Flying internationally, a few questions re: luggage, customs/immigration, terminals

[cuterlmt]

We are flying soon from our home city Albuquerque to Athens, with stops in Denver, Toronto and then on to Athens. On the way back, It's Athens to JFK to Dallas to ABQ. We got these flights through NCL and they are actually quite reasonable as far as time and layovers and such.

So some questions:

1) how do I figure out if we are landing in one terminal and have to get to a different terminal? Do I have to wait until I get to the airport to figure this out?

2) At any point in between start and finish, are we going to have to manage our checked bags? or do they get checked from the beginning all the way through?

3) Do we go through customs/immigration at some point in the middle? or at the beginning or end?

 

Thank you!

 

[CruiserBruce]

As to Terminals, it takes research. Assuming you are flying United from ABQ to DEN, then AirCanada from then on. In Denver, I believe you will be switching terminals. Toronto, most likely no terminal change. Not sure who you are flying home, so can't predict that.

 

Going to Athens, you won't see your bags until Athens, if flying United and AirCanada. Flying home, you will need to claim your luggage to go through Customs at JFK.

 

You will be "In transit" at Toronto, so you will do a passport check when you get off the plane. Just did it in Toronto in July...you do it on a kiosk, get a receipt, and you are allowed into the "In Transit" area. You will do Immigration/Passport Check (can take time) and Customs in Athens. Customs in most of Europe is the Red/Green system. After claiming your luggage, if you have something to declare, you go into the red line, if not, you go into the green line, and exit the Customs area. Usually very fast.

 

Coming home, you will have an extra Passport and security check at Athens. Then, at JFK, you will do Immigration, then claim your luggage, and go through Customs. After Customs, you will need to recheck your bags. How that happens will depend on how your ticket is done...same airline or not.

[Zach1213]

This is definitely a case where exact flight numbers would allow us to provide more accurate response. CruiserBruce did the guessing game and is likely right (or at least mostly right), but some important details are missing. 

[cuterlmt]

Great information - thank you! I knew folks would have experience with this.

It is 

UA 212 from ABQ to Denver

UA 5791 Denver to Toronto

UA 8681 Toronto to Athens (via Air Canada)

 

DL 203 Athens to JFK

AA 2979 JFK to DFW

AA 2564  DFW to ABQ

 

Should I be concerned about short times at terminals? I'm pretty much go with the flow kind of person, but I do like to plan to make sure I can get it done.....

Thank you again for your great help.

[Globaliser]

Presumably you're flying outbound on 28 or 29 October 2022?

 

Denver is a single-terminal airport although it has more than one concourse. It looks likely (based on the last few days) that both UA212 and UA5791 will be on concourse B.

 

At Toronto, both UA5791 and AC896 (the operating flight number of UA8681) should be at Terminal 1. Looking at the last few days, it also looks likely that the flights will arrive at and depart from the same "finger" of that terminal.

 

Inbound, if you're flying on 13 November 2022, there will be a terminal change at JFK from Terminal 4 to Terminal 8. What someone else will have to help with is whether you'll have to take your bags between terminals yourself, or whether you will be able to drop them off again immediately after you exit from customs at T4 even though they're going to an airline that operates at a different terminal. (I'm assuming that the bags will be through-tagged as you're presumably on a single ticket despite it being an interline connection.)

 

At DFW, the past few days suggest that your flights could well arrive and depart from different terminals. But you would only have to get yourselves between terminals, as your bags will get transferred by the airline there, and the shuttle train is IME usually pretty efficient.

[LHT28]

For Toronto

https://www.torontopearson.com/en/connections

put the flight info in  & it will give instructions

 

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

UA 5791 should actually be an AirCanada plane.

[Globaliser]

30 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

UA 5791 should actually be an AirCanada plane.

 

I see this as operated by Skywest (United Express).

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

UA 5791 should actually be an AirCanada plane.

 

UA5015 through UA6009 are Skywest-operated United flights

https://media.united.com/images/Media Database/SDL/United/cargo/book/schedules/UA-UAX_Flight_Number_Guide-Effective_10-JUL-2021.pdf

[6rugrats]

I would only add don’t forget that at JFK, you will need time to reclear security after dropping your bags off for your next flight.  If they tell you in ATH you don’t need to pick up your bags at JFK because they are tagged through to ABQ, don’t believe them. I hear this all the time.

[em-sk]

2 hours ago, 6rugrats said:

I would only add don’t forget that at JFK, you will need time to reclear security after dropping your bags off for your next flight.  If they tell you in ATH you don’t need to pick up your bags at JFK because they are tagged through to ABQ, don’t believe them. I hear this all the time.

 

In most parts of the world it would be transferred behind automatically.  If the transfer was in Toronto you would go through US customs and the bags would be handled behind the scenes.  The US airports are the exceptions.

