I arrived yesterday 14 March 2019 from ZRH on UA 53. We arrived 1.5 hours past scheduled arrival and what a nightmare at IAD!

yes, they took all of the Automated Passport Control (APC) machines away so the lines were extra long (It felt like it was a 45 min-60 min wait time but I would corroborate that with data from CBP's airport wait time website). as others have chimed in, they took away mobile passport entry. From CBP Mid-Atlantic's tweet on 06 March 2019, it looks like the reason for the long queues is the transition to 100% biometric screening. I've been incredibly cheap to get Global Entry because I've always found mobile passport faster and, well, at a price of $0, why not? Also, airports have gotten much better with staggering their international flight arrivals so that these small ports of entry aren't overwhelmed during one part of the day so the crowds were manageable.

A few questions:

• taxpayers invested quite a bit for these APC kiosks and it was assured that they helped ensure expedited and lawful entry; a win-win for everyone. now....we're back to the old days of long queues and are we seriously just going to toss all the investments we've made on those APC kiosks?
• before any international flight even reaches the United States, the flight manifest is transmitted via the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS). doesn't some magic government system already vet all the pax in the plane? why do we need even more scrutiny at the border if, in theory, everyone has already been vetted while the plane is in the air?
• one of the peculiar sights was a flight from Dublin, Ireland (I couldn't recall if it was the UA or EI flight), I thought CBP had a pre-clearance facility in DUB?

good news: I have an appointment next week with CBP for my global entry and nexus (it was a special enrollment opportunity put on by CBP and Canada's CBSA without having to travel to a Canadian port/border city). I think it's time to just bite the bullet and use GE instead of this mess.