Mobile Passport Control 4+

This is the BEST little know app EVER that will save you time at the airport, and that’s coming from an airline employee of over 5 years. It was amazing the estimated wait time was almost 2 hours or more for the regular person who doesn’t have a Global Entry Number. That said when your traveling through an entry point city that the worlds largest airline uses as one of their international hubs and just want to get through the Customs and Border Protection line at the airport when entering These United States, you have go to download this app !!!

You can choose to have it save your passport information, or you can have it rest each time your forms for entry expire, all you have to do is take a clear picture of yourself, and a picture of your passport and enter your flight information and then fill out the quick standard entry question, and then the app auto fills out the correct entry forms for you and your entire family who might be traveling with you. Then you pick up your checked baggage (if you have any), and lastly start looking for the signage for the line for electronic entry. I will say this global entry was way way longer then this apps line and that is supposed to be the timesavers line for frequent international travelers, and this app allowed us to even cut in front of them without having to pay for anything!!!

If you've been using the Mobile Passport app and, like me, have seen it saying lately that it will no longer relay your information to U.S. Home Customs & Border Patrol (CBP), it's time to cancel your subscription to Mobile Passport, delete that app, and download this one. CBP MPC is the official and up-to-date replacement for the Mobile Passport app. And I'm not positive yet, but it's looking to me like this one doesn't even require a subscription to do what Mobile Passport did (and more, I think). The only thing I haven't figured out how to do in this app is to add my Known Traveler Number (KTN). I've submitted a question about that through the Customer Support menu item and will see what they say.

And if you *haven't* been using the Mobile Passport app but are looking for an electronic repository for your passport and a paperless means of filling out the forms necessary for entry into the U.S. and/or Canada, this is the app you're looking for too. It's the official one, put out by the Department of Homeland Security and all that jazz, and not some third-party thing that adds an unnecessary link to the chain of communication. Enjoy. 🙂👍🏻

It may be coincidence, but with the retirement of the Airside app, it seems that immigration control at fewer and fewer airports are processing the Mobile Passport Control receipt. Instead of getting the expedited service we users formerly received, we are being dumped into the same long lines all other travelers (many very unfamiliar with the basics) are using. The result is a very substandard experience and excessive processing time — hardly what we had grown to expect from the program when originally launched.

At the very least, those airports that have removed the receipt scanners and don’t provide dedicated servicing for Mobile Passport should be removed from the “port of entry” list. Leaving them in there sets a false expectation that we will be able to use the app and get through quickly. Today I nearly missed a connection at O’Hare because the airport refuses to use the app (even though they show up on the list). It seems to be a locally-driven decision. Even better would be to mandate the use of the system at all major US gateway airports. It used to provide a useful alternative for those of us who travel frequently, but don’t live near a major airport where we can schedule a Global Entry interview (and go through that ponderous bureaucratic process). US CBP needs to make up their mind what their mobile strategy is… and then follow through with a consistent and convenient execution of that strategy!