Hi all,
Originally Posted by
BStrauss3
Most US airports, even the big international ones, don't have air-side transfers. So the only way to get from TBIT (Tom Bradley International Pit) to the typical US domestic onward flight is via the pavement (i.e. land side). The concept of a side door for true transit pax doesn't seem to have been/be a part of the planning process.
Just to add to this. The majority of flights leaving a US airport are domestic. In Europe on the other hands, the majority of flights (prior to the introduction of Schengen) is/was international, so you always needed to plan for immigration barriers and transiting passengers. It's a lot easier to add 1 barrier between two terminals and remove other controls (as for example in AMS or CPH) rather than re-designing the whole airport layout to suddenly include immigration.
Cheers,
GenevaFlyer