I recently got selected for secondary inspection when entering the US. The CBP in the booth asked me the usual questions, all of which we easily and truthfully answered, and were supported by the paperwork requested (itinerary, hotel confirmation etc), yet the customs form was marked with a yellow line and the letters 'PPC' scrawled on it it red, and marched me to the secondary inspection room.

2hrs later, the CBP behind the desk called me up, handed me the stamped customs form (annotated with 'PPC Clear') and passport and told me I could go. At no point was I asked any additional questions, no bags opened and searched, no phone calls made to double check what I'd said to the initial CBP.

As enlightening as spending 2hr watching a load of other people being grilled was, I'm curious if anyone knows what the 'PPC' was indicating.

Passport check?

The interesting thing is that PPC in some traditional circles means to take leave/to say goodbye.

Getting sent to passport secondary for a passport check isn't a great way of being welcomed nor the kind of goodbye most would want.

Some days back I saw a form where CBP wrote "3TO" on it. An acquaintance of mine said that person is likely to be in for some additional special treatment. Not like that.

Could be anything, including the possibility that a person with a name which is close to yours in spelling and of your same approximate age, has some flag. Could be that there's a flag on you for some reason or it could just be that something didn't sound right. Or, it could just be totally random for quality control purposes.

Torturing yourself over this won't do you any good. And, CBP will never tell you the reason, if there is one.

Maybe we should start a thread with the various codes that CBP writes on teh blue forms and what they mean. I travel alone and they usually write "ONE." Occasional the numeral "1" but usually it's written out.

Last time I got an "A" which I guess means "agriculture" because upon exit I was directed to put my bag on the x-ray screener.

It's kind of a weird system because if I had a checked bag full of prohibited plants or fruits I could have just looked at the "A" that was written on my form and then decided to just leave that checked bag on the luggage carousel or tossed the fruit in the restroom or something. Maybe they don't have restrooms in the international baggage claim areas. I don't know.

There are restrooms in some US international baggage claim areas, the area between the passport control check desks and the place where you hand off the customs declaration form before finally being done with CBP for that US-arriving flight.

Who's torturing whom?

Could be anything? Not really, even if ATS were doing true randoms.

Sometimes the CBP will provide the reason a person has been sent for secondary.

Yeah, our experience has been that numbers are the size of your party and A means ag inspection. We've never seen any other codes. I'm pretty sure there is a restroom but unpacking your bag to dump stuff might be obvious.

Coming from China we often get ag inspected. Once I overheard them talking--*EVERYONE* on our flight was getting inspected.

I got a new code today flying into LAX. The primary inspection officer wrote "one" in regular pen (as usual) but he also took out a red marker and wrote "497."

I thought, uh oh, 497, this sounds serious.

As I exited customs, I handed in my form, and when the lady saw the 497, she said "you need to go over there to line B."

So I walked a few steps over into the next line, handed my form to a different guy, and he waved me right on my way.

I guess 497 isn't that serious after all.

In 2011 my card was tagged by Immigration at LAX for a Customs Secondary. The code he wrote on my Customs form was a rather cryptic "545" instead of the normal "One". The secondary was no big deal since I only had a small carry-on with a few things anyway but I made a note of the "545" to try and figure out later. At the time I posted my account of the secondary on a social media site and someone else quickly pointed out that the number "545" corresponds to ......
US Code TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 27 > � 545. Smuggling goods into the United States.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/545

In another secondary, also at LAX. Probably ~2008-2009. The Immigration agent made a circle around the border of the Homeland Security Seal.

Interesting. I can't find any relevant statute with "497."

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/19/1497

Don't know..... Maybe

Interesting. No one asked what I was bringing back, but maybe the primary officer didn't like the fact that all I declared was "toothbrush and toothpaste - value $1."

It was actually a hotel freebie. I'm thorough like that.