I haven’t flown since 911 so I’m unfamiliar with connecting flights these days.
Thank you.
Flying soon with a connecting flight in Vegas. Will we have to go through TSA check a second time before I transfer planes with our carry on in Vegas?
Passenger [Question/Post]As long as you don’t exit the gate area where all the cleared passengers are you won’t. Basically don’t leave the concourse after screening or you will be subject to it again.
The only time I've had to redo it was on an international flight once. They made us pick up our luggage on the domestic side and redo security on the international side. But staying domestic I've never had to.
Border customs is not the same as TSA
After immigration into the US, you have to clear TSA for a connecting flight.
To make a connection yes but you edited your comment without annotating that you did to make my statement seem incorrect.
Many airports have a stupid layout so you have to clear TSA on the international side even if you don’t have a connecting flight and just want to exit.
That doesn’t make any sense. You need a boarding pass departing from the airport you’re at to even go through TSA. Are you sure you’re not thinking of customs?
Yes. Like I said stupid layout. No exits from the international gates until you go through tsa to the domestic gates then you can leave the airport. You don’t need a boarding pass because TSA knows the exits are after their checkpoint.
What airport is this? Because it doesn’t matter how stupid the layout is that’s going against SOP
Agreed. You have to clear immigration when you exit the International part. Any international airport anywhere.
What? The question was about making a connection.
Right but then you didn’t specify that in your comment before you edited it. You just said “after immigration to the US you have to clear TSA” which as a stand alone statement is incorrect. I simply stated a fact that US customs is not the same as TSA because it’s frequently confused with one another.
No, I work for TSA. TSA is only applicable to flights leaving US soil. Upon arriving in the US from an international flight you go through US Customs screening.
How is TSA only applicable to flights leaving US soil? I take domestic flights all the time not leaving US soil and go through TSA or a TSA contractor?
It’s just a solid way to say for both domestic and international without having to say that. Leaving US soil implies both.
This statement ignores the original question and also isn't accurate.
On most international flights to US you'd go through the airport screening of that country (typically similar to points operated by TSA). When you arrive in US, you typically go through immigration/passport control. Then retrieve checked bags go through customs, recheck bags. From this point you go through a TSA checkpoint if you have a connecting flight. Which is what the previous poster was trying to say.
But TSA does operate check points in other countries (often through a contractor who provides the staff). For example in Aruba you go through local airport security, then exit immigration/passport control. Then. For US bound flights you go into the US immigration hall cleared through US immigration/passport control, collect your bags go through US customs, and recheck bag. Then while still in Aruba you go through a TSA checkpoint. For practical purposes that part of the terminal is a US domestic airport. Flights that leave from that part of the airport arrive at US airports like any other domestic flight.
Also fiy any checkpoint that uses contractors isn’t owned and operated by TSA. For example SFO uses screening by Covenant Aviation Security. They are under strict TSA guidelines and under contract from the US government to (hopefully) screen like real TSA officers. But they are not and none of them work for the federal government like TSA officers do. They are not TSA, they are literally airport security.
I understand what you're saying, there are a handful of airports domestically that use contractors for the staffing. The procedures, requirements, equipment, layout, threats all dictated by.....who?
By TSA… but with a grain of salt. They are not trained as extensively as we are. The amount of times I hear “SFO let me keep that” is a near daily amount. And it’s everything from gun magazines to knives to lotion. They truly do not give a single fuck and they’ll be able to get away with it until some horrible tragedy happens that they were supposed to prevent but didn’t, that’s when the government will step in and make changes to federal contract security.
I don't have a lot of data to understand the effectiveness of one program / site to another. But from my observation, it all seems all sites are not super effective. For front line workers: It pays very little and sometimes requires additional work. It's full of people hoping to get in to law enforcement, washed out of law enforcement, or not qualified for law enforcement. It's has all the vitriol lobbed at other law enforcement, but layered on top of that is all the stress people experience while traveling. All the inconsistencies, for all the inconsistencies TSA as an organization says its intentional to be unpredictable, and in some cases sure. But in most cases, I've seen this it appears to be ineffective training or in effective personnel (which no amount of training can overcome).
Jesus Christ you don’t need to explain all this to me I work for TSA, I know all this like the back of my hand. The original question as in OP yes but the commenter above me edited their comment and I was replying to their original comment that just said when you arrive in the US you go through TSA screening which is incorrect, you go through customs. Afterwards they edited it but didn’t annotate that they did so. But I literally said verbatim “TSA is only applicable to flights leaving US Soil” how is that incorrect, and why are you trying to correct me on that? You are 10000% wrong on Aruba. Aruba does not have a TSA checkpoint, they have their own dedicated US bound security, but it is not operated by TSA at all. TSA only operates on US soil and territories like Guam and the Virgin Islands. But it does not operate on foreign soil by any stretch of the imagination. US Customs and Border protection does have a remote satellite operation in Aruba that you might be thinking of, but TSA does not.
