Travelers may soon be moving through U.S. borders much faster if two new systems being trialed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection live up to their early promise. Both involve touchless electronic screening at selected airports.
One of the systems, called Seamless Border Entry, or SBE, is an upgrade to handling of passengers who have Global Entry status, an official ‘trusted traveler’ program. Most Global Entry users either go to a special kiosk and then to an officer or use the Global Entry app that issues a QR code and skips the kiosk.
But at the airports where it’s being tested, Global Entry members will just walk past screens like the ones in the photo above for automatic instant matching of their images with stored passport photos. Diane Sabatino, a senior CBP official, told ThePointsGuy website that “the goal for the trusted traveler is really to walk through and not stop at all.” The system is in place at Chicago O’Hare, Houston GW Bush, LAX, Washington Dulles, Newark and at the Pre-Clearance facility at Toronto’s Pearson.
The other fast-track test, dubbed Enhanced Passenger Processing, or EPP, is similar in that it uses walk-through cameras and matching to existing passport photos, but does not require Global Entry membership. In its first test, starting nine months ago at Dallas/Fort Worth, CBP says, it reduced passport control wait times for U.S. citizens by 25%, also freeing up more agents for passengers not eligible for the EPP.
While it doesn’t include the PreCheck membership that’s included with Global Entry, less-frequent flyers may find it makes Global Entry with its $120 fee less attractive. The trial is now running at DFW, Orlando, Charlotte, O’Hare, Denver, Atlanta, LAX, Seattle and Dublin, Ireland.
Earlier plans to run extensive tests of e-gates for automated processing appear to have been completely dropped; an announced test last year was scrapped shortly before it was to begin. That’s likely because tests of these two systems offer a better alternative, without the delay of waiting for gates to open and close.
