Etihad Airways extend US immigration pre-clearance to all flights

Here’s good news for all those traveling between the UAE and the United States. Etihad Airways has decided to extend the U.S. immigration pre-clearance benefits to its customers booking flights from Abu Dhabi to the United States, whether traveling in first class, business class or other classes.

The US immigration pre-clearance facilities have already started being provided on flights to San Francisco and New York JFK effective from January 15, 2015. The airline is operating Flight EY183 to San Francisco, while Flight EY103 is being operated to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The airline said that US immigration pre-clearance is presently available on mid-morning flights to Washington D.C., New York JFK, Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago.

With the extension of the facility to New York JFK and San Francisco, all U.S.-bound flights departing from Abu Dhabi being operated by the airline will now have US immigration pre-clearance.

The pre-clearance process will provide opportunity to the passengers to pass through all the mandatory checks conveniently in Abu Dhabi itself prior to boarding their flights to the U.S. These checks include U.S. security, immigration and customs. This will prove to be beneficial for the passengers as they will be spared the hassles of long queues on arrival.
  
The US immigration pre-clearance was implemented in January 2014. It has gained immense popularity with the air travelers, especially those from the Middle East region and the Indian subcontinent. So far, more than 325,000 people have utilized this facility and arrived in the United States as domestic passengers.