Quote:
Originally Posted by Matilda
No. My husband is Domincan and when he has UK visa and we go there via Madrid, he and I get separated at Madrid airport. After we have left the plane from Santo Domingo he is taken off and has to wait (somewhere) and then boards the plane to England and I go through the normal channels and board the plane. He cannot come with me as I go into international departures and they sort of arrest him (and the kids) but then put them on the plane!! It was a bit traumatic the first time but now we are used to it. At the check in for the plane to England I refuse to board until they confirm to me that he is on board the plane. It works!!
So no transit visa required but expect to be separated in Madrid.
There is no pure transit area in Madrid. You get off plane from Santo Domingo and go through to the terminal for flights to London where everyone else is. For some reaosn it didn't happen on the way back. No idea why not.
Matilda
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That is strange!!! Very much indeed! Every international airport in the Schengen zone has to have Schengen and non-chengen area.
Arrivals in Madrid from the DR are in non-Schengen zone. Departures to UK are also from non-Schengen zone. This means, no passport control in Madrid. If YOU passed passport control, you most likely entered Schengen zone and then left it again to board plane to UK. Every airport in Schengen has to have non-Schengen areas connected, even if it is by bus, or walkway.
My GF travelled via Paris and Prague to Slovakia (at that time neither Slovakia nor Czech Rep were in Schengen) in Paris just got off Air France flight (non-Schengen gate), took a bus to the terminal for departures for Prague (again non-Schengen zone) and off she went. No hassle, no "company", no nothing. Straightforward.
I have never travelled via Madrid, but I think it's the same thing. It has to have Schengen and non-schengen zone. Flights from DR arrive at non-Schengen, and flights to UK depart from non-Schengen as well. Same would be as if somebody took flight to Russia, Turkey or Japan for that case.
In Paris, however, same as in Frankfurt, the one who does not know the airport well may well run into passport control or enter/leave Schengen zones on getting from point A to point B. Paris, for example, is so messy that 4 times a year I go via Paris CDG and it seems to me that every time I take a different route to get from A to B there.