I’ve had hundreds of international arrivals into the USA over the last couple of decades, but my arrival in Chicago O’Hare from Frankfurt was unique…someone seemed to forget that it was an international arrival!
My United Airlines Flight Had A Security Breach At Chicago O’Hare…
First, a general note. The United States does not currently have so-called “sterile” international to international transit, unlike most of the developed world. If you’re flying from Frankfurt to Mexico City via Chicago, you will need to enter the USA by passing through immigration and customs, then proceed through security and back to your gate, even if your time on the ground in Chicago is only 90 minutes and you have no intention to remain in the USA.
There are very few exceptions to this (which I will not get into here), and my flight from Frankfurt was certainly not one of them.
In 2023, Chicago O’Hare completed its remodeling and expansion of Terminal 5. The expansion added 10 new gates to T5 and, importantly for purposes of this story, a reconfigured international arrivals facility.
Depending upon which gate you land in, you now walk past departure gates (separated by glass and locked doors) on your way down to the arrivals facility staffed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Seated in row one on my flight from Frankfurt, I was one of the first off, but not the first off. About 5-6 passengers got off before I did and as we walked off the jetbridge, we found that the door to the gate area was wide open…
The passengers stopped and appeared puzzled. Do they go through that door or keep following the signs toward international arrivals? Four stepped out into the gate area.
Suddenly, the United agent who met the flight came running up, screaming, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
The passengers did stop. She herded them back into the arrivals hall and slammed the door shut.
I witnessed the whole thing, and there was no harm and no foul…no one made a run for it…but someone certainly could have.
This was a “breach” by any definition of the word.
I didn’t wait longer to see what happened…I just proceeded to immigration, where I whisked through Global Entry and was soon on my way back to Terminal 1 by train.
All’s well that ends well?
CONCLUSION
I’d love to see an easier way for international transit in the USA, but most airports are not designed for this, and Chicago O’Hare is no exception. I’m thankful that what I witnessed was quickly contained and corrected, and I also note that the U.S. already, in a sense, pre-approves every non-citizen who enters the country before allowing them onboard a flight, but this was certainly a careless error.
Has this ever happened to you?
“Every breach you look at occurred because somebody inside did something they weren’t supposed to do. Sometimes there’s an accomplice, but most of the time, it’s innocent.”
– Frank Abagnale –
“The United States does not currently have so-called “sterile” international to international transit, unlike most of the developed world.” …yeah, and we don’t have universal healthcare …and, we do have mass shootings. *deep sigh*
And we have to read ridiculous comments posted by angry gay people like you.
Good point. You seem angry
America does have universal health care! There are 3 systems, veterans (VA), low income (Medicaid), and Medicare.
Medicaid entirely free.
In america we do things the american way (without logic)
Yes, happened to me, in a way. FRA-JFK flight. Congestion. Diverts to EWR. Jetway pulled out but door only partially open. Passengers were waiting around for hours and walking in the aisle. I walked up to the door but did not make a run for it. However, nobody was there to stop me that I could see. Eventually, flew EWR-JFK.
EWR-JFK must have been a thrilling flight!
Once happened to me on Delta but domestic (ATL-LGA diverted to JFK). They said they were going to fly LGA-JFK. Door was open at the gate. I stood up and asked “and what will happen to me if I just walk off the plane?” Crickets. I grabbed my stuff and walked off. Everyone else followed.
@Matthew, I don’t know how much you know about MIA, specifically MIA J.
Pre-9/11, MIA J was going to have one of, if it not the first sterile INT’L -INTL transfer.
In fact, as one walks from the aircraft to CBP, if they look to the right, one can see the sterile holding gates that were built to accommodate the INTL – INTL, mainly for Iberia which operated a min-hub at MIA.
9/11 and the plan was scrapped along with Iberia’s mini-hub at MIA.
Very interesting. As I alluded to in my post, somehow there are a few exceptions. Like at LAX, the PPT-CDG flight on TN makes a stop in LAX, but onward passengers do not have to enter the USA, as far as I know. They also do not remain on the plane, but are brought to special holding area.
I was wondering about that flight in particular. But, as the plane is on the ground for 2.5 hours at LAX in both directions, my understanding was that through pax are not exempt from immigration?
happened to me in Joburg…first off a qatar flight and they sent us up the jet bridge straight into departure area..i walked out and the gate agent handling the outbound flight and i were both shocked to see each other. she realized what was going on and quickly sent everyone back down the jetbridge!
