Originally Posted by
bniu
My parents go back and forth to china all the time with just carryons, of course I'll explain the process but after a 14 hr flight, certain things may be forgotten, and the ability to remember things isn't a strong suit in my family...
I've never cleared Customs at ORD, but if it's anything like every other airport in the US, it's not like you could easily "forget" top claim your luggage, as you have to pass through the baggage carousel area to get from Immigration to Customs inspection. The only way this could happen is if you thought you didn't need to claim them because they were through-checked.
But in this case, we have:
a) the relatives will be sure to remind them several times
b) the flight attendants will no doubt make this clear with an on-board announcement prior to arrival. I'm assuming that a flight from PVG will have Mandarin announcements and that the passengers in question speak Mandarin.
c) they'll have to pass the luggage carousel between Immigration and Customs.
Unless the relatives are simply crazy, I just don't think that not retrieving their bags at ORD Customs is likely to be an issue.