New screenings for U.S.-bound passengers on global airlines

Five global long-haul airlines will begin new security interviews of all passengers on U.S.-bound flights starting Thursday at the request of American officials, the companies said Wednesday.

Long-haul carriers Air France, Cathay Pacific, EgyptAir, Emirates and Lufthansa all said they’d start the screenings. A sixth carrier, Royal Jordanian, said it would begin the new procedures in mid-January after U.S. authorities granted RJ’s request for a delay in implementing the measures.

However, the airlines offered different descriptions of how the interviews would take place, ranging from another form a traveler would have to fill out to actually being questioned by an airline employee.

It wasn’t immediately clear if other global airlines would be affected, though the Trump administration previously rolled out a laptop ban and travel bans that have thrown the international travel industry into disarray.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, it comes at the end of a 120-day deadline for airlines to meet new U.S. regulations following the ban on laptops in airplane cabins of some Mideast airlines being lifted.

Air France said it will begin new security interviews on Thursday at Paris Orly Airport and a week later, on Nov. 2, at Charles de Gaulle Airport. It said the extra screening will take the form of a questionnaire handed over to “100%” of passengers.

Emirates said in a statement it would begin doing “pre-screening interviews” at its check-in counters for passengers flying out of Dubai and at boarding gates for transit and transfer fliers. It urged those flying through Dubai International Airport, its headquarters, to allow extra time to check into flights and board.

“These measures will work in complement with the current additional screening measures conducted at the boarding gate,” it said.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said on its website that it had suspended self-drop baggage services and that passengers heading to the U.S. “will be subject to a short security interview” when checking their luggage. Those without bags would have a similar interview at their gates.

EgyptAir said in a statement the new measures include more detailed searches of passengers and their luggage and interviews. The strict procedures will extend to unauthorized agricultural or veterinary products.

Germany’s Lufthansa Group said the new rules came from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which is under Homeland Security.

“In addition to the controls of electronic devices already introduced, travelers to the U.S.A. might now also face short interviews at check-in, document check or [their] gate,” Lufthansa said in a statement.

Lufthansa Group includes Germany’s largest carrier, Lufthansa, as well as Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Eurowings and several other airlines.

Basel Kilani, a spokesman for Royal Jordanian, said Wednesday that the airline will submit questions to passengers before check-in.

Kilani said he does not know what types of questions would be asked. Royal Jordanian operates direct flights from Amman to New York, Chicago and Detroit.

The International Air Transport Assn., which represents 275 airlines, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is the latest decision by President Trump’s administration affecting global travel.

In March, U.S. officials instituted the ban on laptops in airplane cabins across 10 Middle East cities over concerns that Islamic State fighters and other extremists could hide bombs inside them. That ban was lifted after those airlines began using devices like CT scanners to examine electronics just before passengers board airplanes heading to the United States. Some increasingly swab passengers to test for explosives.

That laptop ban, as well as travel bans affecting predominantly Muslim countries, have hurt Mideast airlines. Emirates, the region’s biggest, said it slashed 20% of its flights to America in the wake of the restrictions.

It wasn’t immediately clear if other Mideast airlines were affected by the new rules.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad said its operations “were normal” without elaborating, while Doha-based Qatar Airways did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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