Originally Posted by
kileysmom
I come back through SEA at least once a year and did not recall having to go security - is it in the main terminal just as if going through from the check in desks? I'm usually really jet lagged so it's definitely possible that I have done so but.....getting ready to come back through SEA again soon so I'll be interested to know! The way the lines have been lately for the main terminal security, even 2 hours could be an impossible connection.
http://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/P...al-Travel.aspx
(emphasis added)
International flights arrive at the South Satellite. Passengers first clear Passport Control and then pick up their checked luggage and proceed to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Passengers then can recheck their bags and either proceed through security screening for connecting flights, or transport via subway to the Main Terminal Baggage Claim to collect their bags.
There's no international->domestic connection way of avoiding a TSA screening once you arrive in the USA. It's part of the funky way the USA deals with immigration; there are also no sterile international->international connections in USA airports where you don't formally enter the USA (like you can do at places like HKG), because unlike other countries which track when you enter AND when you leave as part of immigration, the USA only tracks when you leave (if you fly to and from the EU or Hong Kong, you'll deal with immigration twice, when you enter and when you leave, but only when you enter when it comes to the USA). Everyone who flies into a USA airport from outside the USA* has to go through immigration and is considered accessing the airport from a non-sterile area at that point.
*yes, I know about preclearance. Same same but different, you've still formally entered the USA. Though this is the ONE case where you could end up being allowed to stay airside in the sterile area on a connection from a flight that's "from outside the USA". But VS from LHR isn't going to let you do that.