She arrives on Saturday

[bahaynamin 13]

Anne received he CR-1 visa in the mail on Tuesday morning! One week exactly from her interview, which I'm very pleased with since she lives all the way down in Tacloban City. So after 297 days of being apart from each other we will finally reunite!! She's flying to Manila on Friday morning to get her sticker from the CFO and then her flight leaves Manila at 8:10 PM, she flies from Manila to Beijing, has a 7 hour layover, then flies from Beijing to Chicago, has a four hour layover then flies from Chicago to Atlanta and will arrive in Atlanta at 1:25 PM Saturday afternoon!!! I'm sooo excited!! So will she go through customs in Chicago?? and if she does will a four hour layover be enough time for her to get through customs and make it on her connecting flight? God I hope so

[yuyu 4]

Congrats!!

[beejay 125]

Congrats! Chicago will be her POE and 4 hours should be plenty of time. Is she flying into ORD or Midway? You may want to tell her that for ORD she will most likely be switching terminals after going through immigration to get to her connecting flight. That will involve her *leaving* the airport (terminal 5) and taking the tram to the terminal of her connecting flight and going through airport security again. It can be a little confusing if you are not familiar with traveling but as long she knows the airline of her connecting flight she can just ask which terminal she needs to get to. You could also look it up online to let her know ahead of time where she is going.

Safe travels!

[bahaynamin 13]

Ok ya she is flying into ORD on American Airlines but ya she has never had to fly with connecting flights before so I'm kind of nervous for her but I told her if she has an questions just ask and they will help her out, but they will still move her luggage for her right?

[Navyk 78]

Anne received he CR-1 visa in the mail on Tuesday morning! One week exactly from her interview, which I'm very pleased with since she lives all the way down in Tacloban City. So after 297 days of being apart from each other we will finally reunite!! She's flying to Manila on Friday morning to get her sticker from the CFO and then her flight leaves Manila at 8:10 PM, she flies from Manila to Beijing, has a 7 hour layover, then flies from Beijing to Chicago, has a four hour layover then flies from Chicago to Atlanta and will arrive in Atlanta at 1:25 PM Saturday afternoon!!! I'm sooo excited!! So will she go through customs in Chicago?? and if she does will a four hour layover be enough time for her to get through customs and make it on her connecting flight? God I hope so

Interesting Itinerary. For CR1 the normal avaerage time is an hour, so the 4 hours layover time at Chicago should be fine. Just ask her to make sure that she mentions to the Immigration Officer that she has a connection flight and it's departure time.

Luggage transfer should be fine - I guess she will have to collect all her luggage at Chicago to go through immigration check after the Officer enters her details into their system and then check the luggage into the Chicago-Atlanta flight.

Congrats and all the best with her travel and POE.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Navyk

[CristiFur 15]

Congratulations I'm not even going to see her but I'm so excited too.. :rofl:

[bahaynamin 13]

Thanks Navy and CristiFur!! and Navy Ya I thought it was a weird itinerary also because when I first was looking at tickets a couple of months ago they had flight from manila to korea or japan then straight to Atlanta but unfortunately I couldn't find any flights where her first landing in America was Atlanta

[Leatherneck 693]

Congratulations! The wifes arrival will make for a great weekend and Thanksgiving will be all the more special!

[beejay 125]

Ok ya she is flying into ORD on American Airlines but ya she has never had to fly with connecting flights before so I'm kind of nervous for her but I told her if she has an questions just ask and they will help her out, but they will still move her luggage for her right?

Looks like American Airlines will be terminal 3 but she should double check when she's there. They will give her her checked baggage when she goes through immigration and then they will take it back before she leaves the international terminal and put it on her domestic flight for her. There should be people collecting luggage from the international transfers right when she leaves the immigration area. She just needs to look for the American Airlines people or counter. There should be a group of people in the same situation that she can follow, she just needs to make sure she follows the *right* crowd. So if everything is done righ she will only have her carry on when she leaves terminal 5 to go to what is most likely terminal 3. She'll just be following signs from terminal 5 to get to the tram and then terminal 3.

When she arrives at Terminal 3 it will be like she is arriving from outside. Depending on if she has her boarding pass or not she will have to stand in line and get it from the American Airlines ticket agent at the counter. If she already has the boarding pass she can proceed right through to security and go to her gate.

Again, like you said, when in doubt she should just ask. Airline personnel will be glad to assist her.

*She might want to double check when she starts her journey in PH that they check her luggage all the way through to her final destination. Most likely they will do this automatically but it doesn't hurt to double check. She can also ask if she is able to get all her boarding passes at that time. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. (You probably already know all this but it can be easy to overlook details when you are nervous )

[mounir412 101]

Congratulations

[bahaynamin 13]

Thanks Leatherneck from one serviceman to another and also mounir412! Also beejay thank you sooo much for your knowledge! Ya I called American Airlines and they said the same thing you told me, her luggage will transferred for her all the way to Chicago and then after she goes through immigration in Chicago they said she will need to collect her baggage and then someone will be there to collect it again to put it on her next flight and then she takes the tram to terminal 3 and go through security again. Also I will tell her to try and get all 3 boarding passes in Manila, that would make things a lot easier. Thanks again everybody!

[beejay 125]

Glad I could help Hopefully knowing the process will make you and her a little less nervous.

Let us know how everything goes!

[DouglasFiel 53]

Yes, Chicago POE... It is a pretty good POE... I never spend more then 30 mins getting through... Even adding in the immigration paperwork.

She should be good to go. Have her call you when she gets to her departure gate... Someone will definitely let her use their cell phone

for a few minutes.

Congrats!!!

[bahaynamin 13]

Thanks DouglasFiel! I appreciate your input! Ya I told her to ask to borrow someone's phone so she can tell me she made it alright!

[bigdog 377]

Congratulations, why don't you surprise her t Chicago and fly home together?