Where do you clear customs returning from Europe

[Chetsky]

We are flying from Amsterdam to Tampa in April after our TA. Our flight connects from AMS to ORD and ends in TPA.

 

This is probably a dumb question but . . .

Where do you clear customs when returning from Europe? Is it the first place you land in the states or your final destination? And if you go through customs in the first US city you land - do you have to get all your luggage - go through customs and then re-check you bags for your destination city?

I need this info to plan the layover time in Chicago.

 

Thanx

[whogo]

"And if you go through customs in the first US city you land - do you have to get all your luggage - go through customs and then re-check you bags for your destination city?" This is exactly what you will do in Chicago, your first US stop. You "re-check" your bag by dropping it off with the appropriate airline right after leaving customs. Your bag should already be tagged to TPA.

 

If your bag is not tagged all the way to Tampa, you will have to carry it to the proper terminal and check in all over again.

 

Either way, you will go through security again in Chicago.

[Globaliser]

This is exactly what you will do in Chicago, your first US stop. You "re-check" your bag by dropping it off with the appropriate airline right after leaving customs. Your bag should already be tagged to TPA.

Just adding to this for two reasons.

 

First, to unhide whogo's post; the index page hasn't been updated.

 

Also, to say that if Chetsky is trying to plan the amount of time needed for the connection at ORD, it's worth remembering that they will also have to clear immigration at ORD before proceeding to the baggage carousel to reclaim their luggage.

 

Most airline websites will try to show the fastest theoretically-possible connection that is "legal" for the purposes of the Minimum Connecting Time, for competitive advantage. Most of the time, taking this connection will be OK. But it usually depends on everything going right. On the occasions on which something goes wrong, it's very likely that such a short connection will be toast - and even if it isn't, stress levels could rise!

 

However, if the connection is "legal", the airline is then responsible for looking after you (so long as the two parts of the connection are written on a single ticket). So the fastest connection published by the airline will at least give a passenger a reasonable basis from which to work when judging the amount of connecting time with which they'd be comfortable.

[Marebear]

In Chicago (ORD) you should allow 2 hours connecting time. You must go through immigration and customs clearance, recheck the bags and take the train to your next terminal, all of which takes some time.

[Chetsky]

Thank you for the reponses -

I have a choice of two flights - one connects in Chicago and the other connects in Washington. If I connect in ORD it's a two and a half hour layover and one hour forty five minutes if the connection is in IAD.

 

Will I have enough time to clear immigration and customs and which would you recommend considering the size of the airports and getting between international and domestic terminals in each - ORD or IAD?

[cusyl]

Personally, I would pick ORD because you have to claim your luggage, then go to the Customs officials, and then go back to your other flight. These are large airports and it takes quite a while to get from one airside to another.

[Globaliser]

Will I have enough time to clear immigration and customs and which would you recommend considering the size of the airports and getting between international and domestic terminals in each - ORD or IAD?

Sorry about the pedantic question, but which airlines are involved? Those who know the layouts of the airports may then be able to tell whether and to what extent you have to change terminals, from which they may be able to recommend which connection would be better.

[Chetsky]

Both flights are United.

I was thinking that it might be better to connect in ORD - I would probably stand a better chance for another connecting flight if I got tied up in immigrations or customs.

[Globaliser]

Both flights are United.

My commiserations!

 

Some pros and cons, on the limited information that I have - others may be able to add to this.

 

If you connect through ORD, you would have more flights to choose from to get from ORD to TPA (about four a day). The downside is that you would arrive at Terminal 5, and have to depart from (probably) Terminal 1, which involves changing terminals by using the shuttle train. That would probably add something like 10-20 minutes to the connection time, compared with one that didn't involve changing terminals.

 

If you connect through IAD, there are only about 2½ flights a day. But I believe that there is now an international arrivals facility for connecting passengers at the end of Concourse C, which looks like it's the concourse from which the TPA flights depart. So if this works, you wouldn't have to go to the main terminal building and then come back out again to the concourse.