Connection Timing with Customs
 

I booked a NW ticket, and when returning, I fly HKG to NRT to SEA to LAX. I get into SEA at 8:00am, and depart 10:08am. Is the 2 hours and 8 minutes enough for customs? Does NW in NRT check me in for the AS portion (NW codeshare) from SEA to LAX? Does NW have an interline baggage agreement with AS so that I won't have to reclaim my bags in SEA?

Any help people can provide is most appreciated. Thanks!

That is plenty of time. Interline checkin is the norm. Your bag will be checked through to LAX. You will pick up your bag in SEA go through customs and then drop it off again before continuing on to the AS gates.

A tip: don't follow the signs from customs to the AS concourse. You will exit security and have to come back through. Instead, go upstairs to the NW concourse gates and find the gate for the shuttle bus to the AS concourse.

If NW allowed you to ticket the itinerary, then your connection meets the minimum connection time.

You can call Northwest reservations and ask what the minimum connection time at Seattle is for an international to domestic, interline (specifically NW to AS) transfer. NW Reservations will also be able to inform you whether or not NW has an interline agreement with AS.

http://www.nwa.com/travel/timetable/help.pdf

Miminum connection time is 1 hour.

Actually, the minimum for an interline NW to AS international to domestic transfer at SEA is 90 minutes (80 minutes for some Alaska flights).

NW to NW would be 60 minutes, but most AS flights operate out of a different concourse than NW/International Arrivals at SEA.

You will most likely arrive into the S concourse on your NW flight. Then you must go, generally, to the C or D concourses for your AS flight. You must also take a train from the S concourse.

NW has luggage transfer arrangement with AS but that is only true for domestic flights only, as in your case your International flight is terminating at Seattle which will become your port of entry so you have to claim your baggage, clear custom, immigration then you will have to go to AS counter to rebook your baggage.In SEA custom/immigration doesn't take more than 30 minutes in normal. Your 2 hrs connection time is very much sufficient to make a connetion to LAX by AS.

Much appreciated everyone! Thanks!

[This message has been edited by cab747 (edited 02-22-2003).]

There was an earlier post in this string regarding a train ride to get to C or D. I'd doublecheck that.

If you go upstairs into the S concourse you'll find a gate for the bus shuttle that leaves from S to the C2 gate area. This will put you near the C and D concourse intersection and is the best way to get from NW to AS gates in my experience. I don't think you'll want to take a train.

Be prepared for the Customs folks. My rollaboard was completely searched, and my backpack was given a cursory search in DTW Sunday. My digital camera photos were looked at for kiddie porn. Good thing I'm not into that. I got about 10 questions about my trip, possibly because it was short and I had no checked luggage.

Be a good boy and declare everything. I did and didn't have to pay duty, even though my declaration exceeded $400 AND I was only gone from the U.S. 45 hours, not the minimum 48. Honesty pays.

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I have found the DTW customs folks to be the most intrusive/suspicious/thorough.

Hi All,

Hate to bug you guys with this question; I'm doing my first multi-segment, international flight early next month.

The trip goes LAX->MSP->DTW->LGW, and back the same way. Plane lands in DTW at 4:01P, and leaves again at 9:30P. I plan on catching up with a friend while I'm in the area, but I don't know what time to get back to the airport in order to make the connection from DTW->LGW. Do I have to go through customs at any point in my trip other than at LGW on the way there, and LAX on the way back?

Look forward to any help you can provide --

-Aaron

1. Don't know what the security wait times are at DTW, I haven't left the terminal since about last May. Perhaps someone else could comment. You might consider entering through a parking garage, I recall they might be quicker than the terminal. Do a search on FT. I think, however, that you'll get boarding passes all the way to LGW when you check in at LAX, so all you have to do is clear security in DTW, no check-in required. Boarding your LGW flight in DTW will be no different than if you were boarding a domestic flight.

2. They seem to begin boarding international flights 40 minutes before departure in DTW. If I were you, I would probably show back up at DTW security 1:00 or 1:15 prior to actual departure time.

3. You'll clear English immigration and customs in LGW, and American immigration and customs in DTW. After DTW customs, you'll then have to go through TSA security prior to re-entering the terminal, something which makes no sense to me, since you never leave the secure area. I guess they figure you could have passed less than adequate security overseas, so they need to be sure you're clean. In my case, Dutch security was much better than these TSA folks.

The main reason I see for having to go through security again after clearing customs is you are in contact with your checked luggage while going through customs. Since you could get a banned carry-on item out of your checked luggage while in customs, it's necessary to be re-screened.