Transiting via the US

400ixl

Lots of presumptions on the US lAD immigration times by people who by the looks of it are just guessing and never been through. US airport wait times can be viewed at https://awt.cbp.gov/

Not been through IAD for a couple of years now but it was certainly reasonably quick then and looks like it still is with average times being 20 minutes or so. The slow part at IAD depending on which gate you go into can be the transport to the terminal.

As another example, went through Detroit last months and immigration and bag collection was done in under 10 minutes. However if it were LAX I wouldn't go for anything under 2 hours.

The main consideration I would have is whether there are multiple flights to the onward destination to be re-booked onto as to whether I would take the risk. If you are doing an in day transition, make sure you book those flights on a single ticket. If you don't then they have no responsibility if a delay means you miss the connecting flight.

skint_chick

Swiss are good at putting your gate for the connecting flight - if you're booked through - on the screens just before landing so you know where you have to go - connecting flights are very straightforward at Zurich and 70minutes should be enough - I've had tighter connections with delayed first leg and still made it!

JGB1955

We went from LHR to CHC (via Los Angles and Auckland).  The trip from LHR to AKL was the worst of my life.  The transit lounge at LA was dire, with octogenarians being taken off the (in transit) plane to receive a barrage of abuse (in Spanish) before sitting (in the middle of 'our' night) in a lounge with no resources, even water,  before re-boarding into our original seats.  Avoid Flight NZ1 at all costs!... unless you pay for First Class.

Neil49

If you go via the USA then you will need an ESTA even though you are only transiting. 

bagand96

El_Torro said:

Thanks for all the comments. Some more detail to address the questions:

I fly from Heathrow to Zurich with Swiss Air. My connecting flight is with Edelweiss Air. I haven't booked the ticket yet but I can book it all with United Airlines. My later flights are all with United, and I guess they have some sort of relationship with both Swiss and Edelweiss since I can book the whole trip with United. I might be assuming too much there... I can look at booking all the flights separately, though that might be a lot more costly. Plus since I am booking with different airlines I thought there'd be less room for redress if something goes wrong with one of the flights?

You're correct.  It's called a "codeshare" arrangement.  Many airlines work together and sell each others flights as connections.  So in your case you book with United, everything is ticketed by United on one reservation and even though one or two of the flights will be on Swiss/Edelweiss aircraft.

As other posters have said, do not book the tickets separately, do as you've planned on book everything on one ticket/reservation.  That way if anything goes wrong you will be looked after and they have to re-route you on the next available flight to your destination.

The US can be a pain to transit as you have to enter the US customs and immigration, reclaim and your bag and drop it off again, and then re-clear security.  That said it's usually a dedicated transit area so often isn't as bad as it sounds.  I've always found it ok and never missed a connection - maybe I've been lucky.  An ESTA is needed, even just to transit the US. 

Whichever route you choose, if they are selling you the ticket then it is a "legal" connection that meets the minimum connection time for whichever airport.  That means they'll re-route you in the event of a problem.

CKhalvashi

Option 2 sounds fine.

I've transited through Warsaw (non-Schengen to non-Schengen) multiple times and it's never taken longer than 20 minutes to get airside for the next flight, even in the middle of a LO A/D wave. WAW is bigger than ZRH. Just follow the signs to connections on landing.

I wouldn't currently transit through the US, especially on these timescales.

eDicky

The normal concept of 'transit' relating to air travel, where passengers remain airside between their connecting flights, just doesn't exist in the US and never has. It's as if there's an 'all roads lead to Rome ' mentality - how could anyone possibly be going anywhere else, just passing through? So US airports have only arrivals and departures, no such thing as a transit lounge or transit facilities in the normal way. Quite unique really, and worth taking any alternative route if possible.