American Airlines Eliminates Irritating Rule That Has Been a Bugbear For International Arrivals to the US With a Domestic Connection

American Airlines is working with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on a new pilot project that will make it quicker and easier for international passengers arriving in the United States to connect to another domestic destination.

At present, passengers who arrive in the US from an international flight and are connecting to a domestic service must get clear immigration and then collect their luggage from the carousel before rechecking it for their onward flight.

The reason that passengers must clear the customs control point with their checked luggage rather than it being checked all the way through their final destination is that many smaller US domestic airports don’t handle international flights and don’t, therefore, have customs facilities.

Described as a “groundbreaking program,” the new pilot initiative between American Airlines and CBP will use ‘International Remote Baggage Screening’ to eliminate the need for customers to collect their baggage from the carousel until they arrive at their final destination.

American Airlines has beaten out Delta Air Lines to become the first carrier to offer this service, after its Atlanta-based rival revealed last year that it was also working with the CBP to bring the program to life.

In the trial stage, only passengers flying with American Airlines from Sydney, Australia, to Los Angeles will get to skip the irksome process of collecting luggage only to recheck it minutes later.

American Airlines says it is hopeful that the program will be expanded to other routes in the near future.

“By leveraging advanced technology and working with Sydney Airport and our vendor partners BagCheck and Brock Solutions, we are enhancing safety and security while streamlining the CBP baggage inspection process to make global travel smoother and more convenient for our customers,” explained American’s VP of global corporate security, Gary Tomasulo.

Last April, Delta said it planned to trial the initiative on flights from Tokyo Haneda to Atlanta Hartsfield before expanding the program to Seoul Incheon Airport, London Heathrow, and Frankfurt.

Delta’s vice president for the Asia Pacific region, Jeff Moomaw, conceded that the recheck rule was a “difficult experience” for many passengers.

As well as the Remote Baggage Screening initiative, American Airlines has also been working with the CBP on a second program known as ‘One Stop Security‘, which is in place for select travelers arriving at London Heathrow from the US who are connecting onto an international flight.

The connection process at London Heathrow has long been a source of frustration for US passengers traveling onwards to Europe because they are subjected to very stringent security screening that often leads to delays and misconnections.

Under the One Stop Security program, however, US travelers arriving from Dallas Fort Worth on either American Airlines or British Airways are exempted from a second security check.

The program has been in place since early 4 and it is hoped that it can be expanded to arrivals from other US airports.