Flying between locations and immigration

[Floridaobsessed]

Hey. Quick question we are flying rather than road tripping between our stops. We fly into NYC from UK then on to Vegas, San Fran and LA (flights between each place) has anyone else done it this way if so do we go through immigration at each stop? Our TA has advised to get to each airport 3 hours before each flight which seems excessive!

[smithlane]

You would only go through immigration at your first airport when entering the US so would be New York in your case (that’s if you’re flying direct there?) 3 hours seems excessive for an internal flight but security lines can be long. I would have thought 2 hours would suffice

[Mary A]

You'll only go through immigration once, in NYC. you will go through security when you arrive at the airports for your other flights. Check in & bag drop is usually a quick & straightforward procedure. Personal decision as to how long beforehand you arrive at airport, 3 hours is too early for me when flying domestic in the USA

[landandword17]

3 hours is too much for me too. US domestic terminals have so many flights that the gates usually aren’t even assigned 3 hours in advance. If the gate is announced it’s being shared so there could be 2 flights out of that gate before yours meaning you end up loitering around the shops or sitting in a restaurant.

Side note: I have to say I don’t trust U.K. TAs when it comes to most US destinations so I would rely on the Dibb for any queries you have. The misinformation they give people is staggering because most of them have never visited the destinations they are selling. I’ve had to bite my tongue so often when coworkers are told complete falsehoods. A coworker has booked an RV trip in California over July 4 and the travel agent has told him he doesn’t need any reservations and can just park it up at beaches overnight. She’s also told him he needed an international drivers licence and sold him a hotel in Glendale as being close to Disney. Two girls in the office were sold possibly the worst hotel in the US, the Pennsylvania in NYC, by separate travel agents. One woke to mice eating the biscuits they brought!

[Olympiad]

Hi - if you download the My TSA app you can check current and typical security wait times at your airports at different days and times. This will help inform your thinking, 3 hours seems too long currently as there are no TSA issues but a couple of years ago there were severe staffing shortages and the advice was to turn up a lot earlier than normal.

[Floridaobsessed]

Thanks everyone tbh you’ve just confirmed what I thought so thanks for that!
@landandword17 I totally agree, I booked this holiday through a TA and tbh I wish8 hadn’t, I didn’t realise before booking that the dibb offered advice on west coast (previously only ever used it for Florida vacations) after reading on here I’ve actually ended up doing more research and changing the hotels the TA booked us into - in Vegas we were supposed to be at the golden nugget but after some research I changed it to the cosmopolitan (TA was surprised when I alerted her to how far away from the strip the nugget was) secondly we were booked to stay in LA in Anaheim to which I’ve switched to Santa Monica... in hindsight I would’ve done other things differently but the budget can’t be stretched any further! I’m sure we will make the most of it regardless! Will definitely go DIY and check the dibb before booking another holiday like this though! #lessonlearnt