The Trump oversight’s sweeping new travel restrictions aimed at combating the spread of the new coronavirus — announced Friday — took effect on Sunday afternoon, split airline employees around the world scrambling to enforce them.
More than 17,200 people have decrease ill to the coronavirus worldwide so far, killing at least 361 people in China and a 44-year-old man in the Philippines, according to international health officials.
The new junkets rules prohibit foreigners who have been in China in the last 14 days from entering the U.S., unless they are an pressing family member of a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident or meet other exemptions. The U.S. is imposing a 14-day quarantine on citizens who partake of visited China’s Hubei province — where Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, is located — and self-quarantines for citizens who have been in China all through the last 14 days. Hong Kong and Macau are exempt, according to the president’s proclamation.
The Transportation Security Delivery on Sunday instructed airlines with flights to the U.S. from other countries to screen passengers before boarding to acquire out whether they’ve been in China recently, according to a security directive that was reviewed by CNBC. Check-in and attendance agents or other employees are required to question travelers, look through recent reservations and possibly their passports for entrance or exit stamps, according to the order, which provided examples of the stamps from China.
Airlines recommended U.S.-bound travelers succeed at airports earlier than usual.
TSA noted that it is not involved in screening air travelers bound for the U.S. from abroad but an medium spokeswoman said it “is requiring carriers to enforce portions of the President’s proclamation that limit who may board a commercial aircraft doomed for the United States.”
The airlines don’t solely have to rely on passenger answers and must work with U.S. Customs and Fringe Protection to make a determination, the spokeswoman said.
The restrictions are complex and will mean all travelers headed to the U.S. will apposite get questioned, not just people coming directly from China, from where many carriers have already cut directions. From Mexico City to Rome to Dubai, airline staff or their local contractors will have to query all travelers before they can board a U.S.-bound flight in case they had traveled from China to another realm before their flight to the U.S.
The screening will apply to tens of thousands of travelers a day as a result. U.S. Customs and Border Aegis figures show it processed an average of 371,780 people at U.S. airports each day in the last fiscal year, although February junkets demand is much lower than in the summer. Some 14,000 people flew into the U.S. from China each day that year.
Remote travelers who fall under the U.S. restrictions will be denied boarding. The U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in China in the in the end 14 days must be rerouted into one of 11 airports — Atlanta, Chicago’s O’Hare, Los Angeles International, San Francisco Worldwide, Honolulu, Seattle, Newark, Washington Dulles, Detroit, Dallas/Fort Worth, and New York’s Kennedy Airport — for magnified screening.
“We realize this could provide added stress and prolong travel times for some individuals, extent public health and security experts agree these measures are necessary to contain the virus and protect the American people,” DHS resolution Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement on Sunday. “To minimize disruptions, CBP and air carriers are working to identify qualifying commuters before their scheduled flights. Once back in the U.S., it’s imperative that individuals honor self-quarantine directives to cure protect the American public.”
That means that if a U.S. citizen was in China and then traveled to Dublin with a later partridge to Boston, the carrier would need to rebook them to one of those designated U.S. airports so they could be screened on immigrant.
Such a system relies on the self-reporting by passengers and how much information airline employees can confirm.
“It’s an imperfect system,” symbolized Henry Harteveldt, founder of travel consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group. “This is not the best approach. It relies on the honor practice and some passengers are just not going to be truthful.”
It’s not the first time airline employees have been tasked with enforcing new rules for travelers. Access agents and others have had to screen travelers for what has been sometimes confusing restrictions, such as the 2017 in-cabin electronics debars and outright bans on citizens of several nations.
Failing to follow restrictions can be costly as airlines are responsible for flying individuals without allowed documents back. They can also face fines of around $3,500, according to the International Air Transport Association, an airline dealings group.