Questions and Answers

I have a 45 minute connection time at ZRH to catch my ZRH-BOS flight. I am arriving from an EU country (part of the Schengen treaty). I looked at ZRH’s website, but it is not clear whether I have to go through immigration (passport control), and/or (baggage) security check when connecting to a non-EU (US) destination. One SWISS agent said that I can just walk to the departure gate, whilst another agent said I need to go through passport control and security check. Has anyone transited there? What can I expect?
Thank you.

You will go through security to get to the international terminal. Last time I was at ZRH they had passport control setup right by the departure gate, so they could stamp you out of Schengen and ask you the US-bound security questions at the same desk, but I’m not sure what the current situation is.

45 minutes should be fine if everything is on time though — ZRH is an easy airport.

[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 49098, member: 7″]You will go through security to get to the international terminal. Last time I was at ZRH they had passport control setup right by the departure gate, so they could stamp you out of Schengen and ask you the US-bound security questions at the same desk, but I’m not sure what the current situation is.

45 minutes should be fine if everything is on time though — ZRH is an easy airport.[/QUOTE]
Thank you Tiffany. I guess the system is a bit like in Berlin’s Tegel where the passport control was right at the departure gate of the US-bound flight.

I lived in Switzerland for a few years back in 2009-2011 and I agree that ZRH (and GVA) are easy airports. However, the Swiss do a lot of “random” secondary security screening. This would happen to me nearly every flight. They make you unpack everything and conduct a search. These extra searches never took more than ten minutes but just be aware and don’t waste a minute getting to Security and Passport Control.

[QUOTE=”Gia, post: 49143, member: 1566″]I lived in Switzerland for a few years back in 2009-2011 and I agree that ZRH (and GVA) are easy airports. However, the Swiss do a lot of “random” secondary security screening. This would happen to me nearly every flight. They make you unpack everything and conduct a search. These extra searches never took more than ten minutes but just be aware and don’t waste a minute getting to Security and Passport Control.[/QUOTE]
Thank you Gia. Will certainly have as little carry on as possible.