<p>My S is going on a trip overseas and will be flying back into Newark Airport and then has a connecting flight to our hometown airport. Whenever we have flown and had to go through customs, we’ve flown directly from the foreign country to our home airport - no connection. So, not sure about the procedure for going through customs. Are his bags checked through to the final destination? Or does he have to clear customs in Newark? How does that work with checked bags? Is it pretty easy to figure out? He’s 19 and has done some traveling, but usually with family - this time he’s on his own.
Thanks!</p>
<p>He’ll first clear immigration. Then there will be a baggage claim where he will retrieve checked bags. Then he will proceed through customs. He will then be able to recheck his bags to his final destination. All this takes place in Newark.</p>
<p>You clear customs in your first point of entry, even if it’s not your final destination. He will go through customs, retrieve his bags and then recheck to the final destination. It’s all set up to do this smoothly.</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>And when he rechecks bags he doesn’t go back out through security. Make sure he does NOT exit. There should be a counter right near by customs where he can hand off his checked bags. When i came back in through JFK last month they were emphasizing that you couldn’t open your checked bags (to put in a jacket, let’s say). In any case, don’t go out through security.</p>
<p>^ When I did this a couple of years ago at Newark (via Continental) there was no choice. You had to get out of security. But it was not a problem at all. Everyone else is also doing it and there are plenty of staff around to direct you.</p>
<p>This probably won’t apply to your son, but I was flying back from France through JFK, and had to get on another plane for a domestic flight, and my international flight got in early, so there was a chance I could make an earlier flight on the domestic one, and boy was I in a rush to get through customs! Nervous, checking my watch, answering every question a little too quickly. And they kept me there so long I missed the flight. This was before 9/11 but I bet I looked like an ad for ‘lady with something to hide’. :(</p>
<p>They will give him immigration and custom forms on the plane. Tell him to be sure to fill them out on the plane. It will speed things up. The process of getting through customs and immigration is easy to figure out but if there are a lot of passengers coming in, it can be slow. My son flew in from Europe a week ago via Detroit and only had 1 hour to catch his connection. We were worried he wouldn’t make it but fortunately, he was at the front of the plane and was finished with the whole process in about 15 minutes.</p>
<p>Agree^, tell him not to freak if the customs line seems too long to make it to the connecting flight. The are usually pretty efficient, assuming you don’t set off the flags as Classof2015 did!</p>
<p>My experience at Newark (where I was making a connection from an overseas flight to my home city) was that making the connection is fairly easy. Directions are clear and there are lots of those carts around to move your baggage. IIRC you get your baggage from the flight you exited (the bags are delivered to an area that isn’t too far from where you go through customs). I moved through customs pretty quickly and onto my domestic flight. I’ve done it 3 or 4 times going through Newark–my H has tons of Continental frequent flier miles and lots of the international flights seem to go through that airport.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the help and specifics re: Newark. He is flying on Continental both from Europe and in the US and has a long layover in Newark (almost 3 hours) so it seems that he’ll have plenty of time and won’t feel the need to rush. Classof2015’s story gave me a chuckle :)</p>
<p>Tell him he there’s a strong chance he will arrive in Terminal B (vs C) on his international flight and head out of C on his domestic. (is his domestic flight a Continental Connection/Regional Jet, some of those go out of A). </p>
<p>As prior posters have said, in Newark, you first clear immigration, head down escalator to retrieve your bags, exit Customs, then have the opportunity to re-check your bags (make sure he follows the signs). After this, you have to get back in the security line for the domestic flight. (Continental has a good website that you can check which terminal/gates the flights are arriving to and departing from.) Make sure he knows he will once again be subject to the 3-1-1 liquid rule, so if he bought anything liquid in duty free abroad it needs to go in his checked luggage. </p>
<p>Make sure he knows not to bring raw fruits, veggies or meat back in the US. If he checks on the Customs declaration he has food of any sort, he will have to head over to the FDA inspection line and shows them what he had and put his bags through an xray/scanner looking for biological products. I often bring chocolate back from Europe and declare it. The FDA guys generally laugh at me for this!</p>