poisson

I'm getting ready to take my first international non-stop flight. I've always had layovers.

What should I expect when I return to the US in terms of security procedures at DFW? Do I just collect my bag, walk through customs, then leave the airport? I do not have to go back through security, right (like when having a connecting flight)?

swiftaw

Correct, if your port of entry is your destination you won't have to go through security to exit the airport

CharlieA

I believe this depends on the airport. There is at least one airport (SEA) where you have to go through security to get from international arrivals to anywhere, including out of the airport.

redadeco

Sorry, I'm from SEA and this is false.

reclusive46

Why would any airport do that? It wouldn't be logical or even possible for those with liquids etc. in their checked baggage.

Randyk47

I haven't ever had to go back through security when exiting directly to curbside after any International or domestic flight. Recent International experience includes DFW, PHL, ATL, and SEA. For starters I've never seen a security checkpoint with machines big enough to handle the checked baggage.

MSPeconomist

This is true for arrivals into ATL E but not F.

Randyk47

Not sure what you mean. We flew into ATL from the Caribbean in March and went through Terminal F. We were traveling with friends who live in Atlanta and stopped there on the way home to spend a few days at their lake house. The whole bunch of us exited curbside once we cleared Customs and Immigration without any further security. The OP was asking about his trip ending with his International flight and leaving the airport not connecting to an ongoing domestic flight.

ESpen36

There are only a couple of remaining locations (ATL being one, and formerly RDU in the old days) where the layout of the airport is such that the international arrivals terminal does not have a direct "landside dump" after FIS*. Typically, in these cases, the FIS area is in a remote/midfield terminal or underneath the main concourse, far from the domestic arrivals area.

As a result, ALL interational arriving travelers, connecting and O/D, must clear TSA security and proceed through the secure, airside (departure) concourse of the terminal in order to reach landside and the street. In these cases, checked luggage (and/or anything with non-compliant carry-on items such as liquids greater than 100mL) must be dropped off on a belt after FIS to be delivered to domestic baggage claim.

It is a nuisance for O/D pax, and as a result, it was designed only for locations that are/were hubs, and thus where a large percentage of international arriving pax were CONNECTING, not O/D. RDU and ATL are examples.


Question: How have most airports solved this problem in more recent renovations?
Answer: By putting the FIS facility in the main terminal building, right next to the domestic arrivals and exit to the street. The tradeoff is that international arriving pax usually must walk a LONG distance through sterile corridors, or even board a sterile light-rail system, in order to reach the FIS area. MIA is a good example of this phenomenon.


*FIS = Federal Inspection Services (including passport control, customs, and agriculture inspections)

ginoa724

PIT used to be like this until a few years ago when they refurbed the people movers. The FIS station was (and still is) on the airside "side" of the terminal and you had to enter the sterile area of the airport to get to the people mover. The worst part was that there was only one security lane for all arriving int'l pax, which really sucked when they brought back the DL flight from CDG.

Now, they have moveable partitions and security guards that they set up during international arrivals to block arriving pax from entering the sterile area before getting on the people mover.

flyerCO

ATL E international arrivals require dropping luggage, clearing security, going to domestic terminal, and picking up luggage to exit airport. There's no landside access after arrival to terminal E.

Randyk47

Mrs K corrected me already and I should have edited my post. I remembered we didn't haul our checked luggage through security but forgot about reclaiming at the main domestic terminal. My bad. Memory and old age sucks. Last reentry was through DFW and there we exited directly curbside.

chollie

I don't recall exactly when it changed, but for many, many years, when you landed in SEA on an international flight, everyone had to recheck bags after clearing customs and immigration. You had to reclaim them at the southernmost baggage claim belt in regular arrivals. Total nuisance for pax terminating in SEA.

it was truly great when they opened up a direct exit for international pax terminating in SEA and got rid of the stupid baggage recheck, and frankly, it still looks kind of plywood makeshift in that area.

Himeno

The SEA website suggests that the recheck/clear TSA issue is still going on, while they are building a new FIS building alongside concourse A and a bridge from S to the new arrivals screening area.

chollie

Unless something has changed again very recently, that's not correct. I HOPE it's not correct, because that's a big step backwards!

If you are terminating in SEA from an international flight and you have a checked bag, you have two options after customs and immigration: 1) throw it on the baggage belt and head for the exit or 2) take it with you. The exit is sort of a plywood hallway that dumps you out into regular baggage claim.

Folks with a lot of luggage prefer to sling it on the re-check belt and retrieve it in the regular baggage claim area, where you're closer to the curb and pickup.