Originally Posted by
FlyerJ
I'm going to arrive at IAH on United from PTY, clear U.S. Customs, and then connect on Air Canada to YYC.
I'm concerned about connection time in IAH... I'll need to clear U.S. Customs, which may take some time (even though I'm Nexus/GT). And UA Intl flights arrive IAH Terminal E, while AC flights depart all the way over in Terminal A.
My checked baggage will be tagged by United at origin, and will be tagged all the way through to YYC. I'll obviously have to claim them while clearing U.S. Customs.
Once I clear Customs in Houston,
- can I drop my bags again with UA (at their connection desk inside Customs)?
- Or is there a generic "all airlines" baggage drop there for connecting passengers whose bags are checked to another destination?
- Or will I need to haul all of my luggage on that little train that connects terminals, find the Air Canada check-in counter in Terminal A, and drop my checked baggage with AC there?
(Family trip, so we're unfortunately traveling 'heavy'. No chance to do carry-on only on this one in order to speed us up! And, since our outbound from IAH is on AC, we can't get TSA Pre-Check fast lane access. It will be slow lane security once we get to Term A.)
Just did this last week GUA-IAH-YYZ. However, it was all on UA.
No need to retrieve checked bags in Houston. Surprised me too. They were tagged through to Toronto with a "T" for transit indicated on the luggage tag.
The process is basically to head to immigration in the Transit line, through customs, through security, then take the inter-terminal train from Term E to A.
Simple process. I was impressed. The only thing you have to worry about are the long lines at CBP. I waited about 20 mins in the fast-track Transit line at 9:30am on Sunday morning.