Usually when flying internationally the process is this: Arrive. Go through passport control. Collect checked bags. Go through customs. Go enjoy not being in an airport.
However, I’m flying into Chicago from Europe and catching a connecting flight on to elsewhere within the US. The whole trip was booked as one ticket, all on one airline…so my back should be through-checked, right? But then I’ll be arriving at my final destination on a domestic flight, and the airline I’m flying doesn’t come into the international terminal at my destination airport at all, so I can’t go through customs there.
Someone please tell me that I will not need to land in Chicago, wait in line, go through passport control, wait to collect my checked bag and go through customs, wait in line, re-check my bag, wait in line and then go through security. I’ve got three hours, so I should have plenty of time, but I’m not sure my soul will be up for that after 10+ hours in coach.
I wish I could tell you the scenario you described is NOT the case, but I can’t.
But it’s not quite as bad as you described. The process will be:
arrive
go through passport control
collect your bags
go through customs
then “drop off” (not re-checkin) your bags at a past-security airline drop-off desk (you will not need to go out to the normal check-in counters - each airline with connecting domestic flights will have a past-security drop-off counter somewhere outside customs). Since your bags are already tagged all the way to your final destination, there is no need to re-check in.
you will then proceed to your (domestic) gate. You will not need to go out, and back through security. There will be some means to get from customs to the other gates without needing to go through security. You may have some hiking to do, but you shouldn’t have to go out and back through security again.
I have done this type of connection through many (US) airports, but not O’Hare. I can’t imagine it would be different at O’Hare.
Your back almost certainly is. You might have to pick up your bags though.
I’ve done this kind of trip a few times, (but not though O’Hare) and there has been a “behind security bag claim” where you pick up your bag and take it through customs and recheck without having to go through security again, and as such the lines are not that long, so that part might be better. I expect that that depends on whether the US trusts security at your origin to have adequately screened you.
O’Hare has a separate international terminal (#5) completely not connected physically to the other three terminals. You have to take a people mover, automatic train to get to the int’l terminal.
However be aware not all int’l flights go into the int’l terminal. There are a few that come into other places. Not many but a few do fly into the main terminal.
When we return to the US from St Martin, we have to clear customs, etc at our first stop. There are no direct flights, so that means getting your luggage, and rechecking it after. Sucks. And we are usually running the whole time trying to make the connecting flight.
Isn’t there an airport in Ireland where you can do US customs/immigration preclearance, like you can from many Canadian airports? Maybe you can go through there.
Or, what about flying to Halifax or Montreal first (which should be a shorter trip), and do all the passport and customs checks there? This does add an additional country to your itinerary, so maybe it’s not as good.
Beg to differ on this point. In 2006, I flew from Puerto Vallarta to Chicago with a change of planes at Dallas/Forth Worth. When I came out of the immigration/customs area, the door exited outside the TSA line, so I had to go through the TSA process to get to my domestic connecting flight even though I was not changing terminals.
There’s an additional complicating factor at O’Hare: the international terminal (5) is completely separate from the three domestic terminals (1-3; there is no Terminal 4), so that you have to take the airport tram to get between Terminals 5 and 1-3. Now it’s my understanding that some international flights arrive at the domestic termini, in particular the all-United Terminal 1. But absent that circumstance, a traveler changing from an international to domestic flight at O’Hare will likely have to change terminals and thus go through the whole process described (and understandably dreaded) by the OP.
Drat, scooped (but also corroborated) by TheUthaBrutha.
While you clear immigration in Ireland, you can’t clear US Customs.
Any time I’ve had a connecting flight through Chicago I’ve had to collect my baggage, clear customs, then give my baggage to a handler past customs, then on the monorail to my terminal, through security again.
That’s always the case: You always have to go through security again to get to a connecting flight after going through customs. The reason is that while in customs you have access to your checked bags, which are not secure.
(For example, you could have a knife in your checked bag, which you could take out while in customs and put in your carry-on.)
Whenever you fly into the US, you will have to go through customs at the first airport you land at. If you are arriving at a different terminal than the one you will fly out of, you will probably have to go through security again, although you won’t have to haul your luggage with you.
On international flights with connecting flights in the US, I check as much as I can, for this reason. It still has to clear customs, but I don’t have to lug it all over and through security a second time.
Nope. At MSP, there is an exit from customs straight into the secured side of the terminal. At worst, you may have to step through another metal detector, but not back through the general security, with it’s huge lines.
That’s odd…there are US Customs and Border Protection preclearanceoffices at both Shannon and Dublin International Airports. I would have assumed that it operates the same way the Canadian locations do: go through US customs clearance while in the departure airport so that once in the USA you can directly collect your bags and proceed to your destination.
If going through a connection, you still have to re-check your bags and go through another security checkpoint. If you’ve arrived at your destination, you walk out of the airport without additional customs issues.
Not necessarily through “general security”, but through some security, always. For example, at Dulles if you’re connecting on United from international to domestic they have special security after customs just for connections, contained within the concourse, so it’s much faster than the general security (which is out at the main terminal). But you have to go through it nevertheless. With X-rays and all.
That’s curious, but this has always been my experience right up until November 2010, perhaps procedure has changed since then? Your passport is checked, a few questions on our stay while still in Dublin, you’re given a customs form which you fill out, then it’s checked when you get to the US. In my experience, unless you have a huge amount of baggage, the customs guys in Chicago don’t delay you, a swift look at your form and I think they sign or stamp it. Last time all I got was a “You’re visiting Cleveland, huh?” and was on my merry way.
As far as I am aware, all international arrivals to O’Hare deplane at terminal 5, presumably because that’s where the customs stuff is. (I could be wrong, but a quick search does not contradict this.) Anyway, the way that it works at O’Hare is that you will (likely) arrive in terminal 5, at which point they will tell you that you can’t use your cell phone for some reason. Then you will walk a long way, and wait in line for someone to stamp your passport and, if you aren’t an American citizen, give the people some forms. Then you will head to the baggage claim, where you will wait for what seems to be forever for your bags. If I am not mistaken, the luggage carts are free. You may want to sit on one if you are tired. Wear dark colors. Next you will head for customs, and you will give the guy there the rest of your forms. Here, they may decide to search your bags, either by hand or by x-ray. Both have happened to me, but mercifully, this is unlikely to take up too much time. After this, you will give your checked bags to some airline people waiting just after customs, but before you are totally out of the secure area. After that, you will leave the secure area, and you can call whoever you want on your phone. Then you will go upstairs, and get on the little train thing, which is free. This will take you to your domestic terminal. Do not get on the one that goes to long-term parking, since it will take a bit of time to get back from there. Then, assuming that you already have your boarding passes, you will head for the security line at the domestic terminal. And then you go through all that, and finally you will go to your gate.
Time wise, the customs stuff will take about an hour. A bit less, if you’re not arriving between say 1 and 4 pm, but probably not much more. Transit to the domestic terminal should take less than ten minutes. Domestic security at O’Hare is usually pretty quick, definitely less than half an hour. So, you should have plenty of time.
The good news in this situation is that you will not have to do any of this, except wait for your bags, when you get to your final destination. You can just leave. And you will likely want to.
I flew from Dublin to O’Hare this summer and precleared Immigration and Customs in Dublin. My flight into O’Hare arrived at the domestic terminal, and I was able to make my connection without going through any additional screening. My checked baggage went through fine as well.
