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?

Question

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?

In: Other

Answer 1

The US explicitly prohibits sterile transits: from a legal perspective, anyone setting foot on US soil must clear immigration even if they are about to immediately depart.

Since that regulation is in place, airports can not create a sterile international concourse separate from domestic departures. This also has the advantage of simplifying airport design, as gates on international arrival capable concourses can be swapped between domestic and international use as needed.

As for rationale, 9/11 happened, and we’ve been pretty paranoid about security ever since. It also helps that the US isn’t a overly huge international-to-international gateway, so the ability to simplify terminal design does have some merit.