Cameron
500+ Posts
I just returned to Raleigh-Durham from London. RDU has the Mobile Passport App capability and I had a great experience with it.
Before leaving the US, I scanned my passport into the app (you're walked through it; easy). If there are multiple family members in your party, you also scan their passports so that you need "one" per family, as with a hand-written landing card.
Before customs, you have to "submit" your app information (what you'd complete on a landing card, plus your previously scanned passport) within four hours of landing.
Since I had a 7 hour flight, I had to wait until I landed, but before deplaning, to submit my passport/landing card information. I tried to submit it using the wifi on American Airlines, but it timed out. As soon as the plane landed, I switched to cellular data and it took only seconds to submit.
In Customs, there is a separate line for Global Entry (I don't have that) and a separate line for Mobile Passport. I was the only person in line in Mobile Passport, but I flew business class, so I was also one of the first passengers off the plane.
You still have to show your passport to the customs agent, and place your iPhone (or Android) on the scanner for the bar code for your landing information to be scanned. A stamped receipt (as usual) is provided, and you hand that over when you exit the customs area.
Bottom line, I think the separate line, rather than the app, made it a very quick process. That said, I don't know why I'd now spend the time and money for a Global Entry unless I were to frequently deplane in an airport without Mobile Passport.
Side bar -- when leaving London at Heathrow, I was asked a lot of questions that someone else mentioned. They asked about what did I do on my trip and vacation wasn't sufficient, they wanted more specific info. Also, when I said I was retired, they asked about what I did before retiring. When I said I was a marketing strategist, they asked me to describe what that job entailed.
Before leaving the US, I scanned my passport into the app (you're walked through it; easy). If there are multiple family members in your party, you also scan their passports so that you need "one" per family, as with a hand-written landing card.
Before customs, you have to "submit" your app information (what you'd complete on a landing card, plus your previously scanned passport) within four hours of landing.
Since I had a 7 hour flight, I had to wait until I landed, but before deplaning, to submit my passport/landing card information. I tried to submit it using the wifi on American Airlines, but it timed out. As soon as the plane landed, I switched to cellular data and it took only seconds to submit.
In Customs, there is a separate line for Global Entry (I don't have that) and a separate line for Mobile Passport. I was the only person in line in Mobile Passport, but I flew business class, so I was also one of the first passengers off the plane.
You still have to show your passport to the customs agent, and place your iPhone (or Android) on the scanner for the bar code for your landing information to be scanned. A stamped receipt (as usual) is provided, and you hand that over when you exit the customs area.
Bottom line, I think the separate line, rather than the app, made it a very quick process. That said, I don't know why I'd now spend the time and money for a Global Entry unless I were to frequently deplane in an airport without Mobile Passport.
Side bar -- when leaving London at Heathrow, I was asked a lot of questions that someone else mentioned. They asked about what did I do on my trip and vacation wasn't sufficient, they wanted more specific info. Also, when I said I was retired, they asked about what I did before retiring. When I said I was a marketing strategist, they asked me to describe what that job entailed.