This New Program Lets You Skip TSA and Customs for Connecting Flights—What to Know

Travel + Leisure

6 days ago

Traveling internationally from Texas just got easier to manage.
That's thanks to American Airlines, which became the first carrier in the United States this week to allow travelers flying into the country from London to skip the time-consuming process of having to pick up their luggage and re-check it in order to go through customs when continuing onto another U.S. destination. The pilot program is being conducted at American's hub of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) with flights from London Heathrow Airport (LHR), according to the airline.
Best of all, travelers will be able to clear U.S. Customs right at their arrival gate.
David Seymour, the chief operating officer at American, called the program "game-changing" and said it was "one of the most forward-thinking enhancements we can bring to international travel—and importantly, to our customers—as it delivers a level of convenience and time-savings that's never been available before to customers connecting from international flights."
In the U.S., the new program—dubbed One Stop Security—is being managed by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA). American said it was expected to significantly shorten connection times and make it easier for bags to make it to their final destinations.
"It really is a commonsense security approach for us to streamline security from abroad to the United States," TSA Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl said in an interview with FOX News . "It really underscores and piggybacks onto the president's and the administration's golden age of travel.
With the new process, if a passenger was flying from LHR to Seattle, for example, with a stop first in Dallas, their bag would be checked all the way through to their final destination. Previously, they would have needed to first pick up their luggage at international baggage claim, go through customs, and then re-check it for the connecting domestic flight.
The program has previously been in a testing phase, and was expected to be deployed to additional airports in the future.
Travelers looking to speed up the connection process even more should consider flying to the U.S. from an international "preclearance" airport. As the name suggests, passengers at these terminals first clear U.S. Customs before boarding the aircraft and simply walk off the plane when they arrive in the country as travelers on any other domestic flight would. Preclearance is offered in several countries, including in Canada, across the Caribbean, in the United Arab Emirates, and in Ireland, including at the Dublin Airport.