Is there an easy way to check whether a given airport offers airside (visa-free) transit?
Is there an easy way to find out whether a given airport is equipped for passengers to connect between two international flights without passing through the host country's border controls?
Of course one can ask a question here about a particular airport and hope someone who knows it comes by, but that is inconvenient to wait for when one is just in the middle of evaluating proposals from a flight search engine and needs to verify which of them would require additional visas.
The websites of airports themselves tend to be surprisingly unhelpful about this. Presumably the airport operators think it is obvious whether they have airside transit or not (we're the hub for XYZ Airlines, so of course we do / nobody connects here, so of course we don't / we're in the US, so of course we don't).
Wikipedia's articles about each airport are occasionally useful, but coverage is erratic.
Is there a database somewhere? Or someone who is collecting this information in particular?
[In contrast, it is usually reasonably well-publicized whether some nationalities need airside transit visas at airports that have airside transit, just not which exact airports that is.]
Best Answer
It's not the most user friendly solution, but it's the best and most accurate information ever, it is TIMATIC.
There is no user interface, so we're going to use the web service via the link. We're going to use KLM's user, many Wikipedia pages link that, so I will assume it's fine. I also know some of the parameters via the reservation system which uses TIMATIC, so after a bit testing it turns out to be the same, here how's the link going to look like:
www.timaticweb.com/cgi-bin/tim_website_client.cgi?SpecData=1&VISA=&page=visa&NA=SA&TR=LHR&DE=IAD&AR=00&PASSTYPES=PASS&user=KLMB2C&subuser=KLMB2C
Parameters
- NA: Nationality, use two letter country codes.
- TR: Transit airport, use three letter IATA airport codes.
- DE: Destination, use three letter IATA airport codes.
The result will be comprehensive, something like:
TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
Visa required, except for Nationals of Saudi Arabia holding confirmed onward tickets making an airside transit at LondonGatwick (LGW), London Heathrow (LHR) or Manchester (MAN) on the same calendar day to a third country (excluding Ireland (Rep.)). The following conditions must be complied with:
- passenger must arrive and depart by air; and
- passenger only intends to transit through the United Kingdom; and
- passenger must hold all documents required for the next destination; and
- passenger must not leave the transit area.
- OR: Visa required, except for Passengers holding confirmed onward tickets passing through United Kingdom immigration to make a
landside transit to a third country on a flight that departs before 23:59 the next day. The following conditions must be
complied with:
- passenger must arrive and depart by air; and
- passenger must have no purpose in entering the United Kingdom other than to pass through in transit; and
- passenger must hold all documents required for the next destination; and
......
......
Pictures about "Is there an easy way to check whether a given airport offers airside (visa-free) transit?"
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