West Coast US - getting there . . .

[Roo]

Didn't know that about using the US line if you've already travelled on your ESTA.

I shall remember that.

[-crookedtail-]

smack said:

If you have an ESTA, and have travelled to the US before on it, you now can go through the US Citizen line which now uses machines - I'm often through in less than 5 minutes from walking off the plane, including the walk to the immigration hall (so you are through as fast as the Yanks), only to wait for my bags which sometimes can take much, much longer.

All the major airports should have them by now, but regardless you can only fly direct from the UK to LAX, SAN, SFO, SEA, LAS, and PHX on west side of the US.

I never knew this, I'm heading to Boston next week and this will be very handy indeed. Is there any signs to help or do you just go straight to the U.S. lines?

I'd rather not get it wrong and end up in inspection room A at Logan airport

[thetrash]

There's big signs.

[King Herald]

thetrash said:

There's big signs.

How odd, I've never seen such signs and I fly into the USA every ten weeks, various airports. Is it for any visa, or just ESTA? I have a work visa, but still get sent to the queue of the great unwashed a mile long.....

[Dave Brand]

Information on APC & a list of the airports where it's in operation here:

http://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/automated-pa...

Looking forward to using it!

Anything that helps speed up the immigration process has to be a good thing, although we've never really suffered any long delays recently - never more than 10-15 minutes at the most. Probably helps that we always travel mid-week. Our record is Denver, through immigration, baggage reclaim, customs, security, check-in & boarding in 35 minutes from touchdown to pushback. . . wouldn't want to have to do that again!

[King Herald]

Unlike most every other airport in the world, there is no sense of urgency in the USA. If your flight is leaving, and you are stuck in a queue, every other airport in the world will help to expedite you through, jump queues etc.

Not in the land of the free.

No sir, the most you will get is "please fall in line sir" with an aloof, detached 'I don't give a damn about your flight, white boy' attitude.....

[hoegaardenruls]

SF seemed fine when I flew into there a few years ago, and we passed through immigration pretty quickly. I think the only time that was quicker was a Northwest flight to LA, which involved a change at Minneapolis onto a domestic flight to LA..

[gf15]

Aer lingus was cheapest single carrier and had the best times for us.

Timings:
Manchester departure: 08:00 land in Dublin and clear customs, then departs Dublin 12:20 landing at SFO 15:30 local time.
Return: departing SFO: 17:20 landing @ Dublin 11:35, leave Dublin 16:00 lands @ MCR 17:10.
While the stop overs in Dublin @ almost 4 hours are not ideal, the ability to clear customs in Dublin together with the cost savings (ours cost £700 PP) made it acceptable.

[King Herald]

Curious what happens in the USA when you land and de-plane. Do you simply walk into the airport and pass through without so much as a wave of your passport?

[hoegaardenruls]

King Herald said:

Curious what happens in the USA when you land and de-plane. Do you simply walk into the airport and pass through without so much as a wave of your passport?

If you are disembarking from an international flight you have to pass through customs and immigration at the first port-of-call - there's no difference effectively between leaving the airport or transferring onto an onward domestic flight, other than the airline may transfer baggage.

[GCH]

King Herald said:

Curious what happens in the USA when you land and de-plane. Do you simply walk into the airport and pass through without so much as a wave of your passport?

After having pre-cleared somewhere?

Yes.

[thetrash]

King Herald said:

Unlike most every other airport in the world, there is no sense of urgency in the USA. If your flight is leaving, and you are stuck in a queue, every other airport in the world will help to expedite you through, jump queues etc.

Not in the land of the free.

No sir, the most you will get is "please fall in line sir" with an aloof, detached 'I don't give a damn about your flight, white boy' attitude.....

They were pretty good in JFK for letting us through despite there being a big queue, however the big queue was there because they only had one scanner open for searching.

[thetrash]

King Herald said:

Unlike most every other airport in the world, there is no sense of urgency in the USA. If your flight is leaving, and you are stuck in a queue, every other airport in the world will help to expedite you through, jump queues etc.

Not in the land of the free.

No sir, the most you will get is "please fall in line sir" with an aloof, detached 'I don't give a damn about your flight, white boy' attitude.....

They were pretty good in JFK for letting us through despite there being a big queue, however the big queue was there because they only had one scanner open for searching.

[tuffer]

hoegaardenruls said:

If you are disembarking from an international flight you have to pass through customs and immigration at the first port-of-call - there's no difference effectively between leaving the airport or transferring onto an onward domestic flight, other than the airline may transfer baggage.

Nope, All bags have to be collected, pass through customs and be re-checked.

[King Herald]

tuffer said:

hoegaardenruls said:

If you are disembarking from an international flight you have to pass through customs and immigration at the first port-of-call - there's no difference effectively between leaving the airport or transferring onto an onward domestic flight, other than the airline may transfer baggage.

Nope, All bags have to be collected, pass through customs and be re-checked.

Last time I flew, going through to Mexico via SF, the check in girl in Manila swore my bag would be forwarded automatically to Mexico. I told her it would not, that ALL passengers have to collect and re-check their bag at their port of entry, but she was adamant, would not listen to me, even though I've done it a dozen times..... and she'll continue giving the same duff advice to thousands of other people all flying the same sort of route.

[Flibble]

tuffer said:

Every time I have been there has only ever been one queue and that is at a variety of airports.

I went through Dallas recently and there were three queues. One for US citizens, one for ESTA countries and one for everyone else. The former two ran very quick (I beat the bags to baggage reclaim by some margin), the general queue looked hours long.

[Borghetto]

Dave Brand said:

Information on APC & a list of the airports where it's in operation here:

http://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/automated-pa...

Looking forward to using it!

Anything that helps speed up the immigration process has to be a good thing, although we've never really suffered any long delays recently - never more than 10-15 minutes at the most. Probably helps that we always travel mid-week. Our record is Denver, through immigration, baggage reclaim, customs, security, check-in & boarding in 35 minutes from touchdown to pushback. . . wouldn't want to have to do that again!

Thanks everybody for the lowdown of getting through customs on an Esta and thanks particularly Dave for putting up the link that confirms it's doable. I'm flying into SFO from LHR on 30th Sept. I love PH - just great place for information.

Edited by Borghetto on Sunday 13th September 22:19

[Craikeybaby]

Yes, that link looks very useful, glad I stumbled across this thread, I'll be on a flight to San Francisco this time next week!