South African Airways (SAA) has announced customers travelling to the United States will have to face additional security restrictions.
“In terms of the United States’ Transportation Security Administration (TSA), there will be additional security requirements for flights to the United States of America (USA) and these will be in the form of restrictions to carry certain specified items in the cabin under specified circumstances,” said Tlali Tlali, SAA spokesperson, reported The South African.
The restrictions, which will be applied with effect from March 25, 2019, relate to carriage of liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGS) purchased at duty-free areas of the airports by passengers in transit on flights taking off from Johannesburg, Accra and Dakar.
The SAA spokesperson added the restrictions will be imposed on all passengers in transit/transfer to the USA and will apply to both SAA flights to the United States. The flight to New York is non-stop, while the other flight to Washington DC goes via Accra and Dakar – four and three times a week respectively.
Under the new rules, LAGS may not be transported in cabin baggage (accessible property) of any passengers connecting to the USA from Accra, Dakar, and Johannesburg.
Tlali said the airline’s security gate search teams will perform passenger screening to verify any duty-free items purchased at upstream airports and will deny the carriage of such items on the flight. Even items packed in security tamper evidence bags will not be allowed.
The airline advised the passengers to keep the restrictions in mind when planning to transit/transfer through Johannesburg, Accra, and Dakar to avoid any kind of unnecessary discomfort and/or possible loss of their items. This requirement does, however, not affect duty-free purchased at the last point of departure in those cities.
On behalf of SAA, Tlali apologized for the inconvenience caused by the restrictions imposed.
“We trust that our discerning passengers will appreciate that from time to time there will be changes introduced in the industry by the regulators or by agencies of jurisdictions to which SAA operates,” said Tlali.