 

[Globaliser]

4 hours ago, em-sk said:

In most parts of the world it would be transferred behind automatically.  If the transfer was in Toronto you would go through US customs and the bags would be handled behind the scenes.  The US airports are the exceptions.

 

I think that this is unfair on the US. A international --> domestic connection will often require you to collect your bags and clear them through customs personally at the connecting point, for obvious reasons. My regular destination countries of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all require this. I've even once had to do it on a UK --> Sweden --> Sweden connection.

[cuterlmt]

Thank you all for your kind input. I appreciate the information.

 

[mikebsxm]

9 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

I think that this is unfair on the US. A international --> domestic connection will often require you to collect your bags and clear them through customs personally at the connecting point, for obvious reasons. My regular destination countries of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all require this. I've even once had to do it on a UK --> Sweden --> Sweden connection.

Agreed.  If your flight was Athens -> JFK -> then onto a small airport in the US with no facilities for immigration and customs clearance, you would have to clear at your first airport in the US.  JFK could not automatically forward your bags to the domestic flight, they have to be cleared before transferring them to your connecting flight.  The only time that doesn't happen is in specific foreign airports where US customs and immigration have a "Pre-Clearance" system setup.  You Pre-Clear before you board the flight, and when it arrives in the US, the passengers are treated as if they are coming off of a domestic flight. Here's the foreign locations where Pre-Clearance is setup, from the CPB.gov website:

"Today, CBP has more than 600 officers and agriculture specialists stationed at 16 Preclearance locations in 6 countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg in Canada."

[em-sk]

12 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

I think that this is unfair on the US. A international --> domestic connection will often require you to collect your bags and clear them through customs personally at the connecting point, for obvious reasons. My regular destination countries of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all require this. I've even once had to do it on a UK --> Sweden --> Sweden connection.

 

In the case of larger airports in Canada, they use computer technology to avoid it.  So if you flying Sweden->Toronto-> New York, you will clear US customs in Toronto and the bags are automatically transfer US Customs in Toronto is show photos of the bag on a screen and they can have the baggage system bring them up for inspection or release them to the next flight.  Same would happen if it was Sweden->Toronto-> Vancouver.

 

If Europe they do immigration when you first land, then customs at your final destination.  The baggage tags have a green strip on the side if they originate locally and no color code if they are form outside the customs zone.

 

Nothing would stop US airports from using the same computer systems they use in Canada other than the cost of upgrading the airprot.

 

 

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

53 minutes ago, em-sk said:

Nothing would stop US airports from using the same computer systems they use in Canada other than the cost of upgrading the airprot.

 

It would involve setting up numerous sterile airside zones, which US airport design never considered from the start.  Much more to it than just some video and computer processing of bag images.

[Globaliser]

3 hours ago, em-sk said:

If Europe they do immigration when you first land, then customs at your final destination.  The baggage tags have a green strip on the side if they originate locally and no color code if they are form outside the customs zone.

 

Not necessarily. As with so many things in the industry, it depends. This is why when doing I was doing that UK --> Sweden --> Sweden journey, I had to collect my bag at Stockholm and then re-check it for the domestic flight.

 

At any rate, the main point is that it is not true that "The US airports are the exceptions". The arrangement seen in the US is actually very common all over the world.

[waterbug123]

On 10/22/2022 at 12:13 PM, mikebsxm said:

Agreed.  If your flight was Athens -> JFK -> then onto a small airport in the US with no facilities for immigration and customs clearance, you would have to clear at your first airport in the US. 

 

Be careful with that wording.  The way you've worded it makes it sound as though if your 2nd US city DID have facilities for immigration/customs, you could wait and clear customs there, but that's simply not true.  Even if you fly ATH-JFK-ATL, US rules are that you still clear immigration/customs at your first entry point, which in this case is JFK, unless as you further mentioned, your trip begins in an international city that has US pre-clearance facilities.

[waterbug123]

On 10/21/2022 at 9:45 AM, cuterlmt said:

UA 8681 Toronto to Athens (via Air Canada)

 

 

 

Not to be nit picky, but rather to help other less experienced travelers....

The actual jargon used for these situations matters.  In this example, the flight is "marketed by" United because the pax has a UA flight number.   But when the OP says "via Air Canada" the actual terminology is "operated by" Air Canada.  Yes, it sounds nit picky to say "operated by" rather than "via", but there are times when the specific verbiage matters. There are assorted airline policies that vary according to who the "operating carrier" is, so understanding and using the specific terminology is important.  A good example is baggage allowance.  It doesn't matter who sold you your ticket or who the marketing carrier is; you are typically bound by the operating carrier's policy, so being familiar with such terminology can help.

Note:  When you buy your ticket, your itinerary will also indicate who the marketing carrier is.  It may be in smaller print but somewhere on the itinerary it will indicate the operating carrier for any flight leg not operated by the marketing carrier.