American Airlines
 

I am flying from Manchester,England,airport to Dallas via Chicago,although I have flown many times I have never had to transfer before,my question is when my luggage is checked in at Manchester is it transferred at Chicago onto my connecting flight to Dallas or do I have to collect it myself and check it on to the DRW flight myself??

Your bags will be tagged to DFW. However, at Chicago, you go through US immigration, pick up your bags, go through customs, and then drop-off your bags right outside to AA.

Then you ride the train from the international arrivals building to AA's terminal, and reclear security there.

All passengers arriving in the US will have to pick up bags, and go through immigration and customs at first point of entry.

Thanks for your help,how about the return journey,is it the same procedure??

rkkwan is correct about the procedure.

My experience arriving through Chicago was pretty chaotic and no one seemed to know what was supposed to happen - the airport employees didn't do a very good job of directing things. My plane was a few hours late and so I think that added to the confusion because so many people were in a rush. Talking to others, I have heard that this is not unusual though. So be prepared. You at least know the procedure, so you will have a leg up on a lot of people - LOL. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing for you.

Again, I don't know if this is standard or just because of the time crunch when I was there, but when we rechecked our bags after clearing customs, we were told to basically just put them in a herd with the other bags to be sorted on to the correct planes later. We didn't actually hand them to anyone. I couldn't believe that with all the security these days, that we were to just leave our bags, but apparently that was the case.

Oh - I just saw your post about the return journey. We must be posting at the same time :)

On the way out, it is MUCH easier. We had a connection in Chicago on the way to Munich, and in Chicago we left out of the domestic terminal, so no customs, no emmigration - just the same as a domestic flight. We checked a bag in San Jose (our origination airport) and we didn't see it again until we claimed it in Munich.

Return is much simpler. Your bags go directly to Manchester. Your DFW flight arrives at AA's main Terminal 3, and your MAN flight also departs there. No immigration, no customs, no security, no train ride.

However, the US Government has started something called "US-Visit", so you need to have your picture taken and thumbs scanned at a machine in the terminal. I am pretty sure Chicago O'hare is one of those airports in this "test".

Also, the AA check-in agent needs to collect your I-94 form from your passport at DFW.

I read something about taking thumbprints but thought this was for the new type passports,mine is about 5 years old with a barcode on the photo page,what is a form 1-94??Do I have to fill in an entry form on the plane like we did when going to the Caribbean?

Visitors to the US will need to fill in a landing card I-94. If you're a UK citizen, you will fill out the green one, I-94W. The airline crew will hand those out prior to landing in the US.

The immigration officer will take off the top part when you arrive, but there's a remaining small stub you need to turn in when you leave the US (to the airline). You'll also have your picture taken and thumbs scanned at that time.

That has been in placed for probably 2 years now.

But what's new is to have your picture taken and thumb scanned at a automatic kiosk at some departure airports on your way out. This is supposed to be still in "testing", and not all airports have them. But you are "required" to do it.