NEW SCREENINGS BEGIN FOR US-BOUND TRAVELERS

New regulations cover all 2,100 flights from around the world entering the U.S. on any given day.

New security screenings for all passengers on U.S.-bound flights began on Thursday, with airlines worldwide questioning flyers about their trip and their luggage in the latest Trump administration decision affecting global travel.

However, confusion still remains about the new regulations, which come at the end of a 120day period following the United States lifting a ban on laptops in airplane cabins affecting 10 Mideast cities.

The new regulations cover all the 2,100 flights from around the world entering the U.S. on any given day.

Some airlines said they had received permission to delay implementing the new rules until January.

At Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, Emirates began questioning passengers about their luggage, liquids they were carrying and where they were coming from.

Passengers also had to have their carry-on bags and electronics searched.

On Wednesday, it said it would conduct “passenger pre-screening interviews” for those traveling on U.S.-bound flights in concert with other checks on electronics.

Elsewhere, things did not appear to be going so smoothly. In China, an official in the Xiamen Airlines press office, who would only give his surname as Qiu, said the airlines received a “demand” about the new U.S. regulations and planned “to take some security measures, including security safety interviews from today on.”

An official with the Eastern Airlines publicity department said that she saw media reports about security safety interviews but didn’t have immediate details on what her company was doing.

An official at the Beijing Airport press center would only say: “We always strictly follow relevant regulations of the Civil Aviation Administration when conducting security checks.”

At Air China, the country’s flag carrier, an official who only gave his surname, Zhang, said it would comply.

South Korea’s Transport Ministry said that the United States agreed to delay implementing the new screening for the country’s two biggest carriers, Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc., until next year on condition they deploy staff at boarding gates to monitor travelers.