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I would like to travel from Moscow to New York via Helsinki.

My Russian passport expires less than 3 months after the planned departure from the US. To enter the US, my passport only needs to be valid at the time I leave the country, as Russia is in their exception list.

However, will I be allowed to transit through Helsinki?

I hold a valid USA visa and a German residence permit.

Typing all the details into Timatic (which as far as I know is used by airlines to check visa and COVID regulations for entry and boarding), notifies me that I am not eligible to board the plane from Moscow to Helsinki.

However, the Finnair website actually lists the exact connection as an example:

For example, if you are travelling from Moscow to New York via Helsinki, your travel documents must be valid for the USA.

This seems to contradict the previous info from Timatic. I was unable to reach Finnair directly to ask this, but would like to have clarification on this before I book a flight.

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  • 1
    What does timatic actually say? Perhaps you're misinterpreting it, or perhaps it's actually incorrect. Without seeing the text, it's impossible to know which it is.
    – phoog
    Dec 18, 2021 at 14:53
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    iatatravelcentre.com says you are allowed to transit.
    – xngtng
    Dec 18, 2021 at 14:55
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    It sounds as if this is an airside transit. With a single ticket, Moscow would assume you are not entering the Schengen Area. Therfore the US rule will be applied
    – Mark Johnson
    Dec 18, 2021 at 15:00
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    It depends on whether both your flights are on a single ticket, in which case you would be checked through to your final destination, and the rules for travel from Russia to the US with an airside transit in Finland would apply, or if the flights are booked separately, then the rules for travel from Russia to Finland, and then those for travel from Finland to the US would apply.
    – jcaron
    Dec 18, 2021 at 16:45
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    Compare Timatic results for the first case (no mention of passport validity for TWOV in Finland) and the first flight in the second case which does indeed require 3 months validity.
    – jcaron
    Dec 18, 2021 at 16:49

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