Guindalf

Here am I stuck in a Hampton Inn in Dulles (Washington DC) following a late arrival and missed connection yesterday, so I'm obviously bored.

My flight home is not until 12:20pm and I woke up at 5am, despite going to bed at 11pm (4am in the UK!).

What I really don't understand is the necessity for the TSA to do a full security search on arrival, causing a huge bottleneck and making hundreds of people on several flights miss their connection. I realize there's a huge discrepancy between foreign airport security checks and the TSA standards, but surely if I'm safe enough to fly internationally, there's no need to go through it all again when I arrive?

tonrob

Full security search on arrival? I enter the US about 5 times a year and have never come across this. Or do you mean them routing you back through security to get to the departure of your connecting flight?

Sorry you missed your flight. What a pain.

penguinsix

Does sound like quite a pain. On the plus side you're not that far from the National Air and Space Museum Dulles branch, but not sure you'll have time to see it in the morning.

Dulles has passengers arrive and they get directly shuttled to an international arrivals facility, where they are processed through immigration and customs (airside) and then sent out into the public reception (curbside) where they have to re-enter the security lines to catch a connecting flight, if I recall.

Heathrow has (had?) something similar last time I flew through on a connecting flight to Europe. You arrive and were shuttled into a transfer facility before immigration where you were re-screened through security, bags checked, etc. Could take quite a while if there were many flights. However, this was a dedicated area and you didn't have an immigration stop over, thus weren't put back into the general population, general security entrance. Saved a bit of time overall.

I think the difference is that by and large, most airports are primarily "domestic" with international flights making up a small minority of the arrivals and departures. I think LHR is probably what, 50-50? Certainly more international passengers than any US airport I would suspect, thus a more efficient processing would make sense.

This gives the US a chance to grab people when passing through the US, thus forcing them through immigration. They've nabbed a few international businessman who were wanted for violations of US law (such as those Internet gambling guys) this way.

Anyway, hope you make your flight today without as much hassle.

Guindalf

No, you can stay airside all the way at Washington. At least everyone with a connecting flight goes through TSA security after collecting their bags, going through customs and re-depositing their bags. I can't speak for anyone terminating in DC as I didn't know that I was until after I got through. Of course, as i eft the airport, I'll have to go through it all again this morning.

I would have loved to have visited the Air & Spae museaum, but not having transport makes it difficult. Had to use the shuttle to go to Red Robin last night to get somethiing to eat.

Of coure, the airline quoted air traffic control as the reason for the delay, so they wouldn't even pay for the hotel or meals. I may have to contact them after I get home.

Oh, and to add to my enjoyment, I've lost my $100 Shure earbuds somewhere along th line and the connecting flight has no entertainment!

JAJ

That's normal for connecting onto any domestic flight (everywhere), and probably any international one (depends on country/airport).

Guindalf

Doen't stop it sucking though!

ian-mstm

I love my Shure earphones... don't travel anywhere without them. They're expensive but well worth the money! I feel your pain.

Ian

md95065

You never know, you might get lucky and have some live entertainment ...

SanDiegogirl

I sympathise. Went out via Dulles last year. The traffice to the airport was terrible, and we waited 1.5 hours to get through security. The line was miles long. At least they were walking along the line calling out for passengers whose flights were practically boarding.

Terrible airport.

penguinsix

I think there are two arrival points at IAD, one in the C terminal and one in the main building, called the IAB (International Arrival Building). At the C terminal you basically are airside so the transfer has you go through a dedicated TSA line, but at the IAB I think you are put in the general population. Was there a passage to keep you airside from the IAB? I haven't found it yet. Would save me the hassle next time.

http://www.metwashairports.com/dulles/884.htm

I would definitely write to the airlines. Were you delayed leaving your original airport or in the arrival pattern at Dulles? Might be able to squeeze something from them.

Squirrel

Sympathy. We had to go through security 3 times to fly from London to Boston via Dublin. Went through security at Heathrow. Then through Irish security at Dublin, then walk straight through to security again for TSA (only baggage X-rayed, not metal detector for persons). Wish they had told you not to bother putting your shoes back on after Irish security! Do the TSA not trust Irish security then? Only, if you're going direct from Heathrow you only go through British security and fly directly into US airspace, so they must trust UK security, why not Irish?

HarryTheSpider

If I was responsible for security I wouldn't trust ANY security before my area - it only takes one... and then you look like a total incompetent, or worse, traitor/inside man...

and as said earlier, that doesn't stop it sucking...

AND there are ways of making it less sucky - if only people thought about it more...

We've had terrorism related security to live with in Europe since the early 70s. The USA is still waking up to this phenomena...

lansbury

A station manager at Heathrow airport was dealing with a connecting flight one day. Some passengers on an inbound flight were delayed and in the interests of getting them onto the outbound flight, with their bags, he decided not to go through all the security procedures. After all the baggage had been screened at their point of departure and it would save time if their bags were not screened again at Heathrow, there was no point in wasting that time the bags had been checked.

So he ordered the bags loaded on the aircraft and everyone caught the outbound flight, with their bags. That flight was Pan Am 103, and if he had screened the bags he would have found the bomb that exploded over Lockerbie.