Originally Posted by TWA Fan 1
Finally, a word about the need to clear customs at the entry point into the U.S. Technially this is not a TSA/Customs issue, it just boils down to the fact that U.S.airlines have not designed their international/domestic connections to service passengers arriving from international destinations.
It is definitely a TSA/INS/whatever-government-agency issue. At the 'DO this year, Smisek said explicitly that IAH Terminal E is designed for sterile transit. If they're allowed to do sterile transit, they'll
immediately add lots of IAH-Europe routes to funnel Latin-American passengers.
US Government policies are hurting US airlines big time. Many European airlines transferred their routes from Miami to Europe-Latin America non-stop. Others fly through Canada. CO and other US-based airlines just cannot compete.