Regularly happens at IAD as well. I can’t tell you how many times I could have just walked out into the United concourse instead of going down the long sad hallway to the mobile death lounges.
Just curious, if anybody knows. Say a pax flies CDG-ATL-MEX. Obviously, they need to be admitted to the US, before catching the second leg. What if the US refuses them entry? Would they escort them on to their MEX flight? Or, would they be jerks and escort them on to a return flight to CDG?
They’d send them back to Paris. Ironic, no?
What if they were a Mexican national?
I’ve seen this happen at a few US airports, including at ORD, but then the door gets shut again when someone notices that they didn’t close it fast enough.
For those who come in the wrong way and leave right away because they didn’t have checked luggage, they may get called up by CBP later to come back to the airport and finish formalities.
I wonder what would happen if a US citizen refused to return to the airport in a situation like this? It’s impossible for a US citizen to be “unlawfully present” in the US.
A lot of people don’t answer calls from unknown numbers anymore, and increasingly many don’t even act on received voicemails. Or at least that seemed to be the excuse given when a guy seemed to have gotten sent to secondary for having had this kind of situation on the previous trip back into the US.
The USA had a wide open southern border for four years. Millions of unvetted, unscreened and unknown individuals entered the US and no one cared. I don’t think planeload of passengers on a Lufthansa flight would matter if no one had shut the door.
I am wondering what the problem is… Today the Mexicans who shop in El Paso are better dressed than the Americans. In the past it used to not be a big deal just to have a vaquero ride over to help work the farm.
Matthew – I’ve had this happen 3 times on arriving in the US – the Terminal doorway is open and the FIS walkway door is closed. Generally I’m one of the first off so I’ve stopped people EACH time and told them it will be a nightmare if they don’t enter the FIS and enter the US properly.
In 2 cases, an agent in the terminal area right at the gate caught it quick and closed/opened the right door. One time I had to scream into the terminal “HELP’ to an adjacent gate agent as no one was at the gate. I DID NOT want to set foot in the terminal as now you’re mixing arrivals into a secure terminal. That agent was bewildered, ignored me at first, came over and said an “OH, OH” – told him just to close the door to the terminal and call his supervisor. 2 min later we were in the right doorway.
This happens more often than it should. All my examples are post 9/11 as well
Oh no, I can walk across the Rio Grande into Mexico (not sarcasm), quick build a wall as those annoying people who don’t live here want. Some may find this a bigger problem than others… this used to be not a big deal.
Yes, it’s happened to me at ACE (Lanzarote). On arriving from the UK, I noticed that the entrance to the baggage hall was open (so after immigration). As I am a legal Spanish resident, I thought “hey, why not?” and saved plenty of time in the process.
A few years ago someone on Flyertalk reported their United flight from Newark to San Francisco arrived as an “international” flight and passengers were lead to US Customs. The user reported it was “chaos” and it took about 30 minutes for United staff to sort things out and let the passengers into the domestic area.
I had the opposite happen in MIA – arriving from ORD. All passengers ended up in the main hallway to immigration. Fortunately, we back tracked and were allowed into the common gate area with our boarding passes.
there is a simple solution to this . In JFK, when the international arrivals door is open, the gate door must be locked. Both doors cannot be open at the same time.
This is much more serious but it reminds me of the time I was flying out of WYS to DEN. The TSA agent just looked me up and down. Said I do think you’re a terrorist come on in. Neither me or my personal baggage got inspected or run through even a metal detector.
Makes me wonder how often these small airports with one or two daily flights let something they shouldn’t into the national network.
I recently flew SAT to EWR for an international connection. The incoming flight was delayed so tempers were fraying, and people were in a rush to make their connections. We deplaned and lo, no one had opened the glass dor between the jetway to the terminal, so the first few passengers simply pushed open the door into the terminal (remember, this was a domestic flight). Well, you’d have thought those poor passengers were an armed Osama Bin Laden himself. A UA gate agent came running from another gate screaming that we had to “get back” and that we were “breaking the law”. A UA pilot waiting to take the plane on its next flight told the gate agent to “act like an adult” since it was her fault she hadn’t gotten to the gate timely. The banshee gate agent fumed but let everyone go while the arriving Port Authority police officer just smiled.