Customs at Thens Airport

At Athens airport…

Are you on a direct flight from Boston to Athens?

Customs or immigration?? Customs is just a walk through the Green Door -- Nothing to Declare. Immigration is a different. Can vary a lot because of time of day and number of planes at or near the same time. I would allow 90 minutes as average -- could be more or could be less.

I was unable to find a direct BOS-ATH flight.
Most ( not all) one stops were somewhere in a Schengen country, so there would be no immigration to do at ATH.
Checked bag retrieval would be the timing issue to have to factor in.

Any reason not to just go to the taxi line?

Customs is a walk through. If you are an American visiting Greece, why would you have anything to declare? As for immigration & you fly directly to Greece versus flying into another Schengen country, there’s no way to predict how long one waits on line. It depends on how many flights arrive when yours does, when you deboard your flight, and how many employees are working at immigration when you arrive. If you go through immigration in another Schengen country, when you arrive at Athens, your only delay might be waiting for your checked luggage at the carousel unless you have carry-on bags only.

Thanks that helps tremendously. My hotel was directing me to pre-arrange the pickup service and I was trying to approximate times based on my arrival that Delta Airlines issued. I may take the advice of just getting in the taxi line. Appreciate everyone’s replies.

Def not immigration, as this is only a leisure trip. Thanks.

By "immigration", we mean standing in line to get your passport checked and stamped and officially allowed to enter the Schengen Zone. It has nothing to do with whether this is a business or leisure trip. If you changed planes in another city in the Schengen Zone on the way to Athens, you will have already done this there. If you changed planes in Ireland or the UK, or Turkey, or are on the Delta nonstop from Boston, you will still need to do this in Athens and that is what could take some time.

I was unable to find a direct BOS-ATH flight.

@Joe32F, Delta 240, BOS>ATH.

Def not immigration, as this is only a leisure trip. Thanks.

Of course, you go through immigration. Leisure, business, whatever….you will wait on line at immigration at the first Schengen country you enter. Since you will be flying on an actual Delta airlines flight as opposed to a code share, you will be arriving on a nonstop flight from the US & thus will go through immigration at ATH.

Whether it's a leisure trip or business, you go through immigration at your first stop in Schengen. Immigration is passport control. It's where you get your passport stamped.

What country are you stopping in? If its in Europe, then your flight into Athens will not be on Delta but on a different airline depending on where you change planes.

Joe32F, Delta 240, BOS>ATH.

Well seems I need to improve my hunting skills. If that is the flight OP is on, then there will be passport control ( aka immigration: the place at an airport or country's border where government officials check the documents of people entering that country.) to deal with in Athens.

Edit/add
After a bit more hunting found that Delta 240 is a Mon-Wed-Fri only service

Def not immigration, as this is only a leisure trip. Thanks.

Bless your heart. Again, it would helpful to understand if you are arriving on a flight directly from Boston or if you will first be transiting through another European city before arriving in Athens. If you are on a direct flight from Boston to Athens, then you will need to go through immigration and customs upon arrival in Athens. Everyone, even the President of the United States, has to go through immigration when arriving in a different country. It doesn't mean that you are moving there... If you are on a flight that transits through a European country that is a member of the Schengen, then you will go through immigration in that country and only through customs in Athens. Customs only will take about 5 minutes. Immigration and customs will take 30-60 minutes.

Research how to avoid taxi scams before you go. We always prearrange a driver before we travel.

I used Welcome Pickups for travel into Athens and later Athens to cruise ship. Booked before I left home. They will meet your flight and as they have all the flight info will check if it is running early or late. They know about immigration and baggage pick up and will be waiting for you as you exit the arrivals area. A nice clean air conditioned car will be awaiting you, usually with cold water to drink and a wet towel. The drivers spoke great English. The cost is about 5 Euro more than the regular taxi. Thoroughly recommend them. Used last two times I was in Greece. Took all the hassle out of arriving after a long flight from West Coast.

The line at the customs stop (passport control) will depend on how many flights are coming in at the same time. The process itself is quick, and I found that the line moved fairly quickly. There will be lots of taxis for you at Arrivals. Count on about 40-50 Euros by taxi -one way into Athens.

But are we even clear that this person will be coming through immigration?

Research how to avoid taxi scams before you go. We always prearrange a driver before we travel.

The drivers waiting in line at the taxi stand at the airport are unlikely to be scammers. There is a flat fare in any case