int'l flying with stops, luggage question

[cls515]

For those who have flown international with a stop in between, do you have to worry about your baggage at the mid-stop? Or will it automatically be directed to your final destination?

[hex1848]

For those who have flown international with a stop in between, do you have to worry about your baggage at the mid-stop? Or will it automatically be directed to your final destination?

When I went to the DR over the summer, I flew from Jacksonville Florida to Miami to Santo Domingo. The baggage made it just fine. On the way back however, we had to go through customs. We had a 2 hour layover and it took about and hour and 15 minutes to get our checked luggage off the plane. Once we made it though customs and rechecked our bags we had about 15 minutes to run across MIA to make it to our next flight. Needless to say, the luggage that we rechecked didn't make its way back to Jacksonville along with us. It took American Airlines a week and a half to find my bag and deliver it.

Unless its simply impossible to accomplish, I'm going to try my damnedest to never check a bag again.

[cls515]

[QUOTE=hex1848;78442]When I went to the DR over the summer, I flew from Jacksonville Florida to Miami to Santo Domingo. The baggage made it just fine. On the way back however, we had to go through customs. We had a 2 hour layover and it took about and hour and 15 minutes to get our checked luggage off the plane. Once we made it though customs and rechecked our bags we had about 15 minutes to run across MIA to make it to our next flight.[QUOTE]

So you have to re-check your bags at the lay over spot going over there as well? Man that is crazy. I was hoping that I would only have to do it once at the departure and then not worry about it at the lay over.

[597]

When your leaving the US you don't have to worry about Customs untill you get to a diffrent country. On your way back as soon as you land in the US you have to go through Customs. Basically you have to go through customs every time you enter a new country and bring your bags through customs by hand (even if its a short lay-over) since you have to claim items according to that countries rules. There may be some exceptions and the airline would be able to tell you once you get on the plane