Going2USA

Booking tickets through a travel agent is better in most of the cases as you may get a discounted rate as compared to booking it directly through airlines. Mention food preference, seat preference, ask baggage restrictions, cancellation and refund restrictions. Most of the flights leave early morning (after midnight), make sure you understand the written time. For ex: Boarding on 7/4/2003 at 00:12 means 6th late night 12:12 AM and 7th early morning.

While booking you can also set your seat preference whether you want an aisle seat or window seat. You can ask your travel agent more about the seats in the aircraft. Check how much time do you have to catch your connecting flight in between. You should have sufficient time to catch the connecting flight taking into account the immigration, customs and changing terminals time. For more information on booking the tickets : Booking the air tickets

Frequent Flyer Miles: Many airlines give frequent flyer miles for your travel on their flights or their partner airline flights. After you accumulate enough miles you can get free flights and upgrades. Check if the airline that you are traveling on gives miles. Most of the major airlines give miles and you can register in their program online. After you get your frequent flyer number, make sure your travel agent/airline agent during check-in enters your number on the ticket.

	Reconfirm the tickets [Top]
Don't forget to reconfirm the tickets 72 hours before departure. You can also ask your travel agent to do the same on your behalf.

	Packing and managing the luggage [Top]
Ask the airline or your travel agent about the baggage restrictions. Pack accordingly. For more information see Packing tips, guidelines and weight restrictions. Get currency of the destination country. You can exchange currency from authorized banks, travel agencies, counters at the airports.

Reaching the airport [Top]

On the arrival:

Make sure you arrive at the airport atleast 3hrs before your flight departure. Related Information: What to do when Things go Wrong! Make sure you have reached the right terminal for the departure.
When you reach at the airport, you will asked to scan your luggage (check-in only) and authority will put a safety-checked sticker on the luggage. When you check-in at the airline counter, you will be given one or many boarding passes - one for each segment of your flight. Take a receipt of your checked-in luggage. You will be given embarkation form here. Fill it up carefully. In case of doubt, ask the airline staff.
If your flight is delayed or cancelled or overbooked, the airlines try to accommodate by booking you on the next flight or on other airlines. They normally offer compensation in the form of travel vouchers for a later date for the inconvenience. Airlines will let you use their phone to inform your relatives/people coming to pick you about the delay in the flight. Related Information: What to do when Things go Wrong!
Make sure you have your passport, I-20 (for students), I-797 (for H1-B) and other documents with you and not in your checked in bags. All important documents must never be checked in bags.

Immigration Check:

The immigration officer will ask for your passport, ticket, boarding pass and the Embarkation form. He might ask few questions about your journey, visa, purpose of travel etc. Answer clearly. He will take the Embarkation form, and will return every thing else after stamping your passport.
At the custom counter, get your passport endorsed if you are carrying lots of jewelry or electronics items or a laptop. So when you come back, you wont have to face customs if they raise an eyebrows. The custom officer will stamp your boarding pass

Security Check

Here you will have to keep the hand luggage through the X-ray. They will check you also and stamp the boarding pass with the "security checked" stamp. Check for the departure gate and now you are all set to board the plane whenever they announce the boarding.

Boarding the flight [Top]

Make yourself comfortable. If you find any empty seats after the plane has taken off, ask the flight attendant if you can move there, so that you stretch yourself and sleep comfortably. Make sure that you chew a gum or eat a candy or use some nasal spray to prevent your ears from paining due to air pressure , especially if you have cold. If you have any doubts about the transit airport, ask the plane staff. Sometimes they can help once you are on the ground.

At the transit airport [Top]

After you reach the intermediate/transit airport, look for the terminal and gate number of your next flight. Adjust your watch to the local time and see how much time you have for the next flight. At few places airports are huge and you might have to take a bus to go from one terminal to another terminal.

Once you find the gate of your flight, you can relax, freshen up, do shopping, call relatives depending on the time. Reach 45 minutes at the gate prior to the flight time.

In the flight [Top]

Watch movies, enjoy food. If you have kids traveling with you, ask the attendant if they have some special for the kids. Usually, airlines give toys, kids bags and goodies.

Most important, few hours before the arrival, the airline staff will give you two forms to fill. One will be the custom form, and the other will be the immigration ( I-94 ) form. Fill them very carefully. By any chance, if you dont have the forms with you toward the end of the journey, just go ahead, approach the flight attendants and ask them for both the forms. These forms are important for your immigration and customs in the US. Fill one I-94 forms for each person and one customs form for the whole family. In case of doubt, ask fellow passengers or flight attendant for assistance.

Reaching USA - First port of entry [Top]

Immigration: When you get off the flight, just follow signs to immigration & customs. Get into the line. Keep your passports, completely filled I-94 form, completely filled customs forms handy. Once your turn comes, immigration officer will check your passport and the immigration form. He might ask a few questions about your visa status, purpose of visit, address of stay, duration of stay etc. Answer them very carefully, and politely. The officer will attach a part of I-94 form you filled, to your passport. You will also be asked for digital fingerprint and a photograph.

Permanent residents (Green Card holders) and US citizens dont have to go through finger printing. Children under 14 yrs and adults over 79 years of age dont have to go through this procedure too.

Customs: After immigration, you need to collect your checked in bags from the carousel for your flight and proceed to customs. Ask the officers if you dont know where to look for your bags. If you do not have anything to declare (items to be declared are mentioned in the customs forms you have filled), you can pass through the green channel, else you may need to pass through the red channel. Even if you pass through the green channel the customs officers might randomly check your baggage.

Related Link:
Delayed baggage, Lost Baggage
Customs & Immigrations
Frequently asked custom related questions

	Heading to your destination [Top]
If you are traveling to another destination within the US, you can check-in your baggage at the airline counters which are available immediately after the customs. If you are expecting somebody to receive you, you might find them at the baggage claim area. If not, you may go to the information counter desk, and enquire about the transport information.

Contact Us	Legal disclaimer	Advertisement
Copyright � 1998 - 2005 going2usa.com All rights reserved.