Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) Travel Day (foreign country to foreign country)
I'm living in Costa Rica and expect to qualify for the FEIE this year via the physical presence test. I'll be travelling to Dublin for a wedding this year and I'm trying to figure out whether I'll lose any foreign days while flying* from Costa Rica to Ireland. My read of the IRS website is that I won't, but AI is telling me otherwise. For context, there are no direct flights from Costa Rica to Dublin, and the time difference / flight times prevent me from travelling within a single day. I can spend a layover (~2 - 5 hours) in either Canada or the US.
Per the IRS website: "You can move about from one place to another in a foreign country or to another foreign country without losing full days; but if any part of your travel is not within a foreign country or countries and takes 24 hours or more, you will lose full days. Example 1: You leave London by air at 11 p.m. on July 6 and arrive in Stockholm at 5 a.m. on July 7. Your trip takes less than 24 hours, and you lose no full days."
The flight time is only ~ 15 - 17 hours in total (it's the time difference that prevents me from travelling within a single day). My concern is that the majority of the travel is over international waters, which isn't "in a foreign country or country". Curious to hear what everyone thinks! Extra points if you work for the IRS.