Some airports don't have a continuous sterile area between international baggage claim/customs and connecting flights.

JFK, hissssss.

Which was a giant PITA because of liquor bought at duty free in Quito that suddenly couldn't reboard with us.

I despise that. In Rome, you have to go through Passport Control upon landing, but you don't retrieve your luggage. If you are connecting to a domestic flight, you have to transfer to another terminal and be screened again. My father had to leave a bottle of whiskey behind years ago, but since they've instituted the sealed bags with receipt showing it was purchased after security at your departure airport, you don't have to surrender your liquids that don't meet the 100 mL rule.

JFK, hissssss.

Yes. I try to avoid it at all costs. ATL is not much better though. DTW is awesome for international flights and connections. Still have to be rescreened, but the volume of passengers is not there, so you fly through, and it dumps you right out into the main concourse.

Hubs and I got rescreened in Philadelphia. Not fun after a trans-Atlantic flight, when we thought we might be running late for our connecting flight to DCA. Which turned out to be a prop plane. Which had to do all sorts of holding patterns because something or other was going on in the DC area.

I like international flights into and out of IAD. But I've never had to connect there, so I can't speak to that.

All the glass bowl talk is cracking me up, since that's the euphemism Carolyn Hax uses for asshole, in her chats.

I know, meara! It's making me laugh, too.

WOULD THEY MAKE UP THEIR GODDAMNED MINDS PLEASE?

Apparently no.

-t, yes that is the dumb part, but what's also dumb is that one goes through customs at the port of first entry in the U.S., which necessitates shenanigans like this.

Yeah, my non-US coworker didn't make it onto our connecting flight because there wasn't enough time to go through customs, get your luggage, etc., for a non-US citizen You'd think the travel agent would have accounted for that?

Argh, people keep making me work. It's Friday afternoon, for Pete's sake!

I really want to go home and eat Pumpkin Spice Pumpkin Seeds and see if I get incepted into becoming a Dune-style Navigator, but I don't think my new crown is up to that much crunchiness.

Shrift and I got rescreened in Panama connecting back from Ecuador, when we literally went from arrival gate to the gate 50 feet away. Which was a giant PITA because of liquor bought at duty free in Quito that suddenly couldn't reboard with us.

In Heathrow I had to go through immigration control because I was changing terminals on my way to Ireland. I was a little incredulous the whole time. "I have to fill out this form?" "You're stamping my passport?" So last year when I flew from Dublin into Heathrow, I was so confused when I didn't have to go through customs/immigration at all.

Look, you're not going to do worse with the wedding gifts than the incredibly racist mammy cookie jar we received, so...

Timelies all!

I don't think we got anything particularly terrible as a wedding gift. Pointless, maybe(who needs a Lenox china menorah?), but not terrible. The bowl sounds nice.