American to Pilot Customs Clearance at Arrival Gate, Coming to DFW

American Airlines has announced a new program to optimize the international arrival experience of clearing customs, reclaiming bags, and reentering TSA. Calling it the One Stop Security, passengers will be able to clear immigration and customs right at the arrival gate instead of walking to the main customs area and going through the entire process.

Cooperating with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the U.K. Department for Transport (DfT), this program will work a little something like this:

• Your flight lands, and your aircraft parks at the gate
• As you disembark, you immediately go through immigration and customs at the gate
• Walk straight to the terminal without going through TSA, and your checked bags will go directly to your next flight

For now, this will be available for passengers arriving from London Heathrow (LHR) at Dallas Fort Worth (DFW). The airline plans to expand this program to other flights in airports in the future.

“One Stop Security is one of the most forward-thinking enhancements we can bring to international travel — and importantly, to our customers — as it delivers a level of convenience and time-savings that’s never been available before to customers connecting from international flights,” said David Seymour, Chief Operating Officer at American. “With this game-changing program and thanks to our federal partners at CBP and TSA, along with DFW Airport, our customers will spend significantly less time worrying about an onerous connection process and more time enjoying their travel journey.”

This program eliminates some of the biggest headaches and time-consuming parts of an international connection: reclaiming bags and reentering security. Having to wait for your bags to come around, wondering if TSA PreCheck is open at the weird arrival time of your international flight, and other related concerns will be no more. I like where American is going with this program, and I hope it goes well.

I can imagine it taking a bit longer to deplane, as there might be a line going back into the jetbridge (depending on how and where they place customs at the gate). Still, it’ll be nothing compared to some of the longer lines of regular customs and waiting around for bags.

I still have a few questions surrounding the program, like how my Global Entry works through all of this, and how they plan to divide the connecting passengers and non-connecting passengers in a smooth manner. Either way, this will make the connection experience at DFW much more efficient and make the LHR-DFW flight a more valuable option for American Airlines.

Featured image by American Airlines.