Advice needed: Bounced by Delta Airlines

Lenny285

You will need a valid ESTA for entry under the visa waiver program.


If you are ineligible for an ESTA you would need a C1 Transit visa.

jackieblack

stewie_griffin wrote: »

Would "to get to Costa Rica" be convincing enough?

They may ask to see evidence of your connecting flight, but I'd assume you'll have that anyway

richardw

United queues for security at Newark can be very long, been there, consider picking seats as far forward as possible on your flight into EWR.

bigadaj

stewie_griffin wrote: »

Yes all our flights are with United (technically the outbound flight from LHR is a code share with Lufthansa). Our return flight is via IAH.

Is there anything else I need to know that I might have missed i.e. any additional forms to complete?

You need to have complete an esta as you go through us immigration, there's no such thing as transit in the states.

We did that trip through Newark in 2013, and it was all straightforward, even though we went during a big snowfall event. This meant flights continually changing including our route up to morning of departure, and bouncing between Houston and Newark as the connection points.

All went reasonably well, particularly as my historic experience of most us airlines is poor in relation to European and particularly Asian ones.

San Jose is a small airport so nice and relaxed, just had a minor issue on return as my partner was stopped when exiting immigration and officials got stroppy when I insisted on waiting for her, though no problems in the end.

shaun_from_Africa

bigadaj wrote: »

You need to have complete an esta as you go through us immigration, there's no such thing as transit in the states.

Of course there is such a thing as transit in the USA otherwise why would they have a specific visa for transit purpose (a C Visa).

The US gov website dealing with ESTA applications also states the following:

I am a citizen of a VWP country and am traveling to the United States by air to transit the U.S.?
Yes. You must apply for ESTA even if you are only transiting the U.S. In the address field of the application, write "in Transit"

stewie_griffin

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't know anything about the ETSA so if I'd not asked today we probably would have got to the airport without one and not been allowed on the plane!

I've completed the application online so should hopefully hear back early next week.

shaun_from_Africa

stewie_griffin wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't know anything about the ETSA so if I'd not asked today we probably would have got to the airport without one and not been allowed on the plane!

I've completed the application online so should hopefully hear back early next week.

Check your e-mail spam folder later as ESTA applications are often processed almost immediately and the mail might have gone there.
You can check on the ESTA website to see the status of your application.
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/application.html?execution=e1s1

bigadaj

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Of course there is such a thing as transit in the USA otherwise why would they have a specific visa for transit purpose (a C Visa).

The US gov website dealing with ESTA applications also states the following:

Yes, but not in the sens it is used everywhere else in the world, ie not entering the country but simply changing planes and staying airside.

Makes it more hassle, particularly as you then have to collect baggage and check in all over again. We were travelling on reward flights so there was a financial incentive but normally I'd strongly avoid transiting through the states if there are any reasonable alternatives.

duchy

bigadaj wrote: »

Yes, but not in the sens it is used everywhere else in the world, ie not entering the country but simply changing planes and staying airside.

Makes it more hassle, particularly as you then have to collect baggage and check in all over again. We were travelling on reward flights so there was a financial incentive but normally I'd strongly avoid transiting through the states if there are any reasonable alternatives.

No you don't have to check it in all over again.
Your bags are tagged through to your final destination . You DO have to collect your bags at your first point of arrival in the US to go through customs - but you simply put them on a conveyor belt after customs NOT go through a full check in process again as you imply.

The only exception would be if you were travelling on two seperate tickets for each sector or were travelling with two different airlines who didn't have a baggage agreement (there are a very few still)

I seem to remember Miami is a bit of an exception in that you have to clear customs and immigration as I know I've transitted through other gateways and not needed to clear customs and immigration as it was possible to stay airside to transit to a third country . My memory is saying Dallas is one such airport but haven't time to check at the moment. Actually I'm sure Dallas is one as I was travelling as a group to Mexico with a night in Dallas on the way and one of the group didn't have a US visa so flew the next day with just a transit at DFW as he didn't need a visa that way.

stewie_griffin

bigadaj wrote: »

Yes, but not in the sens it is used everywhere else in the world, ie not entering the country but simply changing planes and staying airside.

Makes it more hassle, particularly as you then have to collect baggage and check in all over again. We were travelling on reward flights so there was a financial incentive but normally I'd strongly avoid transiting through the states if there are any reasonable alternatives.

It sounds like a right pain. I'm glad we've got 3 hours both going and coming back.

There are no direct flights from the UK to Costa Rica at the moment but that's due to change in April when there will be flights from Gatwick.