been built from C to E that bypasses the main terminal and the original single passport control point on C?

I remain befuddled as to why the CPH website is so incomplete, considering it's a key airport for connecting flights to/from the EU.

view

You are completely right, the map has not been updated in several years now and I suspect the reason is that CPH is a shopping mall with gates. But the E gates contain zero shopping, hence why I suspect they are very slow in updating it.

E124 is a non-schengen wide-body gate with a boarding bridge that is used pretty much every day for US departures. You can walk from security in C when you are still in Schengen past D1-D6 gates and arrive into E, after which you go via passport control and arrive at a deserted terminal area.

For the important part: yes C and E non-schengen are connected, you can walk between Eventyr lounge and E124 without clearing passport control.
One little trick if arriving behind a swarm of E longhaul arrivals, can be to walk to C passport control and enter Schengen there.

sejarzo

Thanks for the info view !

After I posted my reply above, I found a YouTube video taken by someone who walked from the west end of the shopping area past the entry to C, continuing along the moving walkways past the D gates, over the bridge into E and turned left to go through passport control on the way to E112, I believe. And just as you noted, after they had to stop the video while going through passport control, there were only a handful of passengers to be seen all the way to their gate.

I am still at a loss as to how one can walk from C to E and not exit passport control at C and then go back through it at E. As you obviously have seen the map, it appears to be impossible based on that, but I suppose I will see how it is done for myself next month. Thanks again!

danielstrandby

We can all agree the maps are terribly outdated but the route is quite easy. When you are in the C area (which is all non-Schengen), you take the escalators up between 7-Eleven and passport control, continue down the hallway with the non-Schengen D gates (D+100) and after a handful of minutes, you get to the non-Schengen E-gates (E+100)

CPH-Flyer

More or less same route as the mentioned video, just one floor up, and no passport controls.

sejarzo

Thanks to danielstrandby and CPH-Flyer for their explanations.

It's amazing how often basic information about airports is not on the official sites but on forums or in independently produced YouTube videos. I do understand that maps showing multiple levels in a terminal might confuse some flyers, but there seem to be a lot of questions in this thread that could have been answered with a little more effort from CPH to be clear in explanations and provide better graphics.

Dan1113

We just crossed from Schengen to non Schengen C gates just to go to the Eventyr lounge. Flying in a couple hours from a Schengen gate. No issue for me - my partner is UK though so he was stamped out and will need stamped in again shortly to go back. Hopefully no issues! Read in another thread that this is ok to do...
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Edit - they weren't too impressed but it was fine!