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Travel just got a lot easier for passengers flying from Australia to Southern California.<\/p>\n
American Airlines on Tuesday announced a new initiative with U.S. Customs and Border Protection that will allow passengers to skip the time-consuming baggage recheck at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) \u2014 a process bemoaned by passengers in between a long-haul international flight and a connection.<\/p>\n
It’s just the latest in a series of major changes that could shake up the travel experience after an international flight, potentially saving passengers significant time at some of the nation’s largest airports.<\/p>\n
American announced on Tuesday that passengers on flights from Sydney Airport (SYD) to its LAX hub \u2014 and then connecting on to another flight \u2014 will see their checked luggage transferred directly to that later flight.<\/p>\n
The change will eliminate the often frustrating sequence connecting passengers frequently face after an international flight.<\/p>\n
Typically, passengers arriving from abroad must deplane, go through passport control, wait for their bag to come out and recheck it. Then, they have to proceed to a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint to get rescreened, as if they’d just arrived at the airport like a local passenger.<\/p>\n
The new program announced this week for American’s LA-bound flights from Sydney won’t eliminate that very last requirement \u2014 at least, not yet \u2014 but travelers on other flights may see that change quite soon.<\/p>\n
Several airlines \u2014 American included \u2014 are now in the final stages of preparation for a program that would eliminate both the bag rescreen and<\/em> security recheck for passengers connecting at two major hubs following flights from London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR).<\/p>\n This trial “one-stop” security program could launch by midsummer, TPG has learned, covering passengers inbound from LHR who are connecting to other flights at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).<\/p>\n Daily Newsletter<\/p>\n Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter<\/p>\n Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG\u2019s experts<\/p>\n