Electronic Machines At LAX And Other Airports Add Another Step To Clearing Customs
I don’t get it.
The U.S. Customs Automated Passport Control electronic machines – installed at some U.S. airports for USA and Canadian citizens to save time going through customs – doesn’t appear to save any time at all.
In fact, all it does is add an extra step to the customs process.
You still have to stand in line to hand the printout to a customs officer. Where is the time savings? Plus, you may have to stand in line for a kiosk to open, so that’s two lines as opposed to one with the old method.
Here’s what it is and how it works – in theory anyway – if you’ve not encountered one.
Upon arriving at customs, you go to a kiosk, answer all the questions you do on the old form, scan your passport, then wait for the machine to take your photo. Then machine spits out a piece of paper which you casually drop off to a customs officer and you’re on your way to baggage claim.
In reality, here’s how it works.
You’ve already filled out the old form on the plane. When you get to the customs area, you weave your way through a Disneyland-maze of stanchions, only to be told you most turn around and go use the machine (there are no signs telling you to use the machines, of course and only people who have encountered them on previous flights know to go to them).
So now there’s a line at the machines and you electronically answer the same questions you did on the form (are you bringing in more than $10,000 in goods, did you visit a farm, etc.), Then you take the printout and hand it and your passport to a customs agent, who is located separately from the regular customs agents.
How in the world is this quicker!?
Of course, you then have to wait in yet another line to hand another customs agent that printout that the first customs agent stamped before you are allowed to exit.
Naturally the government is making a big deal out of these machines. No doubt they paid tens of millions of dollars to develop the system and put them in airports (but hey, it’s better than giving that money to the Pentagon to lose, right!?) and want travelers to think because there’s an electronic machine, the the USA is hip and keeping up with technology.
To be fair, I went through it at LAX when it was slow; one customs agent says it’s quicker when times are busy. Maybe, but I can’t see how because there will be a bigger line at the machines and a longer line to get to a customs agent.
Again, I just don’t get it.
Sounds like you had pretty much the same experience, unfortunately. Thank you for sharing your story.
We just went through LAX this week (June 10, 2019) returning from Taiwan. We are US citizens. It was mass chaos. Surely this is what hell is like.
No signs made any sense. After walking a good half mile from the plane and seeing Red means citizen, green means non-citizen, all 1,000 passengers from different flights were all hustled into the same line. We waited 20 minutes to use the APC (which misread my wife’s passport numerous times until a marooned jacketed TSA(?) guy came over and took pity on us. Ten we were directed to the EXIT line where we waited another 20 minutes until anouther maroon jacketed guy came over and informed several of us we were in the wrong exit line because we were citizens. (There was no other line). He opened the ropes and directed us to the actual human TSA booths where uniformed men checked our passports again and asked the same questions on the form and APC.
Basically nothing has changed in five years. It is worse than ever. And it is extremely stupid. One and a half hours to get through and finally out the door where our shuttle had been waiting for for an hour.