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My cousin is supposed to be arriving in Indiana today. She departed from Mumbai, India, went to Paris and then to Boston. Her Boston to Indiana layover was 11 hours.

The terrible part was she got her luggage and had to clear immigration!

It was overnight layover and outside the emigration she encountered a terrible person who walked in the airport right from the street..With no security there whatsoever..

My question is if she legally has to clear immigration at Boston itself, could she have waited inside the immigration overnight and walked out and back in just an hour before her flight to indiana in the morning?

Or say walk out and back in right away in the night itself?

In short words was it not possible for her to wait inside the immigration for that night?

Is not isn't it the responsibility of the airline to give accommodation in Boston if she can't even sit inside immigration!?

neubert
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Siddhart
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1 Answers1

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She needs to clear immigration when her flight arrives and then claim bags to clear customs. Immigration counters are staffed ONLY when there are arriving flights, so coming through later may not even be possible. Plus staff at the airport will flush all the arriving passengers out of the jetway halls into the immigration area to make sure everyone is accounted for. Unlike international airports in other parts of the world, there is no sterile transit area at American airports for international travelers, all arriving passengers must officially enter the USA when their flight lands.

If she had her boarding pass, perhaps she could have dropped her bags at recheck after clearing customs and re-entered the departure lounge. But I am not familiar enough with Logan Airport to know if the airside areas are open all night long. Plus TSA may prohibit her from entering the sterile departure area that far in advance of her departure time.

The airline is not responsible for providing accommodations on a long layover. Some airlines do provide meals and/or lodging, but they do it simply as a PR benefit and it tends to be airlines trying to carve a niche for themselves. There are no laws requiring it.