All flights I've found from LA to Milan are multi-city and require a change of airplanes. For example, Delta stops in Atlanta, and Air France stops in Paris. My questions: do I have to change terminals in either city, and do I have to go through customs a second time in either case? If I have to do either, can you give me an estimate of time I should allow? Thanks a million.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1317 posts
Yeah...unfortunately there are no direct flights from the West Coast to Italy that I know of. Your airport experience will be determined by where it is. From LA to Atlanta is all in the U.S. No customs or passport control until you reach Milan. I haven't been through Atlanta, but it is highly likely you will need to change from a domestic to an international terminal.
If you go through Paris, you'd have to go through passport control upon arrival, but then you'd be on essentially a "domestic" flight to Milan as both are in the Schengen Zone. Likewise in reverse, you'd be stopping at U.S. passport control/customs in Atlanta if you changed planes there or in LA if you change in Paris.
Which one is better is a matter of preference. I've done the U.S. layover in Newark and the European layover in Amsterdam and I liked going through Amsterdam better. Paris, however, has a generally lousy reputation as an airport.
For an international flight, a connection time of two hours would be the absolute minimum I'd consider, and that's only if I wasn't checking bags. Three to three and a half hours is a much safer option.
So in short:
-Changing terminals: highly likely
-Customs/passport control: Probably only when you change countries (i.e., entering Europe/U.S.).
-Allow at least 3 hours to be safe.
Posted by
OP
los angeles, california, usa
77 posts
Great response, Liz. Thank you. That helps us immensely with our planning.