If I am flying with Norwegian Air from Dubai to Alta (ALF), with a connection in Oslo (OSL), on a single ticket, how will I clear customs for my luggage? Will my luggage be handled automatically in Oslo?
If yes, does that mean I will go through customs in Alta? Do the smaller regional airports in Norway have facilities for that? How does that work?
In you case, you should not need to handle your luggage at all in Oslo.
Avinor, the Oslo Airport operator, tell us:
DOMESTIC TRANSFER
With domestic transfer, you can arrive from abroad with certain airlines and fly onward domestically without collecting your luggage. Remember to check with your airline what applies to your journey. When using our Domestic Transfer solution, only travelers with through tickets can use the solution.
If you are coming from abroad and are headed further on a domestic flight, there are different rules for transfers based on which airline you are traveling with and where you are arriving from.
In order to use domestic transfer, you must have booked a ticket with an onward connection where the entire journey is with the airlines SAS, Norwegian, Widerøe or Emirates†. Domestic transfer is open from 07:00 – 23:00 every day.
†Applies only to travel in combination with SAS or Widerøe.
If you arrive in Norway with an airline other than SAS, Norwegian, Widerøe or Emirates and are going to fly further with a domestic flight, you must go down to the arrival hall, collect and deliver any luggage, and go through the security check in the departure hall.This also applies to passengers who only travel with hand luggage.
(follows a list of airline combinations, which includes Norwegian -> Norwegian)
Checklist for using domestic transfer
- Your journey is with the airlines or combination of airlines mentioned in the table above.
- The journey in its entirety is on the same day/date, and within the period 7am – 11pm.
- Your baggage tag is marked with your final destination and not "OSL".
- Your baggage does not consist of animals or weapons.
From the following destinations, you cannot use a domestic transfer:
- Norwegian: Bastia, Bilbao, Burgas, Dubrovnik, Ibiza, Malta, Palanga, Pula, Salzburg, Sarajevo, Skopje, Split, Tirana, Tivat, Varna and Zagreb.
- SAS: Dubrovnik, Tivat, Pula, Salzburg, Split.
How to use domestic transfer
- Follow the signs marked either "transfer" or "connecting flights" when you get off the plane.
- Next to gate D2 you will find a yellow area marked "domestic transfer".
- In the same area, there is a tax-free shop where you can buy tax-free goods before going through customs.
- Scan your ticket/boarding pass at the boarding scan and proceed through customs.
- When you have passed customs, you will enter the departure hall for domestic flights. Check the information screens for which gate your next flight is departing from and then follow the signs.
This is confirmed in this video:
At 6:53 in the video they tell us:
So, a note about the luggage. Just before passing customs or the gates there we scanned our boarding pass and as you scan your boarding pass it asks whether you have luggage or not where you reply yes of course if you have luggage in the hold, and then a photo of your luggage comes and you just have to confirm that it's yours. Once you've confirmed it the luggage will be transferred directly to your domestic destination.
Note that this scheme was probably relatively new at the time of that video (November 2021).
In their case, they did:
Your itinerary through the airport will be slightly different as you are arriving from outside Schengen and will have to go through passport control.
Like many (most) countries, Norway has two separate government agencies that control the entrance (and exit) of people and cargo. UDI (Immigration) for people, and Customs for cargo/luggage.
You will clear Immigration in Oslo, when entering the country. if your luggage is checked in all the way, it doesn't mean Norwegian Customs won't inspect it: luggage is x-rayed when offloaded from international flights. If there's anything suspicious, it will be inspected manually.
If you have to pick up and check in your luggage again, you will pass through Customs too, right before leaving the secure area. Whether Customs officers ask to inspect your luggage is up to them.
You go through customs at entrance to Norway, in this case in Oslo. You will have to pick up your luggage on a belt in OSL, walk through customs (very quick, since they stop hardly anyone), go upstairs, check luggage in for the last leg, and finally go through the security check as if you were travelling just from Oslo.
There might be exceptions to this, but ever since Oslo Gardermoen was constructed I've always gone through the process described above.
