Anubis13

Hi,

I have a trip from GVA to SFO in September. The stops are GVA-CPH-ORD-SFO. The last part is covered by united airlines. I would like to know when do I pass the passport control in the US. Does it happen in ORD or in SFO? Because from ORD to SFO I have only 01:45 to move to the next flight..

On my return, I fly SFO-CPH-GVA. But I would like to skip the second leg and travel to ZRH. I will book a ticket from CPH-ZRH. Can I ask SAS to give me the luggage before the second leg?(it does not worth for me to rebook the ticket it is way more expensive)

tgv2

Passport control will be the first point of entry: ORD.
If you arrive at O'Hare on an international flight and have a connecting domestic flight, you will arrive at Terminal 5 and will need to take the ATS to the domestic terminals. You will need to clear security again at the domestic terminals. ​The O’Hare Airport Transit System​ (ATS or “people mover) is closed 24/7 to finalize modernization efforts and expansion of the system. In order to maintain a travel connection between all of O’Hare’s terminals and parking lots, the CDA will operate shuttle buses to transport passengers

Anubis13

The question is, if it is doable in 01:45(less than 2h)

fassy

Assuming the inbound flight lands on time and immigration is not swamped, it is not a problem. But, well... kind of unpredictable. I wouldn't worry too much though. Nothing you can change about it and United will get you to SFO or SJC on a later flight.

Short checking luggage SFO-CPH should not be a problem, but sometimes the check-in agent will be suspicious that you are getting off in CPH (which you are ) and will warn you about repricing etc. Never happened to me, but I also do not make a habit of short-checking/hidden city bookings.

Anubis13

Thank you fassy. Short checking it is not a habit for me either. It just occured that I have to attend a conference in Zurich so instead of going to gva and then getting a plane or a train for zurich, it is better to fly directly from copenhagen. So shall I ask something before checking in at SFO?

Chiller3333

Would it be possible to change the return such that you'll end up in ZRH?
Depending on your fare this should be possible and maybe not even super expensive.

fassy

How long is your layover in CPH for the CPH-GVA leg? Usual recommendation is to say: "Look, I bought something (e.g. a nice bottle of Nappa Cabernet, would be of course good to have said bottle in the suit case ) for a friend I'm meeting in CPH and need my bag in CPH to get to it." or if it is a long layover: "I have 6 hours in CPH and will check-into the hotel for a day room. Would really like my suitcase for fresh clothing after a nap and shower".

Something along the line. Anyway, lot of the agents know this and will either just do it, or give you a lecture. Never have been plainly refused by SK staff, just once by an LH agent.

Often1

To be clear, OP will clear both the immigration and customs aspects of CBP at ORD. However his bags will be checked through to SFO. Thus, at ORD, he will pass through immigration (referred to as passport control), pick up his bags, take them through Customs, and then simply drop them after Customs as they are already tagged.

Do remember that if there is a misconnect, it is the carrier causing the misconnect which handles the rebooking. That would be SK, not UA.

RedChili

If there is a misconnect, it's most likely immigration, customs, TSA or a combination of the three which cause it. Which of these three will handle the rebooking?

fassy

highupinthesky

As far as I remember, the minimum connection time in ORD is 1 hour. So unless the SK flight arrive so late that there is less than 1 hour til take off of the next leg, it's not at misconnect in SK's view so it's all depends on the good will of the carrier on the next leg.

Anubis13

@Chiller3333: I have to check with the travel agent that booked the tickets. The tickets are A fare

@fassy: My layover is 4 hours and 20 minutes if I am not wrong

fassy

Should be good enough to claim a meeting landside in CPH.

LiHS

I was recently similarly worried about my 2:05 connection to UA coming off the CPH-ORD, but made it easily (and have IM timestamps so I know how long each stage of the process took). Even though departure from CPH was delayed by ~25min, we landed a few minutes early but taxied longer than average Even though several flights arrived at the same time, immigration formalities were very efficient: there was a single very long queue for everyone not crew/diplomat/GE/Visa, but plenty of kiosks and it took a surprisingly short 13' from entering the queue to dealing with the kiosks, waiting to see a CBP officer, talking to him and getting to baggage claim. Frustratingly, my bag took a further 16' to arrive, and queuing to hand in the slip to customs&agriculture took another 9' - there was also a separate customs&agriculture queue for GE/Mobile Passport that was a lot shorter, but from your question I'm assuming you don't qualify for it. Getting to United re-check and re-checking the bag took a couple of minutes, from there to the inter-terminal bus maybe 1'. The buses come every few minutes. I wasn't running at any stage and made the TSA queue at T1 63' after touchdown and got to my gate in (satellite) Concourse C 9' later.

All the other scheduled longhaul flights that day arrived roughly on time, so I doubt the immigration queue was particularly short, and I see no reason why the TSA queue would have been uncharacteristically short for the time of day. The SK CPH-ORD seems to arrive on time reasonably reliably as of late, and UA flights are more likely to run slightly late than on time that late in the day, so I would probably be happy to do a 105' connection. If you have checked luggage, it'll almost certainly mean going straight to gate for the SFO flight, without a pit-stop at a UA Club or the like. Note however that if you miss it, that might be the last SFO flight of the day (depending on the day of the week) and you'll likely have to overnight either at ORD or a connecting airport like DEN or LAX.

I'd try to get a seat as close to door L2 as possible, make sure I'm not carrying anything TSA would care about, no food or other items I'd need to declare to CBP and have any printed documentation needed to substantiate the visit easily accessible in case the CBP officer wants to chat with you for more than the usual 90" or so.

Best of luck!

B747forever

Who are you planning to fly CPH-ZRH with? If you are flying with SAS, there is always the risk of the CPH-ZRH leg being voided due to double booking. Though I don't know how well SAS system is when it comes to finding double bookings, but bear that in mind.