Originally Posted by
ajwright
The only exception is if you are traveling from a pre-clearance location.
Not quite. There are a few US airports that offer ITI baggage transfers for international-international connections. If your airline participates and the connecting airport participates, then your bags are tagged ITI at check in, and you don't have to collect them at the US connection point (you still have to clear immigration).
I know ATL does offer ITI. I didn't think JFK offered ITI transfers. MIA, DFW, and IAH also offer ITI and there are probably others.