Of course there is in SFO. After you claim your baggage you have one more station to pass. He takes your Customs declaration and looks at your bags and if he sees anything that he finds "interesting" he directs you to secondary Customs inspection. If he sees your bags are tagged to a connecting flight he directs you to turn left. If you don't, that will raise red flags all over the place.

OP: There are always people who will happily tell you to go ahead and break the rules because you probably won't get caught. For myself, the odds of getting caught are not the determining factor in whether I do something potentially inappropriate. And if you do get caught, it could cost you.

Follow the rules.

There are many good reasons to follow the rules, but as I and others have already explained to you, the scenario you've described isn't one of them. There is no legal requirement to recheck one's bags, and there are many valid reasons to "turn right" without doing so, as I explained above.

Bottom line: There's nothing inappropriate nor illegal about not rechecking your bags after customs, and the same could be said about not taking all the flights on your itinerary. The airline might consider the latter to be against their own policies/preferences, but there's little that they can/will do about it unless one makes a habit of it.

I have no idea what that link has to do with this, but that is a great thread! :D

The Customs office will see the tags and he will direct you to turn left. If you don't it will raise suspicion and he *will* stop you. I've seen them do it. You go straight to Secondary Customs.

There is absolutely something inappropriate about Hidden City ticketing. In order to do that you have to 1) lie to the airline about your plans, and 2) pay less than you are required to pay for the trip you actually took.

Again, the fact that I might get away with it is not a deciding factor. Ethics is.

And, yes, I saw your suggestions. Rip the tag off and hide it??? You realize the place is crawling with cameras, don't you? I can't think of a better way to get cavity searched.

Instead of going into this big Chicken Little drama, perhaps a more logical approach would be better.

Simply short check the bag to SFO, or if that's not possible, if asked about the tag, say you decided to get a hotel on the long layover, or gasp, you changed your mind about taking the last leg.

I had an intl flight recently come in hours late at SFO. No way to recheck the bag. I walked out with my bag! I wasn't frisked, detained, or sent to secondary. Amazing, right?

I have never had a problem simply walking out. I rarely check luggage, but when I do, I turn right and that's it - luggage in hand. Never been questioned. I fly quite a bit.

Can you please provide a single example where a customs officer enforced an airline's conditions of carriage in this respect? They have about as much authority as a janitor to tell you to take the next flight. What are these red flags you speak of, and who will raise them? After they have been raised, what happens next?

Look, the ethics of hidden city ticketing, dropping the final segment, nesting, etc, are entirely different, and my view is that, whilst unlikely to be enforced, airlines have a right to set their own rules. You're confusing this with customs/immigration, however.

Yeah I don't follow once you walk past that customs officer and turn in your form you have finished the formalities of entering the Untied States, so you can make a choice of going right or left. It's not like trying to leave an air side sterile zone in airports/countries with much easier international connections. If I had an 8 hour layover in SFO it would be a no brainer to hop on BART and go enjoy the city...hidden city ticket or not. Not that the customs officer would even have any idea when your next flight is anyway.

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I've never seen this at all. In my experience, the customs officer is reading your address as written on the form to determine whether you're connecting or not. They've never looked at my bags, nor do they care whether you're turning left or right.

And even if you turn left, you're landside at that point.

I've also never seen anyone "caught" for going in the wrong direction, and plenty of non-English speakers make mistakes on every flight I've arrived on at SFO.