Any experience with #Mobile Passport?
 

We have global entry, which is great. The machines are quick, if they are working..... No stopping at passport control, just hand off your paper to the customs agent as you exit the controlled area.

This new free app sounds great, but they don't explain who you have to see...is it the passport control or the customs agent? Either one could mean a line at busy times of the day.

Might be worth a try though. We always enter the USA at Ohare, which is one of the airports trying this new system.

I read it as the customs agent, which would be the same as global entry, but free. When I came back through Philly from my last trip they had a stupid two tier system for passport control for non global entry people. You had to use a kiosk to get your photo taken and answer some questions, and then take a print out to an agent who asked some more.

I quite liked the two-tier system at IAH. It takes no time to get through even with an airbus 380 arrival.

We have seen that two-tier system work really well and also really badly, so on the whole I can't see it as any improvement.

I actually used this app last Friday. Well, sort of.

I had downloaded the app before leaving for Costa Rica and had filled out all my info. I also almost completed the entry info on my return flight to Miami, except I was just outside of the 4 hours max limit they have by the time I had to board. Landing at MIA we lucked out by ending up at a gate very close to immigration, which meant I didn't have time to even connect to wi-fi by the time I had to choose to go to the normal immigration line or the Mobile Passport line. I took a chance and went into the latter. There was no one in line and 4 manned booths. I explained I hadn't completed submitting my info and the agent said no worries, looked at the app on my ipod, took my passport and sent me on my way. I was thru immigration less than 5 minutes after we'd been let off the plane.

So, I guess technically I didn't use the app 100% but am eager to try it again in the future.

Another reason having on-board wifi would be helpful.

Just got Mobile Passport. Said to be "in the works" for BOS, but no actual announcement yet. Heading BOS-LHR and back in a couple of weeks. Wondering how that may work.

Noted - we're 8 months beyond the last post. Would appreciate any updates or more recent experiences.

Is this free service the same as what we paid $100 for Global Entry? Why did I just spend the money? Someone please explain.

No, it's not the same service, but it does expedite your pass through immigration to some degree. When I used it a few weeks ago, I didn't need to connect to Wi-Fi. I simply filled out the form while my plane was on the taxi to the terminal, using data, and was ushered to a shorter line once I showed the app to a ground agent. But if everything is working properly, everyone else visits a kiosk upon landing and enters the same information onto a similar screen. You skip that step by filling the info out online first. (Even still, the Global Entry line was shorter the day I arrived.)

However, the app doesn't give you expedited entry to the Customs line as Global Entry does, and at JFK, for example, the lines to go through Customs are now the much much longer line in most cases, generally snaking through baggage claim and taking 2 or 3 times as long as the immigration line for US citizens.

Oh .. and Mobile Passport doesn't give you access to the TSA pre-check lines, as Global Entry does.