Transit Passengers at Detroit and Minneapolis Airports No Longer Need Separate Baggage Screening

by Choi Daeyul

Published 15 Apr.2026 06:00(KST)

Expansion Beyond Atlanta, Says Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that starting April 15, remote screening of checked baggage will be implemented for passengers departing from Incheon International Airport and transiting through Detroit or Minneapolis airports in the United States. This expands the coverage beyond Atlanta Airport, where the service has been provided since August last year.

Remote screening of checked baggage is a service in which X-ray images of baggage, taken during security screening at Incheon Airport, are sent in advance to the connecting airport. There, the baggage is inspected remotely before the aircraft arrives, and if no issues are found, the baggage is loaded directly onto the connecting flight. Previously, passengers transiting through Detroit or Minneapolis had to collect their baggage themselves, clear customs or undergo random baggage inspections, and then check their baggage again at the transfer airline's counter.

Appearance of the domestic terminal boarding gate at Gimpo Airport. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Going forward, passengers will be able to transit without collecting their baggage, allowing for a baggage-free transfer and reducing the transfer time by at least 20 minutes, according to the Ministry. Previously, the process-including immigration-took about 1 hour and 30 minutes. This applies not only to passengers using direct flights from Incheon to Detroit or Minneapolis, but also to those departing from a third country, transiting through Incheon, and traveling onward to the United States.

Delta Air Lines currently operates one flight per day on both the Incheon-Detroit and Incheon-Minneapolis routes. In 2025, a total of 71,828 passengers used these routes, with 45,235 being transfer passengers, accounting for 63%. Lee Sangheon, Director General for Airport Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "The expansion of remote screening for checked baggage is a result of cooperation based on mutual trust in aviation security between Korea and the United States. We will continue to expand the applicable routes to other major U.S. airports such as Seattle and Los Angeles, further strengthening international aviation security cooperation."