It is in all the airports I've been through, but I haven't been through them all so maybe some are different.

Regards, JEff

I do hope that when you tie those strips you clip the ends. Think of the consequences of one of those strips getting caught in the belt. I use a strip of colored velco and wrap one around the handle and one about the bottom bar to easily identify my luggage. Nothing in my luggage that would make anyone rich so don't give a hoot if the case is stolen.

Then I think you are worried for nothing. If you are deplaneing in LAX (which is where you will go through US Customs) and continuing on another flight to Texas, your luggage will not be on the carousel but will go from plane to plane without you seeing it.

One cannot go through customs without their luggage.

Customs check is performed at the POE, after the immigration check. In my experience, including one time at LAX (although it was a few years ago), after going through the immigration checkpoint one collects their luggage and procedes to the customs checkpoint. After clearing customs there's a place to re-deposit the luggage from where the airlines will take it to the connecting flight.

There is no customs inspection on arrival from a domestic flight.

Regards, JEff

This was not the case for us. We flew from Turkey into JFK, with a connecting flight to LAX. After going through immigration at JFK, we had to collect our luggage and go through customs. Only then could we re-check our luggage to get on our connecting flight to LAX. We picked up our luggage again at LAX upon arrival.

Rene

There are certain US airports where passengers in-transit between one international flight and another, departing on the same day and operated by the same airline, will have their luggage transferred directly and not have to carry it through US customs. I do know that Houston Intercontinental (IAH) is one of those airports.

For everyone else, including people transferring to internal flights or entering the country at the POE itself; they have to collect their luggage after the immigration checks and before the customs post.

Thanks for that MC. Much appreciated.

If they are traveling Delta from the UK and then onto Texas on the same airline, would they still need to claim their luggage and check it in again?

Our flight was on Delta from Istanbul to JFK, then Delta again from JFK to LAX. We had to claim our luggage in JFK and recheck it in for the connecting flight.

Rene

+1

My apologies Rete. My last post wasn't clear. The transfer of luggage between flights only applies where both flights (the inbound arrival and connecting departure) are international. And there are only a handful of airports in the US where this practice is allowed. It's a relatively recent development and I vaguely remember seeing a thread about it on Flyertalk a little while back.

As Noorah has pointed out above passengers connecting to internal flights, even those operated by the same airline, must claim their luggage, clear customs and then re-check the bags for the domestic sector.

The only scenario I can think of which may be different would be if you arrived in the USA from a place like Dublin, Shannon or some of the airports in Canada that have pre-clearance facilities. I have heard that these flights are dealt with similarly to internal US flights and arrive at a domestic gate in the airport terminal.

Yes - because you and your luggage are required to clear customs at the first point of entry into the US - so for arriving international flights that connect to an internal domestic flight you always have to collect your bags, take them with you through customs and then re-check them (which if they are already checked through to your final destination is often as simple as just dropping them off on a conveyor belt immediately after customs).