Can I visit outside the airport on a connecting flight?
Hi, I'm flying with Delta soon, from London, and my flight stops in Atlanta on the way there, and JFK on the way back, am I allowed to leave the airport and have a look around, and will I need a visa or an ESTA to do so? Thanks,
Air Travel - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Even if they'll let you, unless you have a whole lot of time, it won't be worth it. You'd have to go through security again - at a major airport. If you think you have enough time, call your airline and ask them.
2 :
Where are you going? Somewhere else in the US, right? And you're a British citizen too, right? So you shouldn't need a special visa as the UK is part of the visa waiver program with the USA for tourist visits. However, your layover is probably not long enough to do anything or go anywhere. First, the majority of airports are far away from anything of interest. First because it's not prime real estate to be next to a busy airport with loud planes. They're generally plopped in a large, flat, open area so in order to get anywhere you'll need to spend money paying for a taxi both to wherever you go and back. Then, in order to leave the airport you will be required to go through customs and get all of your bags. You can't leave the airport if you have bags checked to keep going because it's a security risk and looks suspicious for someone to say they intend to leave the airport but, no, please, just keep my bags where they are. So you'll have to go to baggage claims and grab any checked luggage (that you'll have to make sure is specially arranged to be dropped off at Atlanta, rather than being prepared to continue directly on to your final destination), and then wheel it all around with you wherever you go outside of the airport. Even though it's a domestic flight (I assume) you're still meant to be at the airport at least one hour before departure. So you'll have to come back to the airport, re-check in, go through security all over again, and rush to the terminal. It's very likely not going to be worth your time. Atlanta doesn't have much for you to look at anyway.
3 :
Passengers who are in transit in the US when connecting from international destinations must go through Customs and Immigration in the US and meet all entry requirements for the country, regardless of whether they intend to stay in the country for an hour or for longer. Because the US doesn't treat transit passengers any differently than other persons entering the US, you don't need any special paperwork or visas in order to leave the airport, because you're cleared for entry into the US as soon as you clear customs/immigration. That having been said, whether you actually should leave the airport depends upon the length of your connection. Keep in mind that the Customs and Immigration checks can take quite a while -- I would expect that, depending on how many other flights land at the same time as yours, it could take an hour to go through that process. Additionally, leaving the airport means you'd have to go through security on the way back, such that you're back within a half an hour or so before your flight is scheduled to depart. While you are certainly allowed to leave the airport and see the sights outside, I don't know if I'd consider actually doing so unless you had a considerable layover (at least 6 hours, and possibly 8). Both ATL and JFK are located quite far away from their respective cities, so if you intended on going into Atlanta or New York as part of the layover, you'd need to allow extra travel time to get there as well.
4 :
Yes, you can go outside of the airport. However, this is never recommended. After clearing customs, you'll have to re-check your bag with the airline. Then, you can go back to your gate. If you choose to go outside, then when you want to come back in, you have to clear security TSA again. This can always eat up time because you never know how long the lines will be. Have a great trip!
Title : Can I visit outside the airport on a connecting flight
Description : Can I visit outside the airport on a connecting flight? Hi, I'm flying with Delta soon, from London, and my flight stops in Atlanta o...