Mobile Passport Control 101

Just don’t come to Atlanta because we don’t believe in making it easy for you. I went through immigration last Tuesday night. Kiosks not an option. The lines for domestic immigration were incredibly long. Now if you had a foreign passport, they were very short. (we don’t want you to come home)

Luckily, I have global entry. If you have to fly into Atlanta, I would strongly recommend it.

I have used MPC many times and consider it better than Global Entry. Will be using it in Atlanta soon.

I always bring back some food (cookies, chocolate, coffee, etc.) and dutifully declare it. How does MPC deal with that?

Just don’t come to Atlanta because we don’t believe in making it easy for you.

Carol is right. At least that was our experience returning from Spain in fall 2022. We arrived at ATL from Madrid mid-afternoon, having submitted the information on the MPC app and receiving the QR code. But when we reached the passport control lines there were no kiosks open to handle MPC. We and another couple had to wait for an agent to come to the booth and get the station set up, which took awhile. Since we had started the process on the app, we couldn't just move to the regular lines, which weren't that bad at the time. By the time we were finally processed, dozens of people had zipped through the regular lines. Not that we were in that big of a hurry, as we had hours to kill before our connecting flight to Illinois.

On the other hand, last year returning to O'Hare, MPC worked perfectly and we had no problem getting through quickly. Of course, our bags were missing in action, but that's another story.

Actually Global Entry IS better than MPC simply for the fact that they throw in TSA precheck as well.

And Global Entry is still quicker than MPC. I just go to the kiosk, the photo takes my picture and I'm waved through. In DFW, it took literally 2 minutes.

So unless you don't fly domestically, I'd always recommend Global Entry over MPC simply for the TSA precheck advantage.

My only recent experience is at Minneapolis, Terminal 1. The App shows MPC as an option, the monitors in Immigration advertise it, but there does not seem to be any facilities for it. However, I have always been through the regular line quickly, so no concerns.

Has anyone here used the new Global Entry mobile app? I'll be returning to the US at ORD this summer and am eager to see how the app works. I've usually found Global Entry to be a breeze, especially since they started facial recognition so you don't even need to pull out your passport.

Stan:
" I always bring back some food (cookies, chocolate, coffee, etc.) and dutifully declare it. How does MPC deal with that?"
The app asks you if you're bringing back food. Say yes. You stop and speak to an officer, advise what you're bringing back, etc.

FTR, I used MPC just in March at T8 - JFK. We used the same line as GE, so I made it through faster than some GE folks. Same in 2021 at JFK. Not bad for free.

Not just for US passport holders. Used it at PHL recently. Worked fine and skipped a lengthy regular queue.

We have global entry but just traveled with our niece who did not. I had her download the mobile passport ap before we left US. When we arrived in Miami, she pressed submit, took a selfie for the program and then got in correct line.

We were through global entry in less than 5 minutes. It took her about 15. Still much faster than regular line but not as fast as global entry.

I used the MPC app on my returns to JFK from Edinburgh both last June and this May. Last year the line was short (fewer than a dozen people) and I sped through the process in about 10 minutes.

This year the line was quite a bit longer—though still much shorter than the general line—and so was the time I spent in it. As I got close to the front, I noticed that only one agent station was available, and the agent was taking a long time talking to everyone. When my turn came, he didn’t take as long, but I thought it odd that he asked me whether I had brought back any alcohol, as I had already answered that question when I submitted my answers in the app.

In any case, I will continue using the MPC app.