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Customs processing time at Dusseldorf airport?

Posted by (Kent, WA, USA) on

I am looking at an itinerary that has me flying from StPetersburg Russia to Dusseldorf, and then catching a train. From the Dusseldorf airport web site it looks like there's a train station right at the airport so that should work fine, but I'm wondering how long the customs/border control stuff will take for a flight from Russia to Germany?
The flight has a scheduled landing time of 13:35; there's a train departure time of 13:50 that would be perfect, but I'm thinking that isn't possible. There's another train at 14:06 would that one be possible?
NO checked bags, just carry-on.

Or should I just not push it and shoot for the 15:02 train?

For whatever reason, I'm taking the train from Dusseldorf to Paris, and catching the earlier train will get me into Paris around 7PM vs 9PM on the later trains. IS 9PM too late to arrive in Paris at the Nord train station and then find my hotel? I haven't selected a hotel yet, so I could opt for something relatively close to the train station. Seems like a hotel south of Gare du Nord would be relatively quick to get to at 9PM at night and still somewhat centrally located for sight-seeing? My main goals in Paris are Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Norte Dame, d'Orsay, and Marmottan. I will be departing Paris from CDG.

Posted by
1556 posts

My suggestion is to take whatever train you can when you arrive at DUS. Why book a ticket ahead of time when your flight could easily be late or if the plane has to wait for a gate to open up.

I can't tell you about immigration processing time at DUS but you have to plan for multiple fight arrivals from non Schengen countries in which case you may be in line for over 5 minutes.

Posted by
19099 posts

Matt, everything is going to depend on when your flight gets in, and no one can predict that.

I have never landed in Düsseldorf, but from my experiences in other German airports (FRA (5x), STR, MUC), I would say that you could not get out of the terminal in 15 min. There will probably be a wait for passport control, since you are coming from a non-Schengen country. In the past, I have never had "anything to declare", so I have walked right past customs, but since you are coming from Russia, they might be more strict.

I also see that the Sky Train out to the Düesseldorf Flughafen Bahnhof takes 6½ min, with a wait as long as 7 minutes.

I would say that, IF YOUR PLANE LANDS ON TIME, you can't make the 13:50, and the 14:06 would be doubtful. The 15:02 sounds like no problem, but if your flight is late, all bets are off.

Posted by
19099 posts

Not even your passports?! From the U.S.?

That is really unusual. Usually they route you directly to Passport Control, and you can't get out of the room without going past one of the manned booths. (Maybe having nasty cats helps.)

If you meant no one checked your bags, I am not surprised. I've flown into Europe 10 times, all from the U.S., and I have never had my bags checked. However, coming from Russia, I wouldn't be so confident.

What did you say your full name is, and where are you stationed?

Posted by
9100 posts

It can happen from time to time, a few years ago I arrived at Schipol from a transatlantic flight, and the immigration desks were unmanned for unknown reasons. Everyone just walked right through.

Posted by
2297 posts

I came through DUS last summer. I have a EU passport, flying into Germany pretty much once a year, but I cannnot remember a time I got through without a passport check. Though it usually is much quicker with fewer people around in DUS than it is in FRA. Still, there was no way I could have made it in 15 minutes from the plane to the train. However that was in part because I arrived at a different terminal than the one that has the train station. So I needed to take the sky train. I waited quite some time for the sky train to come + 6 minutes for the actual ride. And then you change to a different track which could be done in a 90 second dash. In theory.

Can you find out at which terminal your plane is supposed to land and if it's the same one that has the train station? Even in that case you'd have to be VERY lucky to make it to the first train.

Posted by
103 posts

About 5 years ago, I arrived in Rome at 6:30am on a Saturday. The immigration inspector looked something like death warmed over. He opened my passport to the second to last page, stamped it, and handed it back to me without looking up...

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