Quote:
Originally Posted by suburbia
Possibly dumb question (because I don't know much about airports) ...
Other than for trans-border where the US customs are housed in Calgary, is there really any major reason why international flights are segregated from domestic travel?
Also, would it not make sense to have international/trans-border in the middle of the airport, instead of on one end? Obviously not easy to change, but just a thought. This is basically how it was, and I think there were benefits that some may not have registered ("you don't realize what you got till it's gone" scenario).
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A very good question.
International departures is segregated from domestic departures because of duty free sales. If domestic and international are combined, the duty free proprietor must deliver the goods to your aircraft door. If the whole concourse is international only, the duty free operator can give you the goods like any other establishment. On the odd chance that your international flight gets cancelled after you make duty free purchase, the traveler must see CBSA and potentially pay duty and other taxes on their purchase. In most cases unless CBSA sees a pattern of cancelled flights, pac are sent on their way without further charge.
Putting international and transborder operations in the middle of the terminal complex makes sense until the central processor facilities (checkin, security, pre-clearance, CBSA) need expansion. it is very time consuming to build an new domestic terminal area and then renovate the old terminal to expand the international operations.
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