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A few more recent airports have been built to make this change possible should policy ever shift. IAH was specifically designed to allow future sterile transits

A few more recent airports have been built to make this change possible should policy ever shift. IAH was specifically designed to allow future sterile transits without major construction.

guan 8y ago
The US used to have a program called “ITI” which was suspended in 2003. I don’t know exactly how it worked logistically. Travelers were supposed to stay in a certain area of the airport. I believe Miami had a separate secure transit area—was the area you are referring to at IAH in use until 2003? Other airports may have relied on other measures to make sure transit passengers didn’t proceed into the US. (There was also a related transit without visa program that allowed visa-free transit within the US, using multiple airports.)
- TremendousJudge 8y ago
  I traveled through the US on a connecting flight in 1999 without a visa and it was possible. "Transit without visa" was a thing.
  - guan 8y ago
    Did you have to stay in a designated transit area of the airport, or were you able to roam about more freely? (It was too much trouble to try to find the old pre-2003 regulations.)
    - TremendousJudge 8y ago
      Designated transit area, of course. Don't know when this stopped being the case though.
classichasclass 8y ago
Air New Zealand used to do this for their Auckland-London flights at LAX. Now they have some modified thing where you have to go through immigration, but your bags still go through. It's byzantine but better than other US airports. This matches my recollection: http://abroad.theaureview.com/flights/what-its-like-to-transit-at-lax-with-air-new-zealands-nz2-from-auckland-to-london/ http://abroad.theaureview.com/flights/what-its-like-to-trans... On the other hand, we fly Air NZ to Sydney from LAX via AKL all the time. Transiting through Auckland is pretty easy (just an additional hand-baggage check as you exit the airplane into the sterile int'l zone), and getting better since the airport is finally getting expanded. Beforehand the airport was impossibly cramped.
- teh_klev 8y ago
  I did this journey LHR to AKL and back again via LAX in 2005. It was a pretty miserable affair and included being fingerprinted and retina scanned at LAX, both times. The whole experience felt authoritarian and sketchy and a few gears up from the rather pleasant visit I'd had in Boston in 2002 (sans fingerprinting and eyeball scanning despite it being only a year since 9/11). I doubt I'll ever visit the US again.
- saryant 8y ago
  Both IAH and MIA allow this sort of transit on international-to-international connections, but only if flying United (through IAH) or American (through MIA). Bags don't have to be collected but passengers still have to clear immigration and hold the appropriate visa or authorization.
madcaptenor 8y ago
It makes sense to see that at IAH. United sees a lot of traffic towards Latin America from there so opening that up makes Europe-to-Latin America itineraries feasible. The same might be true at other hubs in the southern US, say DFW, ATL, MIA. (Although I live in Atlanta and ATL doesn't do a huge amount of international business - it's built on being a connecting point for domestic flights.)

A few more recent airports have been built to make this change possible should policy ever shift. IAH was specifically designed to allow future sterile transits without major construction.

guan 8y ago

The US used to have a program called “ITI” which was suspended in 2003. I don’t know exactly how it worked logistically. Travelers were supposed to stay in a certain area of the airport. I believe Miami had a separate secure transit area—was the area you are referring to at IAH in use until 2003? Other airports may have relied on other measures to make sure transit passengers didn’t proceed into the US. (There was also a related transit without visa program that allowed visa-free transit within the US, using multiple airports.)

TremendousJudge 8y ago
I traveled through the US on a connecting flight in 1999 without a visa and it was possible. "Transit without visa" was a thing.
- guan 8y ago
  Did you have to stay in a designated transit area of the airport, or were you able to roam about more freely? (It was too much trouble to try to find the old pre-2003 regulations.)
  - TremendousJudge 8y ago
    Designated transit area, of course. Don't know when this stopped being the case though.

classichasclass 8y ago

Air New Zealand used to do this for their Auckland-London flights at LAX. Now they have some modified thing where you have to go through immigration, but your bags still go through. It's byzantine but better than other US airports. This matches my recollection: http://abroad.theaureview.com/flights/what-its-like-to-transit-at-lax-with-air-new-zealands-nz2-from-auckland-to-london/ http://abroad.theaureview.com/flights/what-its-like-to-trans... On the other hand, we fly Air NZ to Sydney from LAX via AKL all the time. Transiting through Auckland is pretty easy (just an additional hand-baggage check as you exit the airplane into the sterile int'l zone), and getting better since the airport is finally getting expanded. Beforehand the airport was impossibly cramped.

teh_klev 8y ago
I did this journey LHR to AKL and back again via LAX in 2005. It was a pretty miserable affair and included being fingerprinted and retina scanned at LAX, both times. The whole experience felt authoritarian and sketchy and a few gears up from the rather pleasant visit I'd had in Boston in 2002 (sans fingerprinting and eyeball scanning despite it being only a year since 9/11). I doubt I'll ever visit the US again.
saryant 8y ago
Both IAH and MIA allow this sort of transit on international-to-international connections, but only if flying United (through IAH) or American (through MIA). Bags don't have to be collected but passengers still have to clear immigration and hold the appropriate visa or authorization.

madcaptenor 8y ago

It makes sense to see that at IAH. United sees a lot of traffic towards Latin America from there so opening that up makes Europe-to-Latin America itineraries feasible. The same might be true at other hubs in the southern US, say DFW, ATL, MIA. (Although I live in Atlanta and ATL doesn't do a huge amount of international business - it's built on being a connecting point for domestic flights.)