Before 9/11, when flying from one non-US destination to another on a US airline, one could switch planes by following the transfer corridors to catch your connection. This saved a lot of time as one did not have to pick up luggage and get a stamp in the passport to enter the US, recheck in etc .

However, now, when a non-US citizen first enters the US they have to collect their luggae and stand in line to get the passport stamped and one has to physically enter the USA. Then one has to recheck in again for the connecting flight.

Basically this means that flying a US carrier from a non-US destination to another is becoming a real pain up the back****. If a US carrier was cheaper than anything else I used to fly it to save cash but now I increasingly fork out for more expensive direct flights. OK I earn more money that I did a few years ago but is this an increasing trend. Are these new regulations making it more difficult for US carriers to attract no US citizens?

Whine whine whine... If added security is such an inconvenience then don't bother flying US airlines. Nobody is making you.

Tasha8182

The purpose of my post is to enquire as to whether US airlines have had a drop off in non-US passengers (ie, passengers who are not visiting the US). It is not to whine, as you put it.

Due to the new regulations I think this is a perfectly valid question. I myself have begun to avoid certain routes due to these regulations, particularly if I will be travelling with a lot of luggage. This means others may well be doing the same.

I definitely think U.S. airlines will see some decline in traffic due to several new regulations one of which is the temporary(?) suspension of the transit without visa program. I was surprised at how quickly the suspension came. I guess the reasoning is they don't want to give too much advance notice. I'm wondering how it's affecting travelers who have already completed their outbound leg but had planned to return after Aug 9th. Will they now have to obtain a U.S. visa and wait however long that takes before returning home or are the airlines re-routing them thru other countries?

This is true, you now require a visa to transit the airport so connecting for example through Miami to the Caribbean or South America is now not possible if you are a national of a country that would need a visa for the USA. American had big business from this but they will now loose it. Also read that beria is planning to pull-out of Miami because of this.

Sorry about typo, that should read 'Iberia'. European airlines that had connecting arrangements with Caribbean, Central and South American Airlines will now have to speedily find an alternative hub, I guess they will look at maybe Nassau or Santo Domingo.

this was enacted 6 days ago so i think it's a little too early to tell.
but it's only common sense to think that it will have an effect ($$$$) on u.s. airlines. who wants to go through the trouble of getting a visa for a country they're just passing through?

Several weeks ago I flew from the States to Florence, IT with a connection in Munich.

Upon arrival in Munich, I was required to stand in line and present my passport and ticket to an official before getting on my flight to Florence.

That's because Germany and Italy are both EU countries. You go thru immigration at your first point of entry into the EU. It's not much different than if you flew from LHR to JFK to LAX in which case you'd have to go thru immigration at JFK.

Sorry, I should have said that Germany and Italy are both Schengen countries. Not all EU countries participate in the Schengen agreement. I think the UK is an exception.

UKUKor anyone else who might know)

The question wasn't about visas. It was about what might - or might not - be a related issue. Which Americans might not understand.

To fly from the UK to, say, Australia, a Brit (who doesn't need a visa even now to transit the US) had the option of changing planes at LAX. If he didn't want to go through US Immigration, and if he was staying with, say Air NZ or United, he could sit in what was laughingly called a transit lounge (though in Europe it'd be called a pen)till the connection was due to board. Just the way it happens in the rest of the world (though only in Taskhent is it that comfortable).

UKUKUK is saying that now the Brit has to clear Customs + Immigration with his baggage and then recheck.

Leaving him with the tough choice between all that nonsense, and spending an hour or two in the shops at KL or the swimming pool at Changi.

And of course we all know how many terrorists have attacked the US from the transit "lounges" at LAX or MIA.

Have US airlines lost business as a result? That's the question. I'd have thought it was a no-brainer.

I fully understood what UKUKUK was saying. I was simply pointing out that this is only one of several new regulations that could impact U.S. airline traffic. The suspension of the transit without visa program would seem to be a far greater hassle than what UKUKUK is up against and create even more of an incentive to find alternate routing.

Okay, I'm confused. Next month I'm flying from Frankfurt to Seattle via Charlotte. My son travels on an American passport, but mine is Canadian. Does this mean we'll have to collect our bags and do the whole check-in process again in Charlotte? We only have 2 hours for the connection and I'll need to handle all of the baggage as my son is only four! Aauugghhhh!!!

sardog...check with your airline....Canadian citizens do not need a visa for the US...you might get some assistance with USAir if that is your airline.....Good Luck......S

sardog10, I think that nothing has changed for you because of these new regulations.

I am pretty sure that when you arrive at Charlotte that you will have to collect your bags and go through customs and immigration. After that, the airline will probably have a point, in the secure area, where you can check your bags through to SEA. You and the boy would then just hop over to your flight, maybe passing through security again. I'm trying to suggest that it is going to be easier than it sounds.

I agree with the post that said nothing has changed for U.S. or Canadian citizens. You have always had to go through immigration and customs upon your first port of entry into the U.S. which in this case would be Charlotte. So you will have to collect and re-check your luggage, but there's usually a counter right after customs where you re-check your luggage and it's very quick. You shouldn't have to check-in again for your Charlotte-Seattle flight. I'm also assuming your flights are all on USAir. If you're traveling on 2 different airlines, then you may need to check-in again depending on what agreements exist between the 2 airlines.

Thanks so much for your replies, you guys. I was hoping not to have to handle Big Bertha before Seattle, but I knew that was a fantasy Yes, we're flying on USAir right through. I'm a little apprehensive about this whole trip as this will be the 6th and 7th times I've made this crossing alone with my son (somehow my husband always manages to be deployed when it comes to flying), and the other times have been horrible. I'm thinking that this one will be easier since he's a year older and can sit in one place a little longer.

Anyway, thanks again for all your advice!

sardog10: the new regulation only affects people who are from countries that need a visa in the first place to enter the u.s.
enjoy your trip.

I am certain that if someone has to take all the time and costs to obtain a visa just to connect flights they won't bother and will move to alternative routings/airlines. Plus of course this means that they will have to queue up for immigration etc and that will take time.
Perhaps they should have taken notice of Australia's electronic visa system. In addition to being very easy it also is linked to the airline comptuers. When you check in for the flight the information is not only in the computer but it is available 'down line'. This means that Immigration have all the information even before the flight takes off let alone arrives. Most people are pretty much 'immigration cleared' before arrival which really speeds up processing at destination. It's a brilliant system and should be adopted elsewhere. Far more efficient and effective for 'everyone' than the paper way of doing it at present. If this could be extended to check-in just pressing abutton to generate a bar-code secure sticker(small please!) into the passport passengers could just have passports scanned on the bar code which should 'zoom them through' ( with of course random physical checks).