The AFS-USA Travel and Logistics Department coordinates the arrivals and departures for program participants every year. In a typical year, the majority of our participants arrive and depart during the months of June through September. The arrival and departure airports of our participants depend on their program and country.
AFS-USA relies on volunteers to support the transit of our AFS participants at all gateway airports listed below. The AFS Travel and Logistics Department communicates with AFS volunteers and Field Staff in the teams surrounding the airports for assistance as needed.
Hosting Students
AFS-USA hosted participants fly in different ways from their home country to their final destination. Some participants are “through-ticketed” to their final destination airport (Host Distribution Site – HDS) while others depart and return from the AFS-USA hosting programs depart and return from one of seven different gateway cities in the U.S. and then fly onward to their HDS.
For the hosted participants flying through gateway cities, the gateways are as follows for NH20:
- Seattle, WA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Chicago, IL
- Dallas, TX
- New York, NY
- Washington D.C
- Minneapolis, MN
Where the host students arrive and depart (Host Distribution Site – HDS) is dependent upon what part of the U.S they are hosted. Please note that all YES hosted participants arrive and depart from Washington D.C.
You can view travel information for our hosting participants through MyAFS.
Departure Day (D-Day)
This is the day/s when all the host students depart the U.S. and return home. All the host students depart their teams and travel to their departure airport or gateway airport. From there the students travel to their international gateway (sometimes their hosting gateway city is also their international gateway) and return home.
Learn more about Departure Day here.