casey54111

I am traveling with my family of four to Krakow Poland. We have never been. outside of the US and want to make sure we understand what to do in customs and passport control. We are flying from Green Bay WI, connecting in St. Paul to Amsterdam to Krakow. Do we need to go though Immagration when we connect in Amsterdam? Do we need to get our checked bags or are they good until our final destination? On our return flight I understand we do customs and passport control in our connecting city, in this case Detroit....I am so worried we will mess this up.

janisj

All assuming the flights are all on one booking: You will go through Immigration (passport control) at Amsterdam but will not see your checked bags until Krakow. You will collect your luggage at Krakow and go through Customs there (but Customs is really a non issue -- you just walk through the 'Nothing to Declare' channel).

Coming home your bags will be checked through/tagged for Green Bay but you will go through passport control and Customs at Detroit. You will pick up your luggage, but right after you clear Customs there is a bag drop and they will take care of them for you.

NoFlyZone

Also, don't worry about messing up. In addition to really good signage in English, there is only one route through, with one exception. Just follow the crowds.

Only exception is after Immigration and security in AMS (and after customs/bag re-check in DTW) follow the signs for In Transit passengers and thus go directly to your gate.

jan47ete

Usually only travel with one carryon, 1 week or 4 weeks except when I retired and we went to Italy for 2 months so we checked one large bag.

I remember asking the airline clerk at check in about my bag and he told me I could pick it up at my destination and that was not what happened. That was nine years ago, and things may have changed.

I could be wrong, remembering it differently, but I was concerned about writing and being wrong and making you worry or not writing and being worried for you.

I would call the airline, a travel agent or maybe someone else will weigh in.

janisj

>> he told me I could pick it up at my destination and that was not what happened. That was nine years ago, and things may have changed.<<

Even 9 years ago -- <u>on one ticket</u> the bags would be checked through to the final destination. That s not to say that bags aren't misdirected sometimes. Or perhaps you booked two different tickets??

For the OP, there is no possibility to collect the bags at Amsterdam since they will be checked through (again - assuming it is all on one booking)

wunderbar2

casey54111, above is correct, you won't see your luggage until you arrive in Krakow and go to baggage claim as long as all flights are on one ticket. Just a word of advice, more than likely when you arrive in Amsterdam and make your way to Passport Control the lines will be very long, however don't let it scare you, no matter how long they move really fast. Also you'll see airport employees constantly walking the line and asking if anyone has a flight departing in ...... 20 minutes or by 8:30 or something like that, if so go with them and they'll fast track you thru.

It's easy to say don't worry but you'll be fine. We have friends who recently had a connecting flight thru Amsterdam just last week. Due to a problem their flight left Atlanta 2+ hours late and once in Amsterdam they had 15 minutes to get to their gate, they made it fine with no problem.

Signage is good but don't be tempted to dawdle unless you have lots of time, once you pass thru passport control you'll find shops, food, etc on the way to the gates.

Enjoy your travels.

Michael

If the Amsterdam airport has an American section, immigration may be taking place there rather than in Detroit on the return trip. That is what happened to us in Dublin one year, and Toronto this year. Luggage was checked through.

NoFlyZone

There is no immigration preclearance anywhere in Europe except Ireland (Dublin and Shannon).