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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I know this is an old thread and off topic but how do you know if you’ll need yo collect bags etc at a layover in a European city? We’re flying to Italy and layovers are Brussels going and Frankfort on the return. Trying to guesstimate what layover time we’ll be comfortable with. [/quote]
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"Yes bags are checked through unless the layover is overnight generally.
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This is as opposed to the US, where you have to always collect checked bags upon first airport of arrival. It's different there- you don't technically clear customs until your final destination."

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Rule of thumb is that you have to clear customs at the first point of entry. (Aka you don't go through customs for domestic flights.)

So for the US, if you were to fly Rome-NYC-DC, the last leg is domestic, so you collect bags & clear customs in NYC.

For US - Brussels - Rome -- Brussels & Rome are both in Schengen, so you likely will collect bags and clear customs in Brussels.
For Rome - Frankfurt - US -- you aren't entering a new area for customs purposes in Frankfurt, so you won't need to collect bags and clear customs.[/quote]
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That's not how it works for the Schengen Area. Because they have entry AND exit passport control, it's different than how the US does it. When entering the Schengen Area, yes you go through passport control upon entry, but you do not clear customs until your final destination. In fact, if you are transferring to another non-Schengen flight, you stay in the non-Schengen part of the airport and don't go through either. That's why that guy got stuck in Paris airport for so many years, that Tom Hanks made a movie about.[/quote]
I'm so confused. Aren't these mostly inconsistent answers?
We're flying IAD to BRUssels to Venice and return is Venice to Frankfort to IAD. For our best options, layovers range from just under 2 hours to up to 4 hrs..[/quote]

I don't know why that earlier poster said that about "Collecting bags at first port of entry"- that's a US rule, and not how they do it in the Schengen Zone. For your itinerary, in both directions, your checked bags will be checked through at your layover, and you will only have to collect them at the end of your journey. What you will have to do, perhaps unusual to most Americans, is go through Schengen exit passport control at Frankfurt on your return trip. This is because you will be transiting from the Schengen portion of the airport (from the "domestic" flight from Venice) to the non-Schengen portion (for the international flight to the US). But your bag makes that transition automatically, as it will  in Brussels on the outbound trip.[/quote]

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