In message
, at
05:33:24 on Sat, 10 Sep 2011, 1506 remarked:
Even more annoyingly if one's travelling LHR to AKL via LAX [1] you have to
pass through US immigration even though you have no intention of ever
entering the country.

I have exactly that issue a few days from now. Travelling to Panama I
have to pass thru US immigration even though I am only "in transit".

Pre 9/11 anyway, it's all about passenger segregation, and whether the
airports have a way to keep transit passengers "international airside"
as well as simply "security checked airside".

This becomes impossible if (as at many USA airports) you have flights
departing to both domestic and international destinations at adjacent
gates.

The economy of scale of having "international gates" doesn't work so
well when their model is to cluster gates by airline rather than type of
destination.
--
Roland Perry