After touchdown in the USA following a current worldwide flight that had been delayed, I collected my checked baggage and walked just a few hundred ft to the bags recheck space, the place I used to be informed it was now too near my connecting flight’s departure time and that my bag couldn’t be rechecked. My suitcase and I might as a substitute need to take the subsequent out there flight the next day. Had I not wanted to recheck the bag, making that connection wouldn’t have been an issue (one other level for Group Carry-On Solely).
It struck me that after I fly to Europe with a layover, I’m not requested to recheck my luggage. In truth, most locations I’ve flown to internationally, I can normally simply anticipate that my luggage might be checked by way of to the ultimate vacation spot. However that’s not the case upon arrival in the USA.
As irritating and inconvenient because the state of affairs was for me and each different traveler who has skilled the same state of affairs throughout a layover flight in the USA after arriving from overseas, in accordance with U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP), the rechecking course of is in place for a number of crucial causes. Right here’s why it’s good to gather and recheck your luggage when re-entering the USA after a global flight.
Why worldwide vacationers should gather and recheck luggage for his or her U.S. connecting flight
The foremost cause fo rechecking your bag after a global flight is safety.
“It’s a part of our efforts to guard the nation,” Tammy Melvin, a CBP public affairs spokesperson, informed AFAR.
It’s required by a number of federal statutes and rules, although the one CBP factors to because the driving power seems within the Code of Federal Rules (particularly Title 19, Chapter I, subsection 162.6), which states that “All individuals, baggage, and merchandise arriving within the Customs territory of the USA from locations outdoors thereof are liable to inspection by a CBP officer.”
“Mainly, vacationers and their gadgets (together with their baggage) are subjected to inspection and search upon coming into the U.S., and when baggage is pulled and rechecked, it’s going by way of screening and inspection,” Melvin defined.
Between amassing your baggage and leaving the customs space, CBP officers can ask you to report back to a secondary space for additional screening of your baggage. Must you be chosen, an officer will search by way of your suitcase to search for gadgets that aren’t allowed into the nation. Having your baggage with you at the moment helps streamline that course of.
Underneath that search authority, Customs officers can seize something they know or have affordable trigger to consider violates a Customs and Border Safety regulation or Immigration and Customs Enforcement regulation, in addition to legal guidelines from roughly 40 different authorities companies. That may embrace gadgets which might be stolen or smuggled, managed substances, or issues which might be thought of unsafe to carry into the nation (starting from recent vegatables and fruits that would introduce plant pests or illness to weapons and explosive units), amongst different objects.
CBP mentioned it additionally performs a task in imposing import and export rules, as a result of when vacationers arrive in the USA, they’re required to declare sure gadgets, reminiscent of presents, duty-free purchases, or agricultural merchandise. Requiring vacationers to gather and recheck their luggage, in accordance with CBP, helps be certain that passengers declare all their gadgets precisely, stopping unlawful importation of restricted items and making certain that vacationers pay acceptable duties on their purchases. Nonetheless, CBP would want to seek out these items in a search to have the ability to implement these rules.
Are you able to keep away from rechecking your bag?
You may, in fact, keep away from rechecking by bringing solely carry-on baggage with you, for one. However the one manner round rechecking a checked bag to your connecting flight is by going by way of a preclearance facility earlier than arriving in the USA. CBP has preclearance amenities at 15 areas in 6 international locations worldwide, together with:
- Aruba
- Bahamas (Nassau airport)
- Bermuda
- Canada (Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg airports)
- Eire (Dublin and Shannon airports)
- United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi airport)
As soon as by way of the preclearance facility, all onward flights function like home flights.
What occurs in the event you don’t gather your bag?
The official CBP line is “Baggage not obtained after your worldwide flight is not going to get to your last vacation spot.”
It’s arduous to say whether or not they imply in any respect or simply with you. In case your bag obtained left behind or was placed on the fallacious flight and didn’t find yourself on the conveyor belt, the airline will usually get it to your property (or no less than your property airport) as quickly as it could actually, and you may proceed your flight path as deliberate.
When you overlook your bag (or declare to have forgotten it, maybe to make a good connection), the identical could also be true. Or it might be declared deserted, during which case it’s anybody’s guess what’s going to occur to it.