Connecting passengers on board one of United Airlines’ longest international flights will now have a smoother layover process, thanks to the carrier’s latest initiative.
United has teamed up with United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to launch a new program that ends the need for connecting fliers with checked bags to reclaim and recheck their luggage on certain international routes.
The program, called International Remote Baggage Screening, is now available to passengers on the airline’s daily flight from Sydney (SYD) to San Francisco (SFO) with a connection to a final destination.
With the new process, travelers check their bags as usual at the Sydney airport. Upon landing in San Francisco, connecting passengers can head straight through customs, the secondary TSA checkpoint, and onto their next flight without needing to collect and recheck their luggage. Passengers then pick up their checked baggage at their final destination.
The airline says it works with CBP and TSA to screen checked baggage while the plane is en route to SFO. When the plane lands, luggage from the cargo hold is loaded directly onto connecting flights, unless a follow-up inspection is required by CBP.
United says that the new policy saves customers an average of 45 minutes during their layover and helps reduce the potential for missed connections.
"We're streamlining the international arrival process by eliminating extra steps for travelers to pick-up and re-check their bags on connecting flights," said Jennifer Schwierzke, United's vice president of customer operations strategy and execution. "Together with CBP, we're testing this new process on routes between Sydney and San Francisco and plan to expand to additional international routes in the months ahead."
The new policy comes as several U.S. airlines and international carriers have been trying to simplify the process of boarding a connecting flight on an international itinerary. So far this year, Delta and American Airlines—as well as their partner carriers Virgin Atlantic and British Airways—have partnered with TSA to launch a program called One Stop Security on certain routes between London and the U.S.
That program eliminates the need for connecting passengers to collect checked luggage and go through a secondary security checkpoint after landing in the U.S.
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