Travel from London to Mexico City with stop in Dallas, Texas

7/17/2022 2:20:44 PM

So the case of the US is peculiar compared to other countries when it comes to transit.

There are a few very limited exceptions (and a more frequent one if there’s pre-clearance, but that doesn’t happen for flights from LHR), but in the majority of cases, here’s how things go (in the case of connecting flights on a single ticket):

  • in LHR, you will usually be checked through to your final destination
  • You will often get boarding passes for all flights (sometimes you won’t and will need to retrieve further boarding passes at connecting airports, either at transfer desks or at the gate)
  • Your bags will be tagged to your final destination
  • At your port of entry in the US (DFW in your case), you will have to enter the US, which means…
  • You will need to have the relevant paperwork to enter the US: US passport or green card, or visa, or for citizens from VWP countries, an ESTA
  • You will go through passport control
  • You will need to wait for and retrieve your bags
  • You will go through customs
  • Right after customs, there will be a special bag drop desk where you just drop your bags (which are tagged to the final destination) onto the conveyor belt (very little wait, if any)
  • You will then go to departures and through security and to your gate.

Compared to a non-connecting flight, you will NOT need to:

  • go to departures with all your bags
  • Find the check-in area for your flight
  • Queue for check-in
  • Get new baggage tags and boarding passes
  • Do all that before the check-in deadline of the second flight

Also, if you get delayed in the process, the airline should rebook you on the next available flight, which would not be the case for non-connecting flights.

2 hours used to be very tight even for connecting flights due to the time you could spend at passport control (especially in some airports like MIA), but nowadays it should be doable. If they sell the connection that means they think it is.

7/17/2022 4:20:34 PM

As you travel from London, into the US, you will need to go through immigration and customs, no way around it. Then you will drop of your luggage and get yourself to the next flight. (In a comment it is said that this airport does have a ‘transfer path’ where you do go through immigration but do not need to collect your luggage and carry it through customs, which is a big exception for the USA.)

That is with all flights into the US unless you have had the immigration before you got on the flight as you might get in Dublin, Ireland.

And yes, you need an Esta or a visa, just like you would as if you were going to have a holiday in the USA.

The time allotted is likely enough if the airline sell you this ticket as one ticket, they will be responsible to get you to Mexico City on their cost if you miss the flight.

I personally would look for flights which do not have a stop in the US, direct flights which cost more might be worth the extra money.

Credit:stackoverflow.com

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

Search Posts