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ok, so I've developped the itinerary. FRA-IAD, five hour stopover, then IAD-GIG. Oh, the geographical gymanistics we nonrevs do to get to our holy grail destinations. Both flights are still very nicely open (fingers crossed). Now prepare for a dressing down from an INS agent, "why this route to go to Brazil", "how come your tickets have no return dates", "and what happens if you don't get on, where do you plan to stay here". I just take the peppering in stride with honest answers, then get the six month stamp in my passport. More pressing things to worry about, like getting on the flight! Speaking of which, I know that no standbys were accepted on any of the three flights going down to GRU from FRA last night. Actually two jumps on an LH. Probably some relation to the pilots or flight attendants (yikes, 12 hours on a jump)
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I was told a few years ago by a friendly INS agent to always show my airline ID along with my passport when entering the country as it pre-empts a lot of the questions they normally ask with odd routings/tickets etc .. mind you that was a few years ago before the more recent INS approach that anyone not a US Citizen must be a potential terrorist and should be treated accordingly!!
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Be careful
3 weeks ago on my way true customs at LHR with my ID card visible, a female customs officer threatened me. She told me that when not on duty, the only ID I was supposed to bring was my passport. She actually threatened to confiscate my Airline ID card, if I didn’t put it in my pocket.
Hopefully she only had a bad day…
Good luck with US immigrations http://www.nonrev.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
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Vegar
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ok, so I´m now finally in Brazil. Thanks for all the tips and comments. In the end I transited thru ORD, or rather sailed thru ORD. It was a breeze. Was out in thirty minutes. Actually the immigration officer immediately recognized my non rev ticket and made a joke of my itinerary. Very polite and efficient. All the counters were manned.I opted at the last minute (again) as the FRA IAD was suddenly booked solid. Getting on the UA to GRU was also easy pickings. This was my first time at ORD (was there more than 20 years ago as a child so that doesn´t count)but I´m quite impressed with it. Especially terminal one. Great combination of style and function. And very easy to navigate. The eight hours I had between flights passed quite fast (but thats perhaps me, I like airports)So let me get back to my capairinha. Best regards
