Originally Posted by
ESpen36
There are only a couple of remaining locations (ATL being one, and formerly RDU in the old days) where the layout of the airport is such that the international arrivals terminal does not have a direct "landside dump" after FIS*. Typically, in these cases, the FIS area is in a remote/midfield terminal or underneath the main concourse, far from the domestic arrivals area.
As a result, ALL interational arriving travelers, connecting and O/D, must clear TSA security and proceed through the secure, airside (departure) concourse of the terminal in order to reach landside and the street. In these cases, checked luggage (and/or anything with non-compliant carry-on items such as liquids greater than 100mL) must be dropped off on a belt after FIS to be delivered to domestic baggage claim.
PIT used to be like this until a few years ago when they refurbed the people movers. The FIS station was (and still is) on the airside "side" of the terminal and you had to enter the sterile area of the airport to get to the people mover. The worst part was that there was only one security lane for all arriving int'l pax, which really sucked when they brought back the DL flight from CDG.
Now, they have moveable partitions and security guards that they set up during international arrivals to block arriving pax from entering the sterile area before getting on the people mover.