You are 10000% wrong on Aruba. Aruba does not have a TSA checkpoint, they have their own dedicated US bound security, but it is not operated by TSA at all.
I'll admit there may be nuance to "operated by TSA." I have been through it. It's a third party operating the check point. The signage all had the the TSA logo on it, similar to the US domestic airports that use private contractors to do day to day operations of the security check point (San Francisco and Kansas City come to mind). My last trip was also precovid, so there may have been further changes.
Yeah so that doesn’t mean shit really, then. I get a lot of bag checks from people who say “at SFO they didn’t take my 20oz shampoo bottle” and I always reply back with “their federally contracted to do so and are supposed to but their not TSA”
I'm actually a fan of this comment because it made me realize that literally all flights leave US soil. Never thought about that before.
No I’m sure there’s tons of flights in other countries that don’t originate or arrive on US soil but sure, we’ll go with that. TSA only operates in the US. Other countries have very similar administrations in place.
Fair enough.
Nope. You only go through TSA at your origin airport. You will just go straight from your arrival gate to your new departure gate at your connecting airport.
Thank you 😊
And if you check your luggage - it'll be waiting for you at your final destination.
I learned this the hard way first time I flew as a teenager in the late 80's! LOL!
Ooops!
I can’t speak to Las Vegas, but in San Diego Southwest uses two different little 12 gate terminals and if your connection is in the other you have go back through security.
So while it is unusual on a domestic, it does happen.
Only if you leave the secure area for some reason.
Stay in the secured area and you are fine. Go outside that area and you will have to go back through tsa security.
Thank you
The only recheck international transfers coming into the country. Unless you leave the secure area for some reason.
Once you go through TSA, you don’t don’t through security again unless you leave the secured area.
Most generous airport! On a work related trip while waiting for my connecting flight I played the slots and won $3,000
Wow, that’s awesome!
No. Not if you already did.
Thank you
Are you on the same airline and have your bag checked all the way?
If your bag is only checked to Las Vegas then you WILL have to exit security to get it, recheck it and go vac in through security.
Otherwise carry it on.
Yes, southwest both flights.
You should be fine. Just make sure when your checked bag is tagged, it is to the final destination. The agent usually confirms to you.
Great tip I didn’t think of. Thank you
Southwest uses B and C gates at LAS. If you have to switch between them, watch the signs carefully, if you accidentally head to baggage claim, you may have to go back through security.
Useful tip, thank you
That's not how united states domestic flights work at all
So if, for example, the first leg is on Southwest and the second is on Delta, then you are saying one company will just hand the bag off to the other company?
If all your connections are with the same airline, they will tag your bag for its final destination. If you are switching airlines, the first airline will only tag your bag up to the switch.
Exactly.
If all your connections are with the same airline,
If your connections are on the same ticket, not airline.; interline agreements (That said, OP is on Southwest who doesn't do this.)
If both legs are on the same ticket, yes.
But if you are on Allegiant, they don’t do transfers.
Welcome to r/tsa! If you're new here, please make sure you check out the pinned FAQ post here .
Please also make sure that your question(s) aren't something that are easily found on the official TSA website.
If you cannot find the answers to your question(s) easily with those two resources, then please sit tight and someone will be here shortly to answer your question(s)
Have a good one!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
what airport is the transfer?
almost all airports, the terminals are past TSA so you only go thru 1x. But there are a few exceptions, mostly with when you transfer to a smaller cessna type plane in another terminal.
Las Vegas.
no problem. modern design
The old Kansas City airport terminal was one of those exceptions. It was built long before TSA existed with no consideration for a central checkpoint. Instead, you walked right to your gate, and each gate area was walled in with a separate TSA checkpoint sticking out into the concourse.
If you had a transfer there, you had to leave your arrival gate and then go through security again at your departure gate. All the restaurants were outside the secured gate areas, so if you wanted a meal while you waited (or even just a snack or a beverage), you had to go out and back through the full screening again when you were done.
I was happy to see they finally opened a new terminal and abandoned that old disaster last year. I haven't flown through there since the new one opened, but I can't imagine any scenario in which it isn't an improvement.
Miami and Ft Lauderdale have 'charter' services to the islands that is often in another building. Tarmac boarding.
Towards the final years of the old terminal, most gates for the same airline were behind the same checkpoint. It was very unusual to have to deal with security if, for example, transferring between two Southwest flights. But also very easy to accidentally leave the secure zone.
1 missing reply
OP's question has been answered. Comments are now closed.