
You might be able to get through customs quicker at these airports
You might be able to get through customs quicker at these airports
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Safeguard your data privacy while flying and sharing on social media
These important data privacy tips can protect you when flying and sharing content on social media.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is implementing new technologies to expedite the customs process for international travelers.
Enhanced Passenger Processing (EPP) uses automated photo capture to pre-screen U.S. citizens at various airports and border crossings.
Seamless Border Entry further expedites screening for Global Entry members at select airports using "On The Move" technology to speed up screening.
Travelers returning to the U.S. will have new ways to navigate customs this summer at many major airports and border crossing points, and they may be able to avoid waiting in long lines after getting off a long flight.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) highlighted two technologically enhanced screening options that make passport processing faster for arriving passengers using upgraded biometric screening technologies at various checkpoints.
"CBP is committed to enhancing national security while streamlining lawful travel," CBP's Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner Diane J. Sabatino said in a statement. "By leveraging advanced technologies and mobile applications, we are transforming inspections at airports into a seamless, touchless process, enabling faster risk identification and efficient processing of legitimate visitors."
Enhanced Passenger Processing is available to all U.S. citizens, but Seamless Border Entry requires Global Entry enrollment.
Here's what travelers need to know about these CBP upgrades and where they can take advantage of them on their next trip.
Enhanced Passenger Processing
Enhanced Passenger Processing uses automatic photo capturing at checkpoints to notify CBP officers about travelers' details before they reach the passport check.
According to the CBP, the assessment provided by the EPP array includes biometric confirmation, entry eligibility and the need for enforcement before the passenger reaches the agent. That profile allows the screening to happen faster.
EPP is available for the U.S. at these CBP locations, according to the agency:
Orlando International Airport
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Denver International Airport
Charlotte Douglas International Airport
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Cross Border Xpress (San Diego/Tijuana)
Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Dublin Airport (Ireland)
Seamless Border Entry
Global Entry members can benefit from even faster screening at some airports. CBP is using "On The Move" technology, which screens passengers as they move through the terminal rather than requiring them to process them at a kiosk.
According to CBP, Seamless Border Entry allows Global Entry enrollees "to move through the inspection process seamlessly with minimal interaction with a CBP officer, depending on officer discretion."
Seamless Border Entry is available at these CBP locations, according to the agency:
Los Angeles International Airport
Miami International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
George Bush Continental Airport
Toronto Pierson International Airport (Canada)
Travelers who do not have Global Entry and do not wish to participate in EPP can also take advantage of CBP's Mobile Passport Control app to streamline their experience at the border.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Summer travel predicted to break records for the Fourth of July
AAA projects a record 72 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more during the nine-day Independence Day holiday period — from June 28 to July 6 — with new highs expected for both drivers and air travelers as summer travel reaches peak season. The auto club forecasts nearly 62 million people will drive over the Fourth of July weekend, representing an increase of 1.3 million from last year. Air travel is expected to rise more than 1% over last year's record numbers. "The top 10 heaviest travel days in TSA history have all happened within the past year, and we expect to see more heavy volumes this summer," said Kristie Jordan Smith, a Transportation Security Administration official at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. How technology at airports is reducing wait times The Independence Day travel period is expected to be the summer's busiest travel stretch. Airport officials are implementing new technology to reduce wait times. At DFW, customs officials report wait times are down 25% thanks to enhanced passenger processing technology that uses facial recognition, now operational at nine airports nationwide. CBP will soon test a program allowing customs to review X-ray images of checked bags from London flights, eliminating the need for connecting passengers to clear security twice in Dallas. "This program streamlines and improves the travel experience for our customers, saving them time and reducing the complexity of clearing security while continuing to maintain the highest security standards," said Jim Moses, Senior Vice President DFW Hub Operations at American Airlines. DFW is the airline's largest hub. AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said travel demand reflects both practical and emotional factors. "We're seeing travel in record numbers because travel isn't just an economic and practical decision, it's also an emotional decision," Diaz said. "People don't have to spend a lot of money when they go on these trips, but people want to get away and not be home." According to Priceline, top summer destinations include Las Vegas, Orlando, Tokyo and London. SpaceX Starship upper stage blows up Hurricane Erick approaches Mexico with destructive winds, major storm surge AI's extreme human imitation makes it act deceptively, cheat and lie, "Godfather of AI" says
%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2FTAL-biometrics-at-airport-AIRPORTSELL2ICE0625-5460c1f1d38d4fe6aee99cdbdfaf7c0e.jpg&w=3840&q=100)

Travel + Leisure
3 days ago
- Travel + Leisure
Major U.S. Airlines Are Selling Your Data to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—What to Know
