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I'm traveling to Chennai from London Heathrow, with a transit in Mumbai. The layover time is exactly 2 hours. Where will my immigration counter be?

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    What’s your flight company from Mumbai ?
    – Saransh Sharma
    Commented Jun 21 at 1:55
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    Is your question about which airport you will be clearing immigration at, or where in the airport immigration is?
    – jcaron
    Commented Jun 21 at 7:50

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You will have to pass through immigration in Mumbai and transit domestically, since the flight to Chennai is going to be a domestic flight from Mumbai. So your passport will be checked at Mumbai.

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    And at Heathrow!
    – phoog
    Commented Jun 21 at 8:42
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    @phoog 'from London Heathrow': there is no (standard) UK exit control, only entry control.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Jun 21 at 13:13
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    @MarkJohnson However, the airline will almost certainly check the passport either before issuing a boarding pass or before letting the OP board the plane, so the statement is technically still correct.
    – Austin Hemmelgarn
    Commented Jun 21 at 16:47
  • @MarkJohnson I mixed up "from" and "to" when I read the question. It seems more natural to me to say "going from A to B" than "going to B from A," so I read it wrong.
    – phoog
    Commented Jun 22 at 21:37
  • @AustinHemmelgarn a passport check at check-in is not "clearing immigration" in the sense in which that term is most commonly used.
    – phoog
    Commented Jun 22 at 21:38
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On Heathrow -> Mumbai -> Chennai

You will have to clear immigration at Mumbai. Your bags usually gets checked through and you can collect in Chennai, depends on the airline. You can inquire about that in Heathrow.

On Chennai -> Mumbai -> Heathrow

Your documents will be verified in Chennai itself. You will receive two boarding passes (Chennai -> Mumbai, Mumbai -> London). When you reach Mumbai, you go through international transfer and clear emigration at Mumbai. Your bags will be checked through and you won't need to collect bags.

Exception

I once traveled on an Air India flight from Singapore, which stopped on Madurai, India and de boarded passengers traveling to Madurai and the same plane proceeded to Kochi, India. I had to clear immigration at Kochi only. But this is a very rare case.

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  • Bags would have to collected in Mumbai to pass through customs channels and then resubmitted. One can't skip customs just by having an onward domestic flight. Many people on BOM-MAA flight would not be connecting from internation flights don't pass through customs at MAA. (Exception is of course the rare stopover flights like the one you have mentioned).
    – Thomas Cruise
    Commented Jun 22 at 4:14
  • @ThomasCruise It will go through customs. Not sure if mannual intervention is needed. I haven't traveled in International -> Domestic -> Domestic segment.
    – Anish Sheela
    Commented Jun 22 at 6:14
  • Manual intervention is needed - much like the US there are baggage re-check desks if you turn left just after customs.
    – Joe Malt
    Commented Jun 22 at 8:36
  • The traveler has to go tbrough customs along with everything they are carrying. It is not just checked luggage. There is handbag, pockets, jewelry, taped contraband, swallowed contraband etc (of course that is not checked for most but still). Booking a domestic connection is not a loophole to skip customs. Major airlines like Air India and Vistara have transfer desks so one doesn't has to exit and re-enter to doemstic departures if it is a single e-ticket.
    – Thomas Cruise
    Commented Jun 22 at 14:38

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