International transit on Domestic flight
Recently I was looking at a flight from Boston to Los Angeles, and one particular flight suggested was interesting - connecting through Toronto (airlines were Air Canada and WestJet). Due to the hassle of crossing an international border I am not going to be booking this flight, but I am curious about how customs/immigration work in this case? Would I need to clear customs when landing in Toronto, then reclear US immigration at Toronto?
Best Answer
Yep, you'd have to clear two sets of customs and immigration in Toronto. I'd initially assumed they'd have some program to let connecting passengers from the US directly into the post-preclearance terminal area, but https://www.torontopearson.com/connecting.aspx suggests that's not an option (possibly because of the airline/terminal change).
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Do I have to go through security again for connecting flight domestic to international?
For connecting domestic flights, you almost never have to exit and reenter security, though there are some exceptions at airports where the terminals aren't all connected. For domestic-to-international connection, it's still pretty rare that you have to exit and reenter security, even if you're changing terminals.Do transit passengers have to go through immigration?
Transit passengers You are a transit passenger if you are not leaving the airport and not staying in that country. In this case, you often don't have to go through immigration or customs. Look for a sign that says transit or transit passengers or transfer or connecting flights.Do I need to go through immigration for a connecting flight?
A port-of-entry is the first airport you land at in the US Even if you have a connecting flight, you need to go through the immigration procedure, pick up your luggage, re-check it and get on the next flight.What is an international transit flight?
What does a Connecting Flight / Transit Flight mean? A connecting flight or transit flight is to reach the final destination through two or more flights, namely, traveling without any direct flights.International to Domestic Transfer - Turkish Airlines
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Answer 2
This is a form of international air travel called "cabotage" which is not allowed under most bilateral air transportation treaties, including the agreement between the US and Canada. You are not allowed to transit Canada on a domestic US itinerary unless the stop is longer than 4 hours, at which point your Canadian connection is defined as a stopover, as opposed to a layover. Neither the Westjet nor Air Canada websites should sell you a ticket with a shorter layover, and if you piece together an itinerary like that on your own you will likely be denied boarding at the airport.
That being said, if you were to book this ticket and it did meet the four hour minimum requirement, yes you would have to clear customs twice at YYZ, once to enter Canada and once to reenter the US.
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