Baggage / Intl. Connections

[luisde8cd]

Hey all,

I was wondering how does baggage claim work for connecting international flights. For example I remember flying CCS-MIA-DFW and we had to claim our baggage after arriving in MIA and check it in again for our flight MIA-DFW (American Airlines), but a couple of years later I flew CCS-DFW-AUS and I never had to claim my baggage in DFW (also on American Airlines).

So do you always have to claim your baggage and then check it again for your connecting flight or does the airline just take it from one plane to the other?

Thanks for your replies!

[Departures Beckham]

You normally only have to claim your baggage and then re-check it when you first arrive in your destination country. This allows you to clear customs, which you are not be subject to when arriving on a domestic flight. Therefore:

London - Chicago - Los Angelas > You claim your bags in Chicago to clear US Customs.

but...

Los Angelas - Chicago - London > You claim your bags in London only.

and...

Cairo - London - Los Angelas > You claim your bags in Los Angelas only.

[Globaliser]

If you're doing an international -> domestic connection, you have to remember that most people on the second flight will be on a purely domestic itinerary, and won't expect to be seeing anything to do with immigration or customs at either end. But if you're coming in from overseas, you have to clear immigration and customs - hence the usual place to do it is at your first port of call in the destination country. That involves you claiming your bags and passing through the customs border, and then handing your bags back to the airline.

If you're connecting domestic -> international, customs is usually not interested in your bags, so they can be taken by the airline directly to your second flight.

If you're connecting international -> international, most airports have facilities to ensure that you and your bags can stay airside of the immigration and customs barriers, so that your bags can be automatically transferred without you having to collect them. But some places (notably the US) will not permit a direct airside transfer, so you have to clear immigration and customs at your US transfer point even if you are making an international -> international connection.

There are, of course, always exceptions to this. If you fly internationally to LHR and then transfer to, say, EDI, you will clear immigration at the Flight Connections Centre at LHR but your bags now go directly to your domestic flight. Theoretically, you collect your bags and clear customs in EDI - although reports suggest that there are seldom any customs people physically present to inspect your bags there.

And if you fly internationally to Australia and transfer to a domestic flight operating between international terminals (usually a domestic leg of an international flight), your bags should get automatically transferred, so that you clear both immigration and customs when you arrive at the second destination.

[luisde8cd]

Hey thanks a lot for your replies :) Now I understand how baggage logistics works

[onehunga]

And the need to clear customs/immigration/food people in the US when transiting through their country is the main reason why I avoid it now on longhaul trips downunder. Right royal pain in the butt filling in forms for the sake of it and having to grab bags and check in again when all you want to do is get off one plane and relax airside waiting for your next flight. Ah, rant over.....

[Flightmapping]

There was a case in the Telegraph last week of someone who is a Malaysian national, and needed a VISA to transit LHR>LAX>AUK for 2 hours, even though she was getting back on the same plane to continue her journey!

Apparently, the US has had "threats" of people in transit being terrorists.

What if you went EWR > LGW > INV? Would the same rules apply as EDI, bearing in mind there are no scheduled international flights to Inverness? Or even EWR > GLA > BRR? Where is the cut-off?

If I remember rightly, last time I arrived in EWR, they were calling some people through from Frankfurt who were transiting to San Jose (Costa Rica), and they seemed to have been able to divert them away from immigration. It seems an awful waste of everyone's time to queue for 1 hour, just to go and jump on another plane. Has anyone told them of all the duty free shopping & catering revenue they are losing by doing this? The facilities have certainly expanded at EWR in recent years - as people get used to spending more time at airports, surely it is in their interests to minimise queue times as much as possible, therefore maximising airport revenue? Wasn't PIT the first US airport to relax the entry rules about ticketed passengers, because they have one of the largest airport malls in the US? Operated by BAA isn't it :)?