Layover in Paris before getting to Amsterdam....Customs question

[Hootsie]

So, we have a 4 hour layover in Paris on our way to Amsterdam (on Air France). Do we have to collect our checked bags and go thru customs there? We will be coming from a flight out of Seattls. OR, do we deal with that in Amsterdam???

[rsquare]

So, we have a 4 hour layover in Paris on our way to Amsterdam (on Air France). Do we have to collect our checked bags and go thru customs there? We will be coming from a flight out of Seattls. OR, do we deal with that in Amsterdam???

 

I shouldn't think so, although I haven't made that connection. France and the Netherlands are both Schengen Treaty members. Travel between Schengen countries is treated like domestic travel - no customs, no immigration. So when you do customs and passport control in Paris, that should also cover you for the Netherlands. If you have to go from one terminal at Charles DeGaulle to another, you may have to go through security again, but that would only involve hand luggage, not checked bags.

[Ine]

Your luggage should be labeled through all the way to Amsterdam.

But you will have to go through passportcontrol in Paris, since that is the place you enter one of the "Schengen"-countries.

Your luggage might be checked in Amsterdam, but that hardly ever happens.

[Globaliser]

So, we have a 4 hour layover in Paris on our way to Amsterdam (on Air France). Do we have to collect our checked bags and go thru customs there?

In case it's not clear, the answer to this is no.

 

You will clear immigration in Paris, as Ine says. But you will collect your bags and clear them through customs in Amsterdam.

 

You will almost certainly have to clear security in Paris, even if you are staying within the same terminal. This is because you have arrived from a foreign country and therefore need to be re-screened to French standards.

[edinburgher]

And you need to be aware that as your hold luggage is checked through to Amsterdam you cannot access it before then.

 

This means that you should not buy any duty free alcohol/liquids on your first flight because once you arrive in Paris and transfer to your inter-european flight you are subject to the "no liquids/100ml max" security rules for hand luggage and it will be confiscated.

 

Check your airlines restrictions for both long haul and european hand luggage.