Can I travel to Europe from India with different outbound and return PNR?

Question

I am travelling to Vienna from New Delhi on a Turkish airline flight and returning from Rome to New Delhi on Air India Flight.

My itinerary is New Delhi-Vienna-Zurich-Rome- New Delhi. I have a Schengen visa valid for my entire stay in Europe

My questions are:

1. Would there be a problem like denied boarding or restricted boarding considering following points.

   • I do not have a consolidated Passenger Name Record (PNR). My outbound ticket from New Delhi to Vienna and my return ticket from Rome to New Delhi are on two different PNR as they have been booked as one way tickets.

   • I am travelling from Vienna to Zurich through Rail and from Zurich to Rome through Iberia Airlines (also booked as one way ticket)

2. Do I have to go through any other immigration after entering Vienna for my onward travel to Zurich and Rome. If yes, would they also need proof of entry and exit for that ?

3. My Turkish airline flight from Delhi to Vienna has a stopover in Istanbul, where I have to change planes. Do I need a transit visa for Istanbul in that case ?

Answer 1

If you have a valid Schengen Visa, the airlines shouldn't deny you boarding. I will try to answer the two main questions separately

1. Immigration at Vienna

   Once you land in Vienna from outside Schengen (which you do as your last leg is Istanbul-Vienna), you pass through immigration where your visa is checked and stamped. The immigration officer may ask you to produce return tickets and/or hotel confirmations, which you can easily do. It doesn't matter that your return from Schengen (Rome-Delhi) is booked on a different airline/ticket. What matters is that you have a confirmed flight.

   Once you pass through the immigration, you can travel freely within Schengen (including train to Zurich and Zurich-Rome flight). On the train, Swiss border guards may check your ID and visa (but they won't stamp it). On the flight (Zurich-Rome), you do not pass through immigration as the flight is within Schengen region. However while boarding, your passport will be checked.

2. Transit at Istanbul

   At Istanbul you do not require a visa for air-side (transit) stay. However, if you need to leave air-side (to collect baggage) you need a Turkish visa. Assuming you are flying with Turkish the whole way (Delhi-IST-Vienna), you can obtain both your boarding passes at Delhi itself and have your luggage checked-through to Vienna (they'll do this by default). In that case, once you disembark at Istanbul, you follow the signs for International transfers and pass through security and reach the departures without any immigration.

   The key-point is that your baggage should be checked all the way to your final destination so that you don't have to leave Istanbul (Ataturk Intl. Airport IST) air-side.

   The usual caveats apply for Istanbul:

   • Your flights at Istanbul should land and originate at same airport (Istanbul has two airports).
   • Layover should be less than 24 hours

Answer 2

1. For boarding, I doubt if you will be asked for anything beyond your Schengen visa, and if so, your second reservation should be as good as a return flight on the same record. Of course, the border guards may want to know your itinerary, even with a visa. They are highly unlikely to care about how many tickets you use.

2. There are no regular immigration checks within Schengen; that's the point. Of course, police or border guards may see something suspicious about you, but your Schengen visa establishes your right to be visiting anywhere in the Schengen zone.

3. I believe your situation is identical to the one covered by Do I need a Turkey transit visa for a layover?