Southern Sky

Hi.

My friend will be traveling from Asia to USA and then to Dominican Republic next month and she will spend 1 week in Miami before heading to Dominican Republic. On her way back from D.R. she will fly AA and have to change plane in Miami and after that she will fly to L.A. and connect with Other Airlines to her home country. My question is if she has the connecting time about 9 hours in Miami, Can she leave the airport and the re-check in at the later time? because she plans to take only a few cloths and personal belonging to Dominican and leave other stuffs in Miami with her friend so she doesn't have to carry so many things while she is in D.R. She's holding multiple entries Tourist Visa.

The next question is about her checked luggage. What she has to tell the AA agent about the checked luggage since her final destination is at LAX. Should she tell them to put the tag just from D.R.to MIA and clear CBP then check in again with the other luggage that she left with her friend?.

Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thank you

mpp

If she has a U.S. visa to get through immigration she can leave airport.

She can check the bag all the way through to LAX. In Miami she will need to collect the bag to go through customs and then "recheck" it. This typically means putting it back on the transfer belt. However I have never gone through Miami with checked luggage but this is how it has worked for me at JFK, ORD, PDX, MSP, etc.

clacko

is this the itin?

asia-mia, stopover - dr- stopover - mia -asia....is there a stopover in lax or is lax the end point?...if lax is a connection, she should check the mia bags thru to asia...

clacko

also....when she arrives at mia from the dr, she will do immig & customs & be outside....she can do the bags or whatever & then go thru security for the next flight...

Often1

OP doesn't say which airport her friend will depart from x DR, but presuming that it's Punta Cana, doesn't it have preclearance? In that case, she will preclear US immigration & customs formalities before leaving Punta Cana and she will arrive as the equivalent of a domestic arrival at MIA.

The question which I cannot answer is whether her carrier SNN-MIA-LAX, will short-check her bag(s) to MIA. Most carriers will not do that. If the carrier won't do it, she won't see her bags after SNN until at least LAX, if not her final destination in Asia, depending on whether her SNN-MIA-LAX carrier interlines with her TPAC carrier.

OP's friend needs to have a specific conversation with her SNN-MIA-LAX carrier and ask the specific question whether on her specific itinerary as purchased, the carrier will check her bag to MIA. She should be aware that even if permitted, this will almost certainly result in additional bag fees for what becomes a domestic check from MIA-LAX.

clacko

if she is pre cleared leaving the dr, she can leave the airport to get the bags, check them, & come back in....people leave the airport often to sight see, have lunch etc....mia has lots of long layovers....

Often1

Likely incorrect - OP's friend needs to talk directly with the carrier she's flying SNN-MIA-LAX. That carrier will almost certainly not short-check the bags to MIA, but will check them to LAX or final destination in Asia. This would mean that OP's friend can't get her hands on the bags in MIA and thus, while she is free to leave the airport, she won't have the bags which she wants to leave with a friend in MIA.

clacko

sorry....from the op, it seemed that mia-dr-mia was carry on & she would leave bags in mi, then check them on the way back during the layover...

Often1

If that's the case, she will need to make prior arrangements w. her carrier, presuming she is ticketed SNN-LAX w. change in MIA. Particularly where her inbound is from overseas (even though a preclearance departure point) and she may be interlining x LAX international, the attempt to check bags at an intermediate point will jump out of the system.

The way to handle this is to call the MIA-LAX carrier, explain and ask to have her record noted as OK to check x MIA. This is particularly true if OP's friend isn't completely fluent in english.

clacko

southern sky.....is she on a separate ticket mia-dr-mia or just 1 ticket for the whole trip?

do you have any?s...

Southern Sky

Thank you for all of the replies, her Itin with AA is LAX-MIA-SDQ (with she will be in MIA for 1 week) on the way back is SDQ-MIA-LAX (with about 9 hours lay over in MIA).

Southern Sky

She also doesn't mind to pay extra luggage fee for domestic flight from MIA to LAX, but just want to know if she could check the second luggage in MIA while her first luggage is checked from SDQ.

clacko

so you have the info you need?

Southern Sky

I just called AA and the agent said she can check the additional bag in MIA
just have to let the agent know at SDQ and MIA

Thank you very much for all of the infos.