Passpost Control vs Customs

You will go through passport control in Paris. Passport control always occurs at your first European destination. If you are traveling on a single ticket, your bags will most likely be checked through to Milan, and you will retrieve them there. Customs will be in Milan, but if you have nothing to declare - which is the case for most travelers - it'll just be a walk-through. Your time frames should be no problem.

I just wanted to note that when I flew ORD-LHR-FCO, I did go through Passport Control in FCO and not LHR. But yes, generally it is the first stop you get to. You may want to check with Delta on this for confirmation. As Tom mentioned, customs will just be walking through a designated area if you have nothing to . Baggage claim may take longer than 45 minutes, but hopefully not. I don't know what type of group you are meeting and I don't have experience in the Milan airport, but you may want to find out what would occur if you did not meet your group on time.

The UK is an exception since they are not party to the Schengen treaty like the rest of the EU is.

Schengen doen't have anything to do with it. Apparently Devon had a plane change and stayed in the arrivals/departures area and never had access to the UK. She just didn't understand what had happened.

Schengen has everything to do with do with it:) When you change planes in the UK and Ireland one never has to pass through Immigration, because neither country has signed the agreement. Whereas when you change planes in a participating country, you always have your passport check at the "first" airport.....not at your final destination.

I think Ed's right - and my original post isn't quite accurate. According to the Heathrow website, if you're just changing planes there & never leaving the airport, you're not considered to have "entered" the UK, and you don't have to go through passport control. I don't know if this is peculiar to Heathrow or not. Seems to me that most countries consider you to have "entered" as soon as you land on their territory. I don't see where this has anything to do with Schengen.

'I don't know if this is peculiar to Heathrow or not.' SIN, EZE, NRT and a flock of others do it that way. I could be dead wrong and completely mixed up on the Heathrow configuration. I haven't been through there, or even into there, many times since Gatwick got into full swing - - and only once or twice since they started playing musical terminals. That's just what it sounded like to me. Anyway, it's an interesting discussion.

Well, if the original posters concern was delay, then the response is that yes, since when you arrive in a Schengen country you are almost always at your destination, or changing planes to what is essentially a domestic flight, then you will go through Passport Control. There may be a rare instance that you are on a continuation of an International flight, but it must be rare enough that few on here encounter it. Customs will typically be at your final destination, since you will need your checked bags, and the Schengen standard is not to pull bags off and do at Passport Control as is done in the US. Incidently, Customs is pretty much a non-event, if you have nothing to d/clare (as applies to most) you walk out the door rather than stand in line to d/clare nothing. I suppose it is possible that they may pull you aside and ask to check bags. The Heathrow discussion is separate, and I have run into several variations. You can stay in the International departures area and not have to have any delays, have to switch terminals, not go through Passport Control, but have to go through Security, in which they will check your passport as well as your carry-on, (so to me, a delay, and about the same thing) but generally agree, you should not have to fill out a form for entry to the UK if you are in transit. You will then need to go through Passport Control of course when you hit the Schengen zone.

"....Seems to me that most countries consider you to have "entered" as soon as you land on their territory..." When you land at a Schengen airport from a transatlantic flight, you only go through Immigration if you're transferring to another Schengen country or exiting the airport. But if you're transferring to a non-schengen country like Russia, Turkey, or Egypt, you don't go through a passport check....just a security screening. For example last month I flew from Newark to Istanbul via Munich. The only time I went through immigration was in Istanbul.