Customs on flights within Europe?

That is very strange. I've never seen everyone on every flight. I've seen specific flights singled out, but not every one.

Strange indeed. Something stranger happened at Newark on a flight to Heathtrow last November. While boarding the plane there were customs agents on the jetway questioning all passengers about the amount of cash they were bringing into the UK. They were saying something about not wanting anyone to get into trouble in the UK because their counterparts would also be questioning everyone about their cash. When the plane landed at Heathrow, there were indeed UK Customs agents on the jetway again questioning all passengers about cash.

You can be asked to go through customs.

The Schengen agreement opens the borders to EU citizens who do not have to show a passport when traveling between member countries. Technically, non-EU citizens can be asked to go through immigration--but they never are.

Each individual country has retained the rights for customs checks. Again, this is rarely done but you can be legally stopped and searched. Both EU and non-EU citizens.

There's a difference between customs and immigration and membership of the EU/Schengen. Not all EU countries have implemented Schengen, not all Schengen countries are in the EU. This can lead to some odd cases, i.e. travel from France to Switzerland and there are no passport checks but there are customs stations, or Italy to Ireland, no customs but there is passport control.

The EU is a customs union (amongst other things) so there are no regular customs inspections between members. (Of course all countries retain the ability to do spot checks fro contraband.)

Schengen is (amongst other things) an open boarders area, so there are no regular passport checks in the area. (Again the law allows for spot checks and also 'regular' passport controls can be temporarily reinstated, usually due to big summits, international sporting event etc.)

In the OP's case if the flight starts in France then there will be no passport or customs checks. If the flight is the last connection in a transatlantic itinerary from the US then she'll pass through immigration in Paris and customs wherever she reclaims her checked bags (i.e. Madrid).

"will we have to go through customs like we do coming from the U.S. to Europe?"

I've entered the E.U. eleven times and although there were "customs", I have never had to stop to have anything checked. Before Schengen, I crossed borders and had to show my passport and/or visa, but never had anything checked. Come to think of it, I've never had anything checked coming back into the U.S., either.

Now, when I enter Europe, there is always a line marked "Nothing to declare" and I just walk out through it.

Come to think of it, I've never had anything checked coming back into the U.S., either

In 50+ international flights back into the US, I've only had my bags searched by Customs twice. Yesterday I arrived into Newark Airport after a long 16 hour flight from Hong Kong, and Customs agents were searching every single passenger's bags for food products...no exceptions...all passengers-all flights. The lines were very long getting out of the terminal:(. I hope this just a temporary thing, and not a new procedure. Don't want to have to spend any extra time in Newark New Jersey than I have to:)

But the Swiss are part of Schengen.

Michael, it's not uncommon to see passengers on flights from Asia and Africa thoroughly searched. Many of the foods in their culture are not allowed in the U.S. So, Customs is somewhat more thorough with those flights than ones from say....Europe.

Once during training, I observed a guy from Africa bring in an entire suitcase full of dried meat and tree bark. when Customs opened the suitcase, flies even flew out. The guy had no idea he couldn't bring the stuff into the U.S.

Michael, it's not uncommon to see passengers on flights from Asia and Africa thoroughly searched. Many of the foods in their culture are not allowed in the U.S. So, Customs is somewhat more thorough with those flights than ones from say....Europe.

Frank, I said passengers from all flights were being searched for food products....including flights from Europe. My flight from Hong Kong arrived at 2pm when transatlantic flights from all over Europe also converge at the airport. I've been to Hong Kong three other times, this has never happened before.

Michael, while there are rules about how much money you can take out of the country, that's not what they were checking. They wanted to see how you responded, not what you responded. They were watching your behavior and your body language.

Who's going to respond...."oops, you got me. I'm smuggling tons of money."

It is behavioral profiling and exactly what we need for security before you enter the gate area....not once you're boarding the plane.

If you seem very nervous, they might pull you aside and have TSA search you again. Otherwise, they make note of you and your description, and alert their UK counterparts. And they're not necessarily looking for money. They're looking at your behavior to see if you warrant extra immigration and customs screening.

I am slipping off-topic a bit, but an excellent show in the Nat Geo channel in the US is "Locked up Abroad." Those people always seem to get stopped at customs!

Frank II: But the Swiss are part of Schengen.

Schengen is nothing to do with customs. It only deals with immigration*, hence customs posts at the Swiss border.

There are no customs within the EU because of EU laws. The other, non-EU, Schengen countries that don't have customs posts are either members of the EEA or have other bilateral customs agreements with the EU.

The EU is nothing to do with passport free zones.

*Actually it doesn't entirely deal with immigration there's loads of other stuff about cross border policing that doesn't affect tourists at all.

Peter, When I wrote Switzerland is part of Schengen, I was responding to a previous post that said Switzerland was different. It has nothing to do with the customs declaration.

And yes, in my original post when I mentioned EU regarding immigration, I should has said "Schengen" instead of EU. I'm so sorry. It seems to have really gotten you angry at me. To the point I can see you're fuming. My apologies.

Sorry about that Frank II, the thread's got a bit complicated with people talking at cross purposes, you can see how your post looked.

Perhaps ironically, most of the thread is unnecessary in a way as Steve correctly answered the OPs question in the first reply. He obviously got his reasons wrong but he did manage to get the right answer through luck.

In a general point I think perhaps the greatest cause of confusion and inaccurate posts on this site is people getting confused between what EU membership means and what Schengen; means so I don't think it does any harm to reiterate the truth ever now and then.

Good grief! I've been watching this thing for three days and and thought the three of you guys who really know something where going to start having at each another with rocks and sticks.

What got it started was the twisted, non-logic, non-factual first post. Of course I'm talking about the assumption that people in LA and NY speak the same language.

What still hasn't been cleared up is:

1 -- Why on earth would someone hang around a departure gate at JFK since they have bars all over the place?

2 -- Why would officialdom ask somebody who's just hanging around any question at all?

3 -- The gang in the jetway business is most unusual. They were obviously looking for somebody but not exactly sure what the person looked like. What's the odds of two people in the same little forum having the same experience?

Hang in there Cindy! Stick you wad of cash in one sock and your head of lettuce in the other and nobody will notice.

The UK and Ireland are part of the EU but have opted out of parts of Schengen. Therefore, if you travel between say London and Amsterdam, you will have to go through immigration/passport control.