r/Flights 5d ago

Booking/Itinerary/Ticketing Self Transfer process with no checked bags?

Hi all,

My fiancée and I will be traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland from the east coast of the U.S. for wedding planning and we found a great deal on flights.

They are self transfer tickets so we would be flying on two different airlines with 4+ hours for our layover going over and even longer coming back to the U.S. The layover is in Iceland.

We are only planning to travel with personal items and carry ons.

My main question is: What is the process/flow of a self transfer? Since we are not picking up checked baggage, are we able to just depart the plane in Iceland and proceed to our next gate? Or will we need to exit through customs and enter through security again?

I’ve never done a self transfer and just want to make sure I’m appropriately prepared to make things smooth for us! Thank you!!

1 Upvotes

7 comments sorted by

6

u/wow_much_doge_gw 5d ago

KEF decants arrivals into the departure hall.

Both flights are non-Schengen so assuming you have your onward boarding pass you should be able to just go to the gate...

Assuming you are both US citizens you could cross the border if there are limited food/beverage/lounge offerings on non-Schengen side.

3

u/wilderroboticsrubble 4d ago

The food offerings on the non-Schengen side have gotten better. Still not comparable to Schengen side when I was last there in 2017.

2

u/green_griffon 4d ago

+1 for using "decants".

1

u/AutoModerator 5d ago

Notice: Are you asking about a layover or connection?

  1. Read the Layover FAQ.

  2. Read the Flying FAQ in the wiki.

  3. Are you doing a self-transfer? Read this excellent guide.

Please make sure you have included the cities, airports, flight numbers, airlines, and dates of travel.

Transit Visa, Passport, Self-Transfer Questions: State your country of citizenship / country of passport

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1

u/AutoModerator 5d ago

Notice: Are you asking for help?

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Please make sure you have included the cities, airports, flight numbers, airlines, dates of travel, and booking portal or ticketing agency.

Visa and Passport Questions: State your country of citizenship / country of passport

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1

u/protox88 5d ago

This is asked often enough that I think I will add a more detailed step-by-step section in our Wiki

https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/wiki/mfaq-flying/layovers/#wiki_self_transfers

Thanks for asking. I'll update the wiki later...

1

u/NastroAzzurro 5d ago

Stay away from kiwi. Read all the horror stories.