pstm91

Feel free to move this to the "New York" thread if you feel it belongs there. I am looking at UA 188 EWR-JNB, and then UA 187 JNB-EWR. I noticed that UA187 always arrives to terminal B at Newark, but UA188 always departs from terminal C at Newark (which makes sense). Does the plane operating as 187 then fly somewhere else out of terminal B, or is it moved to terminal C at some point to operate at 188? I guess I'm just confused if it's the same plane or not and why they would land at B?

clubord

Terminal B is where the majority of wide bodies park to clear customs in Newark.

Plane is then towed to hard stand to be cleaned and catered. As departure time gets closer the plane is moved to the boarding gate at C for the outbound JNB flight.

dkc192

187 arrives in the early morning whereas 188 departs in the evening, so it's almost never the same frame operating the inbound 187 and the outbound 188 later that day. 187 parks at B for inbound pax to clear customs, as the customs facility in C is not open in the early morning. The aircraft then gets towed over to C to operate whatever flight it's scheduled to operate next. UA doesn't have any flights departing out of B; they only park arriving international flights there for pax to clear customs.

WineCountryUA

This is a common behavior at EWR for international flights. Arriving at B to use B gates / customs and immigration and then moving the plane to C for next departure which could be anywhere. Not common for the same physical plane to be used in both directions, not generally operational / utilization efficient.
And Yes there is a C customs but there appears to be issues on gate availability and capacity balancing of the custom / immigration areas.

wingnuthead

Many years ago, Terminal B was heavily invested in to become the defacto international terminal, with a large immigration and customs operation. I think it opened around 1998 or so, and then IIRC, it was refurbished again in the early 2000s. Before that, international arrivals were scattered if I recall correctly. Also, all international carrier flights other than United's and some Star Alliance flights leave from terminal B.

There is a smaller customs and immigration capacity at Terminal C, but B is set up for much higher volume on arrival. All international arrivals, other than some of United's are in Terminal B.

I've landed on UA flights from all over the world, and I guess its capacity and schedule based as to which immigration and customs hall you pass through.

eng3

Seems pretty similar to what they do at ORD

cfischer

not really. ORD is very different; all flights must arrive in T5 because that is where customs/immigration are at. In EWR they can arrive in B or C.

eng3

Still arriving at one terminal and being towed over for departure. From the passenger standpoint, still an inconvenient connection.

entropy

Used to be that B was "overflow" from C for Continental days... maybe its worse? now...

Presumably when the bank of the TATL arrivals come in, C is capacity constrained and they have to use B... the unloading process is a lot faster than boarding, they can dump the SLF and then tow the plane to be serviced.

VRFast

Terminal B opened in 1973. I arrived in the US for the first time into B in 1989 with SAS, and then had to hoof it to C for a Continental flight. Very big airport, I was thinking at the time.

dkc192

For most of 2020 and 2021, C FIS was completely closed and all international arrivals went to B. Now C is back up and running most of the day (excluding the early morning--not sure whether that was the case pre-Covid), but you're right that anecdotally more international arrivals seem to be going to B than pre-Covid.

Repooc17

I thought B is default, and C is overflow.

I have been using B departure a bit more now when flying AS.

dkc192

IMO C should be the default and B the overflow, at least for UA. Parking at C saves them the cost of towing an aircraft from B to C.

LarryJ

It's not up to UA. CBP decides when they will process flights at C and when they'll have to go to B.

dkc192

Sort of? CBP decides when they will staff the C FIS, but even when staffed and open, UA lacks sufficient sterile international arrival gates in C during peak hours such that some flights have to go to B. UA should prefer that all international arrivals park at C when C is open, but of course when C is closed (such as early mornings), every flight has to go to B.