Originally Posted by
skywardhunter
I suppose it also has to do with lack of exit immigration in the US, hence no sterile area for departures. Most small international airports simply have a passage-way from arrival to the sterile departures area, not a major infrastructure need, but since there is no sterile departures area in the US this affects it. Surely for a few major airports, especially JFK and MIA with the connecting traffic to South America, it would make sense, but then there's the additional issue that terminals and gates in the US belong to airlines so each airline would have to have their own arrangement for this, as opposed to a common terminal
Exit immigration isn't
technically a requirement, but it definitely contributes. You could have a terminal that didn't have any public exits; passengers would choose between international transfers (go through security, into the exit-less terminal) and domestic arrivals (go through customs into the domestic terminal). Departing international passengers would have to go through a one-way checkpoint into the international terminal as well. Exit immigration effectively serves as that checkpoint in most airports in other countries, but you could also use a one-way revolving door.
And, yes, you'd have to get the airlines and local airport authorities to agree. There are a few US airport with "international terminals" -- ORD and LAX come to mind - - but that's actually pretty instructive; UA doesn't operate departing flights from the international terminal at either of those airports.
Originally Posted by
trooper
I thought Miami WAS one of the US airports with I-I transit???
For luggage, yes. You still have to pass through passport control.
Originally Posted by
skywardhunter
Is it? I've got a friend who's struggling to get from Colombia to India via Miami because of the need for a US Visa.
And that's another reason that I-I transit is disallowed; not so much the idea that people will sneak into the US, but the idea that we would have people on US soil who hadn't been vetted.
Anyway, this discussion is ranging a little OT. Unless SFO starts an I-I baggage transfer program prior to OP's flight, it's going to work out well.
