I flew Aerolineas Argentinas last year on a direct flight from EZE to JFK with a stop for some passengers to get out in MIA. I did not have to clear customs in MIA, but rather at JFK. In MIA, those of us who were continuing on to JFK were not allowed to stay on the plane; instead we had to get off and wait in a closed-off section of the terminal in MIA. This was very unpleasant after a red-eye flight.

As far as clearing immigration at EWR goes, things should be different now that the "Global Gateway" project is done. I think CO international arrivals now clear immigration at terminal C, rather than B. This winter (before the completion of the "Global Gateway"), I came into EWR on flights from MAD, FCO, SJO and CDG, and each time there was almost no line for American citizens.

In my experience, for immigration purposes EWR has been better than JFK, where, just to give an example of the level of customs agent, it took some convincing to get one of the agents to believe that Switzerland (where I had been) was not home to Amsterdam. When she bought this, she called off the search of my baggage. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I believe from April 2 all CO international flights now arrive and clear customs in Terminal C.

Under U.S. law, all passengers arriving on International flights MUST clear Customs and Immigration at the port-of-entry, even if they are continuing on to flights outside of the United States.

CO now clears many of its international flights through the new Customs and Immigration facility in Terminal C (as noted above), but even those aircraft arriving into B get over to C in a hurry. These gates are owned by the Port Authority and arriving aircraft have to be off in less than an hour or else the airline starts paying hefty fines.

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...or passengers swim.

[This message has been edited by Engines turn (edited 04-13-2002).]

Just an example:

CO63 (MAD-EWR 777) arrives at about ~1:30pm or so. CO63 then "continues" on (EWR-IAH) at 4:55 but on a 764.

[This message has been edited by EWR-COflyer (edited 04-13-2002).]

I cannot seem to understand why CO doesnt offer nonstop IAH-MAD flights. I think Houston is seriously underutilized as a longhaul hub, especially to MAD and possibly MXP.

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Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre c'est impossible sans Concorde!
~ConcordeBoy

I believe that you can clear customs at your final destination in the United States IF IT'S A FOREIGN AIRLINE. Since they cannot pick up passengers to travel solely within the USA, this might be possible. This would be the only scenario I could think of where this would happen.

Exactly, it doesnt make sense in time nor effort for pax on foreign flights to have to get up.

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Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre c'est impossible sans Concorde!
~ConcordeBoy

Even this is not the case. For example, passengers continuing to JFK on QF's SYD-LAX-JFK service MUST deplane and clear customs at LAX.

finally, a direct answer for my question! Thanks avek! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre c'est impossible sans Concorde!
~ConcordeBoy

Not true. Some CO flights will still arrive in Term B at EWR. They have posted a list at EWR. I can't remember them verbatim, but there are some cities that will come into Term B and others in Term C. Also, there is one city that ONE FLIGHT will come into Term B and the rest in Term C (or vice versa) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Can't you wait to schedule that car service now!

I see scenes from Airplane happening, Trans American Flight 99 arriving gate 13, gate 14, gate 15 gate 16... etc.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

- HobokenFlyer

[This message has been edited by HobokenFlyer (edited 04-14-2002).]

This is simply untrue. If the airport/airline has the proper facilities, passengers can transit the US without clearing immigration and customs. I know this is possible at both DFW and MIA and I konw someone that has flown BOG-MIA-FRA without going through customs/immigration.

Follow-up: I think what I previously said was not correct and that transit passengers are required to be controlled by immigration. However, they don't necessarily "clear" immigration, which allows people without authorization to enter the US to still transit the US.

[This message has been edited by Dudster (edited 04-14-2002).]

Unless it was a charter flight, how'd they do that? Considering AA doesnt fly to FRA from MIA, and LH doesnt fly to BOG from MIA, who'd they do it on? just curious

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Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre c'est impossible sans Concorde!
~ConcordeBoy

AA BOG-MIA connecting to LH MIA-FRA.
But it turns out I was wrong and she did have to clear immigration but was then kept on the pre-immigration side.

This has been discontinued since September 11 for *security reasons*.