Korean Air Flights To LAX, Seattle Join Remote Bag Screening Program

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) International Remote Baggage Screening (IRBS) program, which allows passengers to bypass re-checking bags on international connections, is being extended to two more routes operated by Korean Air.

 

Korean already participates in the program with transpacific joint venture partner Delta Air Lines on the carriers’ combined 4X-daily flights between Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Korean Air flights from ICN to both Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) were added as of June 24.

 

Typically, passengers arriving in the U.S. on an international flight need to collect checked baggage and then check the baggage again for screening before boarding a connecting flight. Under IRBS, passengers are instead able to check bags for screening just once at their origin airport.

 

CBP personnel at the U.S. airport view checked baggage images captured at the origin airport, remotely reviewing them before the aircraft lands. Cleared bags on the arriving international flight are then transferred to the connecting domestic flight directly as happens on domestic connections. Passengers still must go through a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint before boarding, but do not have to retrieve and re-check bags before doing so.

 

Delta Air Lines’ daily flights from ICN to both Detroit and Minneapolis are also part of IRBS. Overall, five routes from ICN to the U.S. operated by Delta or Korean or both are now part of the program.

 

Korean operates 17-X-weekly flights between ICN and LAX. Delta and Korean each fly daily between ICN and SEA.

 

“[IRBS] has cut customs interactions at U.S. airports by over 65%,” Korean said. “In situations when an unexpected late arrival would have caused customers to miss their connections under the previous baggage re-check process, it has enabled a vast majority of customers to successfully catch their onward flights.”

 

United Airlines’ flights from Sydney Airport (SYD) to San Francisco are also part of IRBS, as are American Airlines’ flights from SYD to LAX.