Originally Posted by
Zorak
FWIW though I have experienced the "don't approach unless you hear your name" format at other airports, that wasn't how they did it at IAD yesterday -- people exited the line more or less single file in the order they entered, and the agent looked each person up in the list of photos on the tablet. It was only after they scrolled up and down and couldn't find us on the tablet (and double checked that we both had GE and had both used the kiosk) that they sent us to the other agent for manual processing.
I assure you, the non-GE line was longer. In any case, don't see how they can 100% eliminate lines especially when multiple international widebodies arrive at roughly the same time...
Similar experience at IAD yesterday. New machines - effectively touchless. Not super fast at facial recognition, but probably quicker than pecking through the questions in 1.0. Got to front of single file line and CBP confirmed "drewguy?" I said yes, showed passport, asked if I had anything to declare (cookies - he chuckled) and moved along.
Wouldn't mind more than 6 machines - I was among first off moon buggy and still had to wait . . . in part because several people seemed confused by the slot to insert a passport, which means machine has to restart the process. At least the final check moved quickly, though I could see that backing up if I hadn't been there quickly.