customs, international flight query

Why is it that when I fly from Wellington (WLG) to Manchester (UK) via
Auckland (AKL) and Heathrow (LHR) I have to reclaim my baggage at LHR, take
it along with me to the domestic terminal and recheck it in there. MAN is an
international airport; why can't customs examine the baggage there?
Similarly, on return; I have to reclaim my baggage at AKL, and then almost
immediately check it in again for my onward flight to WLG - also an
international airport.
Cedthesublime



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On Sat, 28 Oct 2006 01:37:55 +1300 "Cedric the sublime" wrote:

:Why is it that when I fly from Wellington (WLG) to Manchester (UK) via
:Auckland (AKL) and Heathrow (LHR) I have to reclaim my baggage at LHR, take
:it along with me to the domestic terminal and recheck it in there. MAN is an
:international airport; why can't customs examine the baggage there?
:Similarly, on return; I have to reclaim my baggage at AKL, and then almost
:immediately check it in again for my onward flight to WLG - also an
:international airport.

Presumably because there are domestic passengers taking the end flights.

Customs and immigration cannot allow passengers that have not cleared to mix
with passengers that have cleared.

--
Binyamin Dissen
http://www.dissensoftware.com

Should you use the mailblocks package and expect a response from me,
you should preauthorize the dissensoftware.com domain.

I very rarely bother responding to challenge/response systems,
especially those from irresponsible companies.

"Hilary" wrote in message
reen.net...
Why is it that when I fly from Wellington (WLG) to Manchester (UK) via
Auckland (AKL) and Heathrow (LHR) I have to reclaim my baggage at LHR,
take it along with me to the domestic terminal and recheck it in there.
MAN is an international airport; why can't customs examine the baggage
there? Similarly, on return; I have to reclaim my baggage at AKL, and
then almost immediately check it in again for my onward flight to WLG -
also an international airport.

Because LHR and AKL are your first port of entry into the country and it
is there you must clear customs. If you flew from MAN-IAD-LAX-AKL you'd
clear British customs in Manchester.

Not so. I regularly fly LAX-LHR-NCL and go through Immigration at LHR and
get my bags checked through to NCL where (in theory) I am subject to Customs
examination there.

JohnT

On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:56:25 +0100 in rec.travel.air, "JohnT"
wrote:

Not so. I regularly fly LAX-LHR-NCL and go through Immigration at LHR and
get my bags checked through to NCL where (in theory) I am subject to Customs
examination there.

i fly SEA-LHR coming over --- how much extra does the LHR-NCL
segment cost? i would love to get my bike outside the london
metro area without having to move it around myself, and the
closer to scotland the better.

what kind of rail transfer is available at NCL?

"Dennis P. Harris" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:56:25 +0100 in rec.travel.air, "JohnT"
wrote:

Not so. I regularly fly LAX-LHR-NCL and go through Immigration at LHR
and
get my bags checked through to NCL where (in theory) I am subject to
Customs
examination there.

i fly SEA-LHR coming over --- how much extra does the LHR-NCL
segment cost? i would love to get my bike outside the london
metro area without having to move it around myself, and the
closer to scotland the better.

what kind of rail transfer is available at NCL?

Typically I would pay about the equivalent of about US $100 to add the
NCL-LHR or NCL-AMS (round trip) segment to my ticket.

The Airport has its own Metro (light rail) station. See
http://www.newcastleairport.com/

Newcastle Central Station is a main line train station with direct and fast
services to London, York, Berwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow (among other places).

JohnT

On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 08:24:03 -0500, Hilary wrote:

Because LHR and AKL are your first port of entry into the country and it
is there you must clear customs.

I think it has got more to do with the interline agreement between whatever
airlines the OP is flying on. There is a customs hall in the flight connection
centre at Heathrow as well as immigration, customs just never use it. So
technically he can clear at LHR. Lots of peoples connect off international
flights to domestic via the FCC every day.

As an aside visa interview on Tuesday hopefully be in the States in 3 weeks.
:-)


--
Lansbury
www.uk-air.net
FAQs for the alt.travel.uk.air newsgroup

Thanks Lansbury (and other respondents); I fly Thai Air from BKK-LHR, and
BMI from LHR-MAN; both Star Alliance, but on separate tickets. The queues
for the FCC always look fearsomely long when I arrive, so I've not
investigated whether I'm entitled to use it. IYO, would I be?

"Lansbury" wrote

I think it has got more to do with the interline agreement between
whatever
airlines the OP is flying on. There is a customs hall in the flight
connection
centre at Heathrow as well as immigration, customs just never use it. So
technically he can clear at LHR. Lots of peoples connect off international
flights to domestic via the FCC every day.




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

As an aside visa interview on Tuesday hopefully be in the States in 3
weeks.
:-)

Take a good book and a packed lunch it was a long wait when I got mine.

On Sun, 29 Oct 2006 01:49:23 +1300, "Cedric the sublime" wrote:

Thanks Lansbury (and other respondents); I fly Thai Air from BKK-LHR, and
BMI from LHR-MAN; both Star Alliance, but on separate tickets. The queues
for the FCC always look fearsomely long when I arrive, so I've not
investigated whether I'm entitled to use it. IYO, would I be?

On separate tickets your checked bags would not be through checked to final
destination, so you would have to reclaim them and check in again.

If Thai can through check your bags from BKK-LHR-MAN than you can go through
the FCC. The lines always look worse than they are, as normally there are 3 or
4 x-ray machines running so the line moves quite quick. My niece went through
the other week and the line was back to the entrance and she took 20 minutes.

When you enter the FCC you may notice some metal desks, like the ones in the
custom halls in the other terminals. That is the customs hall for the FCC. If
you have anything to declare you pick up the red telephone (1) and speak to a
customs officer. You have then technically cleared UK customs at LHR.

(1) Must be the least used telephone in the whole of the airport :-)
--
Lansbury
www.uk-air.net
FAQs for the alt.travel.uk.air newsgroup

Binyamin Dissen schrieb:

On Sat, 28 Oct 2006 01:37:55 +1300 "Cedric the sublime" wrote:

:Why is it that when I fly from Wellington (WLG) to Manchester (UK) via
:Auckland (AKL) and Heathrow (LHR) I have to reclaim my baggage at LHR, take
:it along with me to the domestic terminal and recheck it in there. MAN is an
:international airport; why can't customs examine the baggage there?
:Similarly, on return; I have to reclaim my baggage at AKL, and then almost
:immediately check it in again for my onward flight to WLG - also an
:international airport.

Presumably because there are domestic passengers taking the end flights.

Customs and immigration cannot allow passengers that have not cleared to mix
with passengers that have cleared.

Customs inside the EC can for trough-checked luggage; this is European law.

Regards, ULF