Why do U.S. international airports lack ‘sterile’ international connections areas that don’t require you to clear U.S. customs in order to connect on an international flight, like airports in many other countries have?
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In most countries the process for international works like this:
Go to airport -> go through security -> go through exit control -> go to your gate.
Once you’ve gone through exit control you can’t leave the aiport without going through customs and immigration again. You are not free to leave the airport.
In the US the process for international departures is like this:
Go to airport -> go through security -> go to your gate.
There are no exit controls. The US doesn’t track who leaves like many other countries. Largely this is because most international travel to/from the US is by US citizens so tracking when they leave is mostly unnecessary.
As a result anyone can leave the airport, even from the international departures section.
In order to accommodate a “sterile” transit system the US would have to require that all US international airports implement exit controls. So instead of requiring the very small percentage of passengers who are transiting to go through customs (an inconvenience for them) it would require EVERYONE traveling internationally to go through exit screening instead.
Its far easier, efficient, and more economical for the US to inconvenience a small minority of transiting passengers, rather than the vast majority of departing international passengers.
Other countries which operate differently do so because their transit profile is significantly different. European airports for example handle far more international transits than the US due to their proximity to each other.
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