Getting through US immigration
 

We're visiting the US on honeymoon in July (San Francisco, Hawaii, New York)
Our first stop will be Chicago where we'll connect to SFO.

We're flying American Airlines, so presumably a large percentage of the flight will be Americans?

Do you think this might reduce the amount of time it takes us to get through immigration, in that most of the flight won't be foreign nationals?

We've a three-hour wait before the SFO flight but hope we won't be waiting too long at immigration. My last visit to the US in 2005 (MIA) took forever to get through.

I should be 'on the system' in terms of the fingerprint control thing but my wife-to-be has never been to the States before.

Any thoughts?

I wouldn't assume that flying AA means any particular percentage of people on the flight will be Americans.

My limited experience with immigration at ORD is that it's pretty quick there, especially compared to MIA. But I'm a U.S. citizen so that may not be the case for foreigners. You will have to take a train and reclear security for your onward flight, but that shouldn't take too long.

Bottom line is that 3 hours should be sufficient.

Congratulations, and welcome to FlyerTalk!

No guarantee whatsoever of this. I flew CDG-JFK on American last week, and more pax went to the non-US passport line (though NY may be a bit more cosmopolitan than Chicago). Bear in mind too that your flight is unlikely to be the only intl. flight arriving at any given time.

Can't opine there, as I've only been through the US resident line (and shuddered to see the fingerprint apparatus, but those comments are for OMNI/PR).

Do remember that you will have to collect your baggage and go through customs, then recheck your bag through to SFO, , take the shuttle train to your domestic connection, and then reclear security. If you want to eliminate one queue you could travel with carry-ons only.

I would think that three hours would be enough but anything can happen. I landed at ORD (on United) in early December on a Sat. afternoon. A slight delay had shrunk my 1h40 connection time to about 1h20. I made my connection but only because of planning, hustle, and luck, as you can read about here.

Hoping to have time for a bit of food/chillout too before the onward trip so hopefully it will all be pretty quick.

The reason I thought American would have more Americans was because I've flown United before and I'd say 80 per cent were Americans as they all went through the US citizens gates. Figured carrier nationality had a lot to do with it.

Either way, if we weren't connecting I wouldn't care so much, just want to make sure there's not likely to be too much of a rush.

Thanks for the congrats and the welcome!

Was kind of hoping our luggage would be checked through for SFO at LHR, but if we're having to collect it and re-check in that's a pain. Good job we opted for the big gap between flights!

We'll also be flying HNL-DFW-LGA later on in the trip with a similar gap, but hopefully there will be fewer issues there because of them being domestic flights.

Three hours should be plenty, but...

You'd be arriving in T5 (International). Then immigration, wait for luggage, customs. Your departing flight (if AA) is likely to be from T3.

The most important thing is to re-check you bags in T5 itself at the airline counter immediately after Customs. If you see large doors open and find people waiting to receive passengers, turn back! It would be a major inconvenience to transport your luggage to T3.

Thanks for the advice. Definitely don't want to be carting luggage around too much - the quicker we can get it checked in for SFO the better.

Your bags may be tagged through to your final destination at your originating airport. But, you have to get your bags at ORD to clear Customs. After you clear, you'll see baggage collection counters for the different airlines. You really don't do the whole re-check thing, just give your bags to the agents. It's the one thing that is really different from Europe, where you clear Immigration at your first airport, but you don't clear Customs until your final destination if you have a connection.
One thing: at HNL, you have to send your bags through the U.S. Agricultural check before you take them to the check-in counter. It's usually no more than putting them though a different scanner. A USDA check sticker will be put on them. I've never had this take more than a few minutes. Be sure you are aware of what you can and cannot bring back to mainland US from Hawaii - you don't want to buy something, only to have it taken away at the airport.

Don't forget the requirement to fill out the on-line visa waiver pre-approval for you both prior to travel: ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). This basically asks the same information as the green visa waiver form filled out on board and is not over onerous. It does require a destination address. This is a new compulsory requirement for UK nationals (and other visa waiver scheme nationals) since your last visit. While this did not greatly speed up immigration in Chicago I would imagine that not doing it could greatly complicate things for you, either at check-in or in the immigration hall. Congratulations - Us 'groundhogbrits' have been married 20 years this year - enjoy the honeymoon.

Cheers,

Yep we're well aware of the ESTA thing, will be doing that sooner rather than later to get it out of the way.

I'll probably ending up printing this thread out as it could well save us quite a bit of time!

Thanks guys.

Congratulations!

I often travel to the US through ORD - my average time through immigration is about 20 minutes. You will find the immigration people in ORD more friendly than those in Miami as well -- MIA is by far the worst airport I know for immigration speed and courtesy.

If you have some time to kill before you get you flight to SFO there's a bar just opposite gate K9 in terminal 3 of O'Hare. It's never too busy and is a good place for a pint of Sam Adams and a hotdog when waiting for your next flight. They ID 100% of their customers which provides for good entertainment as well.

As previous posters have said, you'll definitely have to collect and recheck your bags.

Oh, and I hope your choice of wife is better than your choice of football team ;)

It will depend on what sequence the overseas flights arrive in on your particular day. I recently was first in the foreigner line behind a plane-load from somewhere in Asia. I spotted Chinese, Laotian, Thai, etc etc passports as the line snaked around several times. Needless to say it took over an hour of standing.

ORD has been pretty quick for me. 3 hrs is enough time to get thru, maybe even head to the city for an hour if you want?