New screening procedures beginning for all U.S.-bound airline passengers
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — All incoming flights to the United States will be subject to new security screening procedures before takeoff, including both American citizens and foreigners possibly facing security interviews from airline employees, the U.S. government said Wednesday.
Both American air carriers and global airlines must comply, affecting all the 2,100 flights from around the world entering the U.S. on any given day. The directive is far broader than an earlier Trump administration ban on laptops inside the cabins of some airliners, which only targeted 10 Mideast cities and their airlines.
Confusion greeted the new rules. While five global long-haul carriers said they would begin the new security interviews on Thursday, each offered different descriptions of how the procedure would take place, ranging from a form travelers would be required to fill out to being verbally quizzed by an airline employee.
“The security measures affect all individuals, international passengers and U.S. citizens, traveling to the United States from a last point of departure international location,” said Lisa Farbstein, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. “These new measures will impact all flights from airports that serve as last points of departure locations to the United States.”
The new rules come at the end of a 120-day window for new U.S. safety regulations to be implemented following the lifting of the laptop ban imposed on some Mideast airlines.
They include “heightened screening of personal electronic devices” and stricter security procedures around planes and in airport terminals, Farbstein said.
Details of the new rules first became apparent in a statement by Dubai-based Emirates, which operates the world’s busiest airport for international travel.
In the statement, Emirates said it would begin carrying out “pre-screening interviews” at its checkin counters for passengers flying out of Dubai and at boarding gates for transit and transfer fliers. It urged those flying through Dubai International Airport to allow extra time for flight check-in and boarding.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said on its website that it had suspended self-drop baggage services. Delta Air Lines said it was telling passengers traveling to the U.S. to arrive at least three hours before their flight and allow extra time to get through security. United declined comment, while American did not immediately respond.