Originally Posted by
Kumar2013
I don't know what point you're driving at.
The original premise being discussed is whether mandatory immigration at US airports makes things convenient and improves airport design.
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Keep in mind that your theory does not apply to international - international transfers at all (which you have acknowledged). We are then required to evaluate whether the policy of forcing everyone to clear immigration on such connections is worth the convenience you proposed above.
Note that the USA has decided that as a matter of policy, for better or worse, that everyone transiting the USA must enter the USA, and approved for entry. "We" used to have a TWOV (transit without visa) program, terminated 20-some years ago. It would be foolish for any US airport to design anything for anything resembling what much of the rest of the world does, because it would require formal exit procedures, and everyone entering and exiting those areas to be processed. What the USA could easily do is have bags transferred, which I believe that MIA and another airport or two might do. Having segregated international departures and transit facilities would run in the billions and reduce airport efficiencies.
All that said, SFO remains one of the most efficient airports in the USA (excluding the runway situation), not to mention most of the concourses and F&B choices are a lot more pleasant than what might experience in much of the USA, let alone the world. And yes, there is always the Immaculate Exception, but give me an inter-terminal connection here over ORD to T5, LHR anywhere, any JFK inter-terminal, or a myriad of other airports.