mozilla

So it is basically identical to the way it works in the EU, except with customs procedures in the first US airport instead of the final US destination?

Would be a good improvement. I wish any country in the world would do this and eliminate the time-consuming retrieve-and-recheck.

I suspected that they're prepping CDG, GVA and ZRH to become new pre-clearance airports, but these airports never appeared on the DHS list of selected airports for future pre-clearance.

PTahCha

Same way for someone who had their items shipped instead of via checked bag.

That's not how that works.

threeoh

I think the word "pre-clearance" here might be a red herring. It does not sound like the bags are being cleared in Europe. Rather, they are being cleared in IAD without being physically present at the immigration desk. The CBP officer has the ability and authority to pull up the bag for an inspection if they want. So the 90% of people who don't get searched don't need to wait 20 minutes to lug their bags 150 feet, and the 10% of people who do are just slightly more inconvenienced as they wait for their bag to be pulled. Note that they can do drug dog and X-ray inspection in the luggage handling facility without you being present and flag your bag for inspection if warranted.

Anyhow, definitely a good move. But not sure it's related to "pre-clearance" in any way.

pseudoswede

That may be the case, but what happens if they pull a bag of a passenger who zipped through immigration and is already on a moon buggy to another terminal?

FLYMSY

Aussienarelle

This is good to know as I have a flight next month, CDG-IAD and I usually buy my duty free at the airport and drop it in the luggage during the collection and redeposit. Would hate to have to throw away my duty free liquids.

cesco.g

In a situation like yours: Could you ask at check-in for the bag NOT to be "pre-cleared"?

threeoh

Yeah I just started to see people commenting that it could be the start of CDG etc becoming pre-clearance airports....but it wouldn't make sense to spend a bunch of time/energy re-doing the customs procedure at IAD from those airports because if CDG becomes a pre-clearance station there would be no customs in IAD for flights from those cities at all.

drewguy

Presumably they can catch up with that person before the next flight. What is MCT (I-D) at Dulles? Surely it's at least 75-90 minutes.

Anyway, as things currently stand one claims bags at IAD after passing through immigration and customs, which are now together.
Airports with Unified Immigration/Customs Screening

So the difference is instead of picking up your bag, carrying it 300 feet, and then rechecking, someone at UA does it for you. If there's a risk of smuggling, it's probably greater with passengers for whom IAD is their "final destination" because they're walking out to ground transportation with their contraband, rather than walking to another flight. In other words, I don't see how this plan creates any greater risk than exists currently from the process whereby you've already gone through the last check before claiming your bag. Either CBP interdicts it with the dogs before it gets to the claim/transfer or it doesn't, and if you're honest they can pull the stuff from the bag either way.

drewguy

Yes, this system has the potential to create some negative surprises for those expecting to be able to put liquids into their checked luggage during the transfer. Perhaps the midfield arrivals hall can get an exception from TSA to allow those liquids through security.

lincolnjkc

Having seen CBP pull someone from the gate area after pre-clearing in both YVR and NAS, for onward connecting travelers this would seem to be trivial: 3-4 CBP agents just go to the gate and have Mr. John Smith paged and then escorted back to their lair where they're never seen or heard from again -- er, detained/questioned and possibly missing their flight [I can't recall seeing either of the passengers board, but also wasn't paying a ton of attention]…if the passenger doesn't make themselves known before boarding they aren't allowed to board. Of course in the case of IAD this only works for continuing passengers; an arriving passenger could certainly just abandon the bag and run -- except for the fact that presumably they would want whatever contraband may be in it, and more importantly their bag tag has their identifying information which was (should have been verified with) government ID at the time the bag was checked so it's not like you can do something "anonymously"

It also doesn't take that long to run a dog over a bunch of bags at all, and I wouldn't rule out GVA/ZRH/CDG either having a small CBP detachment or having the cooperation of the local authorities to run a dog/report suspicious bags in advance so CBP could just be waiting at the arrival gate to pull someone as soon as the door is open (seen that a handful of times). Plus, I would assume that these airports are being piloted because CBP has data that passengers originating from these locations are low(er) risk.

drewguy

I thought of that too, but then thought of all the fine, creamy French cheeses that Americans would love to bring back but can't!

FLYMSY

Often1

Just like I-T-I, this never was pre-clearance. It simply shifted the "burden" so that only those bags which arouse suspicion are pulled.

People who book hidden city tickets using a US POE to escape the final segment, do need to be careful going forward as programs such as this could come and go at any POE.

cur

Intl-to-Intl flights have been thru-checked at IAH for at least 6 years now.

then they recall your bags and do a search . it's not rocket science, it's baggage science.