Most travelers have never heard of the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), but odds are their information has passed through this company, which is owned by eight major U.S. airlines. According to the ARC website, it is 'the world's largest, most comprehensive repository of global airline tickets.' This database was just sold to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—a branch under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The information includes passenger names, financial details, and passenger's flight itineraries, according to 404 Media. According to the Federal Procurement Data System, ARC signed a contract that gives U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to its Travel Intelligence Program (TIP) database through May 2028. An ARC representative said the TIP was 'created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to provide certain data … to law enforcement.' GovTribe, a software that tracks federal and state contracts, estimates that this contract is worth $776,750. Procurement documents obtained by The Lever and 404 Media state that ICE would be able to search this database using the names or credit card information of a 'traveler/target.' They will have access to 'full flight itineraries, passenger name records, and financial details, which are otherwise difficult or impossible to obtain.' Travel + Leisure reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, which referred questions to ICE. At the time of publication, ICE has not responded. 'I have never seen government access to ARC—or even ARC itself—mentioned in an airline privacy policy or a travel agency policy,' travel data privacy expert Edward Hasbrouck told The Lever. ARC is owned and operated by eight major airlines: Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Air France. According to its website, ARC's database represents 54 percent of all flights taken globally. This data is collected directly from airlines and through accredited travel agencies. T+L reached out to all eight airlines. Alaska Airlines pointed to the ARC for a comment; the other seven carriers did not respond to questions at the time of publication. 'It's shocking to a lot of Americans right now that they don't have the rights in travel that they thought they did,' Joshua McKenty, former chief cloud architect at NASA and founder of Polyguard, told T+L. McKenty advised that travelers, especially foreign nationals visiting the United States, buy their own flights. He also said that immigration lawyers and others involved in the refugee process should not purchase their clients' tickets. Otherwise, their data might become affiliated in the eyes of the DHS. This data purchase is happening in parallel to the Real ID mandate, the increase in facial recognition programs at airports, and other changes in travel data privacy. 'The scariest parts of the biometrics are what travelers don't notice or think about,' McKenty said. For those who are not U.S. citizens, there is no guarantee that photos taken at airports will be deleted. In fact, according to Customs and Border Protection documents, 'All biometrics of in-scope [noncitizen] travelers are transmitted to IDENT/HART as encounters and are retained for 75 years in support of immigration, border management, and law enforcement activities.' (HART stands for Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology, and it is a DHS biometric identity database.) Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) raised concerns about HART and wrote a letter imploring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to take the urgent steps necessary to mitigate privacy risks. A GAO report warns that 'HART could be used beyond its intended scope, leading to surveillance of law-abiding individuals and communities.' Privacy experts also raise concerns around the DHS's collection of immigrant data, including its storage of children's DNA in a criminal database. Privacy is a human right, enshrined by Article 12 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, McKenty warned that a traveler's right to privacy is changing with government policies and is quickly being aligned with the priorities of the administration. McKenty recommends that everyone traveling stay aware of their rights in travel, or lack thereof. 'The idea that we should violate everyone's privacy, so we can look for anything that we as a government think is suspicious is just wrong,' McKenty said. 'We have protections against that as a behavior in every other aspect of government overreach.'


CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
From Las Vegas to Tokyo, a record 72 million Americans are predicted to hit the road and skies for the Fourth of July
AAA projects a record 72 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more during the nine-day Independence Day holiday period — from June 28 to July 6 — with new highs expected for both drivers and air travelers as summer travel reaches peak season. The auto club forecasts nearly 62 million people will drive over the Fourth of July weekend, representing an increase of 1.3 million from last year. Air travel is expected to rise more than 1% over last year's record numbers. "The top 10 heaviest travel days in TSA history have all happened within the past year, and we expect to see more heavy volumes this summer," said Kristie Jordan Smith, a Transportation Security Administration official at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. How technology at airports is reducing wait times The Independence Day travel period is expected to be the summer's busiest travel stretch. Airport officials are implementing new technology to reduce wait times. At DFW, customs officials report wait times are down 25% thanks to enhanced passenger processing technology that uses facial recognition, now operational at nine airports nationwide. CBP will soon test a program allowing customs to review X-ray images of checked bags from London flights, eliminating the need for connecting passengers to clear security twice in Dallas. "This program streamlines and improves the travel experience for our customers, saving them time and reducing the complexity of clearing security while continuing to maintain the highest security standards," said Jim Moses, Senior Vice President DFW Hub Operations at American Airlines. DFW is the airline's largest hub. AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said travel demand reflects both practical and emotional factors. "We're seeing travel in record numbers because travel isn't just an economic and practical decision, it's also an emotional decision," Diaz said. "People don't have to spend a lot of money when they go on these trips, but people want to get away and not be home." According to Priceline, top summer destinations include Las Vegas, Orlando, Tokyo and London.