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I have purchased a flight from France to Japan for tourism with Aeroflot and I have a transit in Moscow. It is only a 3-hour layover (my flight ticket actually only mentions PARIS-TOKYO).

I just wanted to be sure that: 1. My luggage will be directly sent to Tokyo Narita. 2. I don't need a transit visa for Russia.

Sorry if this is naive, I am not used to travel. It seems to me that everything should be ok, but I did not manage to find kind of an "official" confirmation for (1) and (2). Where could such information be on my flight tickets?

Fyi, I have French citizenship.

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1) You are travelling with one airline on a single booking: your luggage will be checked through to Tokyo. Aeroflot's information for transit passengers confirms that you do not need to collect your luggage in Moscow

2) You do not need a transit visa as you are transiting within the airport. From this site:

The following applicants do not require a transit visa:

Foreign nationals flying over the territory of the Russian Federation without changing flights in the country

Foreign nationals flying with an international airline and changing flights in the Russian Federation, at the same airport on both the outward journey and the inbound journey (on condition that this airport has a transit area), in possession of properly completed documents confirming their right to enter the destination country, and an airline ticket with a confirmed departure date from the airport in Russia where they changed flights, no more than 24 hours after their arrival date.

(bolding mine)

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  • It's worth double-checking that "the same airport" is indeed the case here, since Moscow has multiple.
    – void_ptr
    Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 22:29
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I already done the transit in Moscow without visa, so I can confirm there is no problem, and you are using long leg flights (and possibly large airplanes), so you should also not get problem with transit.

You can check your booking on Aeroflot website (it is also in English, not sure about French). Check in which airport and terminal are you arriving and departing. Then check the transit instruction in https://www.aeroflot.ru/ru-en/information/airport/transit

You should be careful on airport: sometime there is a small corridors for international transit (most people will go straight to immigration): so before going to police control, check that you are really doing a transit (the deviation is in the same room, on some side, of just before entering in the immigration room).

Sometime it is impossible to do the transit without transit visa, but this usually imply short haul flights (e.g. to small airport on ex soviet countries) and changing air carrier, which is not your case.

So to be 100% sure: go to Aeroflot website, check your booking for the airport and terminal: then the above link will confirm you that there is a transit (so visa free).

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    "and possibly large airplanes" -- why would the size of the airplane have anything to do with it?
    – ajd
    Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 16:01
  • @ajd: because the choice of terminals. Larger airplanes usually go to the main terminals (because of infrastructure, air bridges, etc., but also for security infrastructure). [IIRC in few air carriers listed aircraft type for possible terminals]
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 17:16
  • some great tips in this great answer, thanks @GiacomoCatenazzi
    – Fattie
    Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 19:35
  • hi @ajd, it's quite obvious, intl versus shorter flights, etc.
    – Fattie
    Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 19:35
  • I mean I know why a longer flight might have a larger aircraft, I didn't know why having a larger aircraft would mean you would have fewer problems with transit.
    – ajd
    Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 21:18
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Because your trip is in a single booking, you do not require a visa.

Per TIMATIC, the database that check-in staff use:

TWOV (Transit Without Visa): Passengers with a confirmed onward ticket for a flight to a third country within 24 hours. They must stay in the international transit area of the airport and have documents required for the next destination.

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