Travel has become much easier for passengers from Australia to Southern California.
American Airlines announced a new initiative Tuesday with US customs and border security. This allows passengers to skip time-consuming baggage reconfirmation at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
This is the latest in a series of major changes that could shake up the travel experience after an international flight, and could potentially save passengers at some of the country’s largest airports.
New benefits after flights from Sydney
Americans announced Tuesday that if passengers on a flight from Sydney Airport (SYD) to the LAX hub subsequently connect to another flight, the checked luggage will be transferred directly to subsequent flights.
This change eliminates the frequently frustrating sequences connecting passengers that often face after international flights.
Usually passengers arriving from overseas will run out, pass passport control and wait for the bag to come out and recheck. After that, they must proceed to the transport security management checkpoint, as if they had arrived at the airport like local passengers.
The new program announced this week about the US LA-bound flight from Sydney will not rule out the last requirement at least yet, but travelers on other flights may soon see the change.
Skip the scary thing
Several airlines, including the US, are currently in the final stages of preparing programs to eliminate both bags. and Recheck passenger security for connecting with two major hubs after a flight from London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR).
This “one-stop” security program could be launched in the middle of summer, with the TPG covering passengers inbound from LHRs connecting to other flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).
“For us, it’s huge,” American chief security officer Gary Thomasro told TPG earlier this month.
The move comes months after Atlanta and Dallas passengers, who have already achieved similar freedoms when American Atlanta and Dallas passengers connect in London, have already achieved similar freedoms. That change has already saved travelers up to 45 minutes Connecting with Heathrowairline estimates.
Try a one-stop security setup
When this one-step concept unfolds, it means a much simpler set of steps for passengers connecting via ATL or DFW after a flight from the LHR. Passengers on the US flight from LHR to DFW will be greeted when the two CBP officials disappear, he told TPG.
“We have two CBP officers at the gate,” Tomasro said. “The people connecting passengers will be divided into two groups: US citizens. [and] Non-US citizens. ”
With the assistance of CBP Facial Comparison Technology, these agents handle inbound passengers on the spot. These passengers are then free to head for the connected flight. Checked luggage will move in the same way as domestic flights.
Tomasulo said on its British Airways, the American One World Alliance partner, the British Airways, a similar concept is available to passengers flying from the LHR to the DFW.
A Delta spokesman told TPG it is working with US and UK government officials to complete similar one-stop security protocols at Atlanta’s home base.
Disadvantages: Global Entries
A notable drawback of America’s new security setup is that there is no plan for a quick global entry line, according to Tomasulo. However, carriers expect that the end-to-end process will still save time, even passengers who pay for trips that have tracked customs quickly.
“A few minutes at the gate,” said Thomasro. “But you’re probably saving more than 45 minutes, an hour, an hour.”
Hope for expansion
This new, simplified arrival process has been created for years due to extensive collaboration between the airlines, CBP, TSA and overseas counterparts of those agencies.
The program appears likely to expand to more airports (wherever and abroad) in the not too distant future.
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The American said Tuesday, along with CBP, they plan to expand the transfer of seamless bags that will debut at LAX to other airports this week. Assuming a one-stop security trial that changes more travel with DFW and ATL will work, airlines want to expand their unsecured connections to other major hubs.
“If it works as well as DFW and Atlanta, we’ll at least expand from Heathrow to other parts of the US,” Thomasro said. “We plan to expand to all hubs in the future.”
Ultimately, expect to see a one-stop protocol that expands to more flights between and among the long list of international airports. As reported by the TPG last year, in 2022, Congress directed the TSA to partner with up to six international partners in these seamless connection testing programs, focusing on combining with countries with air travel security protocols comparable to TSA.
“We see a lot of different countries. We are in different stages of different countries,” said David Pekoske, a former TSA administrator, who finished last September.
This means that these benefits also extend to ever-increasing airlines. For example, United Airlines tells TPG that it is talking to both TSA and CBP about one-stop security solutions.
These new, simplified protocols – the year of production – come as the US has Recently I’ve seen a sudden drop-off Number of international tourists visiting the US
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