joshwex90

When did it arrive at EWR (and is that true for all terminals)? On CBP website, I only see ATL, MIA, ORD, and SEA:

Source: Mobile Passport Control Frequently Asked Questions - CBP

GUWonder

MPC was in EWR last week for BA/VS flights. I don't know which date this year they put it up, but it's very new at EWR, as in it was there in the end of March and in April but not in February.

http://mobilepassport.us

Crazydre

What terminal? Were there any clear signs for X and non-X lines? When I entered at the Tom Bradley terminal it was horribly organised but I was directed to the booths are the far right end (got a non-X receipt) where they, contrary to other reports, actually questioned me a fair deal.

The main differences to me were the much shorter Queues (10 minutes for the Kiosk, 15 for the booth) and the fact that I took the photo and Fingerprints at the Kiosk and not the booth

Progrowth

I arrived at LAX yesterday after a 10+ hour flight from Europe. I'm a US citizen and proceeded to the entry kiosk (not Global entry) to scan my passport and image. I got a clear form issued but my wife (also a US citizen) got an X, which meant we both then waited in a 3 hour line (after a 10+ hour flight) that was progressively increasing in size to be manually processed by a CBP officer who simply looked at her photo and stamped her entry! It appeared more than half of the kiosk users were given an X and were subjected to the same abuse of exhausted passengers. Given the absurd waste of time this is when a secondary option at the kiosk of submitting a fingerprint to verify the passenger should the face recognition fail would have achieved the same objective why doesn't CBP fix this as it involves a lot of unnecessary work and expense for them also? And second, with verification and a valid passport what possible reason could they deny a US citizen access back into their own country?

joshwex90

An "X" doesn't mean deny. Secondary inspection could be for violations, not denial of entry.

Do you mind answering what airport and date this was? 3 hours for secondary sounds extreme on steroids

Progrowth

May 25, yesterday, LAX Tom Bradley, the lines were horrendous, not all booths were manned, we even had a lufthansa flight crew in the US citizens section which indicates the crew line was shut, and I do not believe the vast majority of citizens returning with X forms were for violations, probably less than 5%, in my wife's case it appeared it was a facial recognition issue which could have been resolved at the kiosk with a second fingerprint option (which they use for Global entry). There are practical solutions available, it should not be so difficult to return to my own country or take so long to re-enter after a long flight. Btw, they have a secondary inspection area separate to this area, that is not what I'm talking about, no X you exit, X you wait in line, there are more X forms issued than non-X forms from my observations of the person directing passengers in the two directions.

joshwex90

I didn't mean that X means a violation. I mean that worst case scenario, there could be violations (laws breaking?) that need to be sorted out with an officer, not that a US citizen would be denied entry.

As for the fingerprint, are you suggesting that all US passport holders be required to get fingerprinted in order to get a US passport?

techie

I am so glad that I have GE now. The past 3 out of 4 times I arrived into US -- PHL, PHL and CLT -- APC kiosks were either not working or they were reserved for US citizens only due to high volume of pax arriving. The only blissful experience was in DFW where they were hardly occupied and I was done with them and through customs with the Mrs in 5 minutes tops. MIA the couple of times before that was not bad either.

Worrying about missing your connecting flight when doing an INT-DOM transfer should thankfully be a thing of the past

Progrowth

They certainly have ours, it should be a second option at the kiosk if the facial recognition returns a negative (which it didn't btw) instead of waiting hours in line when as you say the can't deny entry anyway, so what is the point of putting us through this?

joshwex90

Are you US passport holders?

GUWonder

Naturalized US citizens often have US passports. Also there are many millions of natural-born US citizens with fingerprints on file with the USG.

TWA884

But those prints are not necessarily linked to their passports, so they are useless for verifying identity of individuals who are not enrolled in the Trusted Travelers programs at the APC kiosks.

joshwex90

Fingerprint on file with the government says nothing about the passport. Felons also have their fingerprints on file.

What matters is if there fingerprints are linked to their passport

Progrowth

The whole point is, if you know your fingerprints are on file with HS (which includes ALL naturalized US citizens and green card holders) there should be an option to use that instead of the facial recognition at the kiosk, which appears to be not very good at facial recognition considering the number of X forms issued. That would save a lot of time lining up for a CBP officer, and they need all the help they can get also, our airports are a complete mess these days.

smxflyer

On my flight to IAD yesterday, they handed out the customs forms. Went to APC line which was long and they started sending some of us to empty booths for non-US citizens, so the paper customs form was required in this case.

Interestingly, the immigration officer took my form and did not give it back for customs. And after claiming my bag, they let people walk through customs without asking for any forms or questions. Similar to how it is commonly done in European airports, but I've never seen this at a US airport.