SAN Airport- Int. Arrival

[miltonSJU]

I have a one way international flight from asia arriving in SAN. However, the ticket that I bought has me booked on another flight to LAX a few hours later. I DO NOT WANT to take that SAN to LAX flight.

My question is.... "Can I walk out of the airport WITH MY BAGS after I clear customs and immigration or will I have to give back my bags to United and ride to LAX to pick them up?" (I would throw away the SAN to LAX leg)

Reason why I did not book flight just to SAN: Long story but it had to do with price of the ticket.

[friend]

Since SAN is your first port of entry into the USA you can just exit customs with your bags and leave the airport. This is the only time it is usually safe to not use a portion of your flights - immediately upon arrival in the USA assuming you are not going to use any of the rest of the flights that you booked.

Not showing up for a flight generally means the airline will cancel all remaining flights they have for you in that reservation.

John

[miltonSJU]

Thanks. That's what i thought. I can remember when we arrived in MIA from Chile, they gave us our suitcases to go through customs. Then we gave them back to the airline to complete our trip within US territory. I think that,I could have just walked out of the place and not given them the suitcases. Anybody else pull this off succesfully?

[emaij]

One way from Asia? Up until recently the only "international" flights to or from SAN were from Mexico. Flights to Vancouver started last year but they never revived Toronto or London. I'm really curious about the Asia flight, though. Airline and origin?