zeer0

So who else has had United move an international flight to the domestic terminal? Flew SFO-HKG yesterday and what a .... show as United moved the flight from the international terminal to Terminal 3. Quite a chuckle, and a jog ensued for most from the United Club, followed by chaos on the plane as multiple passengers were still unaware of the change in terminals. It didn't help that the "brand new" 773 was having 747 like delays. Typical United...

BayAreaPilot

It happens. Sometimes international flights depart from Terminal 3. Sometimes domestic flights depart from the International terminal. The aircraft was inbound from Newark, so not unusual for it to park at Terminal 3. And it was windy and raining Saturday morning, so lots of SFO flights were delayed regardless of the age of the aircraft.

UA_Flyer

The inbound flight from EWR arrived in SFO was delayed by over an hour, and there was no enough time to tow the plane from Gate 89 to the international terminal, and service the plane for the HK flight.

I have done 77W three times in the past month (both domestic and internak$ and each time I had a crew team that has never worked on the 77W before. Needless to say, there has been a lot of "learn on the go" by the crew to get the plane ready to go. On each flight, favorable wind and jet stream saved us from the delay.

JVPhoto

That was going to be my guess. The "international" plane arrived from a domestic flight so instead of using an INTL gate when it didn't need to they kept it there to get things done as fast as they could.

zeer0

But doesn't that compromise security? You can go through domestic security without a passport. They didn't check passports at the gate which surprised me.

tuolumne

Flew EWR-Geneva and SFO-HKG in the past month and both times didn't have a passport check.

JVPhoto

There's no domestic vs international security at US airports, just like there's no exit immigration.

garykung

1. At SFO, International Terminal Boarding Area G is connected to Terminal 3 (Boarding Area E and F) airside.

2. Many UA international flights are departed from Terminal 3, such as Canada and Mexico.

3. Unless UA has your passport information on file, you need the passport in order to check-in.

Everything is fine as soon as incoming non-pre-clearance flights are arrived at International Terminal Boarding Area G.

entropy

One might argue there isn't much security anyways.

If you go thru security in Canada you don't even show ID!? just your BP a whole bunch of times, which is ridiculous!

zeer0

Interesting... I just hope UA deals with such a situation better next time, as many agents in T3 were completely unaware of what was going on until boarding.

t325

What's the problem with that? ID checks are pointless. If a high school kid can obtain a fake ID to buy alcohol, you don't think potential terrorists are capable of obtaining fake IDs?

And maybe that's how it is for domestic Canadian flights, but every time I've flown Canada-US, I've had to show my passport to someone at least 3 times.

drewguy

Presumably everyone had to show a passport to check in (or scan it). Hong Kong doesn't require visas, at least for US citizens, and I've found the gate check of passports for such countries is typically cursory.

sfo3388

In many airports such as ORD, United's international flights (NRT, PVG and PEK, etc.) leave from "domestic" terminal.

In USA, there is no passport control when you fly out of the country. The E, F and G departure gates in SFO are connected without going through security check.

G gates in SFO are pretty busy from morning to 2pm. Last summer UA 871 to TPE sometimes used domestic gate 90 for departure.

I think United gate agents will check passport again (the photo page at least) when passengers are boarding international flights?

emcampbe

Not sure which security checkpoint in the US requires the use of a passport for international flights, but please, do let me know if you find one.

TSA operates security checkpoints, and you must use a TSA-approved piece of photo ID - that could be a passport, but there are probably about a dozen other things - Nexus card, Driver's license, etc. I often clear security with my DL for international flights. There is no requirement for TSA to check your passport - its up to the carrier to do that.

I don't even remember how that works anymore - I go through Nexus line where you have to show your card. But Canada is predominately different - in the US, ID, in addition to at check in, is done by TSA at the security checkpoint - pretty much since after 9/01 - prior to then, you didn't need an ID or even BP to go through security - anyone could go to the gate (anyone remember the ability to drop off/pick up people right at the gate?). For Canada, regulations require that photo ID, (passport only for international flights) is required to be checked when boarding the flight. In fact, required for any flight to/from Canada. Can't even do it at the gate before boarding anymore - at ORD, I frequently went to YYZ and they used to sometimes, depending on GA, call people up to desk to have their passports checked before hand, and mark off the BP - this was to ensure faster boarding. Now, they only do it at the gate, apparently the Canadians instructed them they had to do it as passengers boarded, though I suspect the increasing use of mobile BPs also made this difficult.

This is typical for all carriers in the US. Except where required by law (i.e. above-mentioned all flights to/from Canada), it is not legally required. Airlines do it to protect themselves - if one were not to have their passport or visa (i.e. lost it prior to boarding), and tried to enter the destination country, UA would be required to carry the pax back on the next flight (IDB'ing another paying passenger, if necessary), and would be likely to be fined by the country, probably more if it were to happen multiple times. Much less risk in checking a passport/visa at boarding then suffer the financial and other consequences of boarding someone who doesn't meet the basic requirements to enter the country.

It's not like this everywhere. For example, ex-India, aside from flying UA out, I think I had SQ check my passport at boarding once, but not on multiple other carriers (nor the other times I've flown SQ). The risk is lower since one needs to clear exit immigration so show their passport there, and since you can't do mobile BPs (unless that's changed recently, you also have to show it at checkin. In the US, if you've checked in online flying international, at boarding could very easily be the only time you need to show your passport before you arrive at the destination.

lixiaojuventus

This is new to me. I haven't flown through SFO in a while, so is this a recent change? I remembered that no 'fat' (aka widebody) international birds parked at domestic terminals during my extensive travels through SFO a few years ago.