Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with customs and airport

Flying from US-->Canada; where's customs?

Tin Man — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:53:49 -0800

I'm a U.S. citizen flying from NYC to Canada via Houston: in which airport will I do immigration and customs? In a couple of weeks I'll be flying from NYC to Calgary via Houston Int'l Airport (in other words: NYC-->Houston-->Calgary). At which airport will I do immigration and customs? I know there's something called preclearance for flights from Canada to the US, but I'm not sure about the reverse. My google-fu has failed me.

The reason I ask is because I'm trying to get an airport shuttle reservation for when I arrive in Calgary, but I'm not sure how much time I'll have between landing on the ground in Calgary and getting to the shuttle. My flight lands at 4:05 and the possible shuttle times are 4:30 or 5:30.

I don't want to spend Christmas in Airport Jail.

troika — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:40:28 -0800

International travel with multiple connections: what's it like? And inside: declaring, connection time, and things I will probably get confiscated. I'm flying AKL-BNE-LAX-IAD on Monday. I haven't flown into the US from a foreign country in years, so I am a little nervous.

Auckland to Brisbane: Two hours in Brisbane. Will I have to go through Australian customs? Are my bags checked through to the US? Anything I need to know?

Brisbane to LAX: Two hours, fifteen minutes in LAX. I go through customs at LAX and not IAD, right? What's going to happen? What do I declare? Do you think that'll be enough time (no, I don't either...), especially given that it's December 22 and everyone will be freaking out about the upcoming holiday? I land at 7am LA time.

LAX to Dulles: This flight is probably going to be the worst. No free Qantas booze, just 5 hours of misery in a middle seat. This is not a question, I'm just whining.

Will they confiscate it: hot sauce, cat treats, wine not purchased at the duty-free? How do you travel with wine, anyway?

Anything else you feel like offering about this upcoming trip, even reading suggestions, is welcomed, and when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.

I'm a US citizen, passport up to date.

Houston International Airport Connections

hylaride — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:18:48 -0800

How is Houston International Airport for connecting international flights? I'm going to be travelling from Toronto to Mexico City via Houston. I'm flying Continental. Now I'm not particularly worried about flying to Mexico City, as there's a US customs in Pearson(Toronto). Coming back I'm curious if I'll have to re-check my bags in Houston when coming home (unless there's an american customs in MEX, I'm sure I will).

I ask because I've previously done many business trips from Curacao via Miami. Miami's disaster of an airport always made me have to take my bags and re-check them in even though I was in transit to Canada. I assume it's FAA requirements at all airports from flights arriving outside the US. But what's worse is that after going through customs there, you're supposed to leave your luggage in a huge pile that never make the connections and then bolt as fast as I can across the airport and barely make the next flight.

Am I in for the same experience in Houston? Is it at least a better Airport than Miami?

Whose jurisdiction am I under when making a connection at a foreign airport?

runkelfinker — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 03:24:34 -0800

I always assumed that, when making a connecting flight in an international airport, I was under international jurisdiction - the logic being that I clearly haven't 'entered' the airport's host country (haven't got a visa/filled out a landing form/whatever). My personal experience and now recent events suggest otherwise, so what are the rules about this, and do they vary from country to country? My personal experience being that I once had a scary amount of hassle from US authorities while simply 'changing planes' in New York (going home from Mexico City to London)...

Woe betide those at CollegeHumor.com

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 23:24:58 -0800

Just how much are the customs/Department of Homeland Security people allowed to go through your personal information on your laptop? Okay, this may sound a bit naive, but bear with me.

I just flew back to the US from Asia and upon arriving in San Francisco International Airport everyone has to go through the customs two step. That's normal; I assume it's because they probably get a lot of people trying to smuggle drugs back or what have you.

As I approached the counter, one of the guys asked if I had a digital camera or a laptop computer. Laptop I said, patting my backpack.

Now, in the past, whenever I have travelled with a laptop the security people -- that is, the folks who x-ray your stuff before you can board -- would swipe it with special Q-Tips (I believe testing for the presence of chemicals/gases), maybe ask me to start it up or wake it from sleep just to make sure it was in fact a working laptop.

This was the first time however that I had flown into the US with my laptop.

So after checking my "normal" luggage, the man takes the laptop over to a desk, plugs it in and boots it up. A minute later he calls me over, turns the laptop to face me and asks me to type in my login password -- the optional password you can set up on a Mac so that you have to type it in before you can get access.

I type it in, and he turns the laptop back around and starts mousepadding around. This is taking a while I think, I mean, obviously it boots up and it's a regular working computer. I pass my time watching one of the guards going through another flyer's luggage. A few minutes later my guy says "Okay, I give up, can you show me where you keep the photos?". So I open the Applications folder and launch iPhoto which has most of my photos.

Now, I'm guessing they're looking for photos of you and your friends at some Vietnamese opium bar, clutching full Ziploc bags and pointing at your suitcase, or something more nefarious like people shooting AK-47s in a camp in the desert.

My question is : ...going through your personal files/photos without any sort of suspicion/warrant... is all of this legal? Isn't there some sort of self-incrimination thing at play here? Or does it fall under the category of "Man, if you're stupid enough to document your idiocy...."?