TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Mobile Passport Control

I was going to pose this question, then did some research and think I figured it out. So hope this helps or if I have it wrong let me know.

When coming home more than not we miss our connecting flight trying to get through customs in ATL. It's is nice that the car rental tram takes you past a stop where there is a choice of 3 hotels if you have to stay the night, but obviously not preferable. So the last couple years we've been going through CLT. This year the cheaper flights take us through ATL and I remember one year in the past we were faced with huge custom lines and surely would have missed our connect had it not been for an airport worker that keyed us into a line where you download a passport app that literally let us skip to the front of the line. So I went looking for that app again to have it on the ready. I think that app was Airside Mobile Passport. Some googling is telling me that Customs and Border Patrol has put out their own app that supersedes Airsides called Mobile Passport Control, MPC.

Does that all sound right? Does anyone else do this and does it still get you to bypass the lines?

Global Entry?

We use Mobile Passport and go through a separate line with Global Entry.

Google says these are the differences:

Global Entry - Pre-screened, costs $100/5yr and involves in person interview and background check.

Mobile Passport - Not pre-screened, FREE, allows you to bi-pass the declarations kiosks and go directly to border agent screening.

With Global Entry you have to stop at the Global Entry kiosk. Since you still have to show your passport to somebody I don't see the advantage of Global Entry over Mobile Passport. The one time I used it, several years ago, we bypassed all kiosks - walked right up to the border agent and he scanned my phone without even looking at us.

That's separate lines for TSA security right? Is there a difference between Mobile Passport and Global Entry lines for customs?

Our recent trip with Global Entry entailed a stop for, I believe, a retinal scan and no passport check, and then to the screening agent, where declaration are made verbally. GE is a breeze--getting to it, just like it is for the rest of US entrants--cam take a while.

An article I stumbled upon about Global Entry, dated September 4, 2022, said this:

"This week, DHS disclosed that due to a COVID-incurred backlog and a surplus of new applications, the agency is experiencing delays in processing applications by up to 18 months. It’s important to note that such delays are just processing new applications, not including the in-person interview."

I guess I will put looking into GE on the back burner for this year's trip, use Mobile Passport and make sure I'm paying attention going through customs to spot any advantages for next time.

although we have GE, we’ve actually used Mobile Passport more the last couple of years

Mobile Passport changed, when I tried to use it, to MPC.
That is for entry into USA. Hopefully the line to it will be clear, since it use to be with GE.

Airside says it is for TSA., but I don't know. .

Thanks.
When I went to download MPC the Airside app right below it says it redirects to MPC now which matches what I've read. Im just going to use the MPC app and find out. Yes, I hope the line is well marked and clear. We will see!

We used Mobile Passport for years and it worked very well, although finding the line was always a challenge. It was taken over by MPC run by Homeland Security. It works the same as the original Mobile Passport. It only facilitates entry and doesn’t provide TSA Precheck. Global Entry speeds entry and as an added benefit provides Precheck. We sped through Immigration in CTL on our last trip with GE. The facial recognition took less than 30 seconds. We are still big fans of Mobile Passport, now MPC.

I am following this thread but am somewhat confused. We have GE. What is the the advantage of having both GE and MPC?

We had to renew our GE this year. The wife's was able to be done online. I had to have another interview. But instead of going to CLT airport I was able to secure an appointment and did the interview via Zoom. That took all of about 3 minutes. I asked the agent why I had to go this route. He told me it was just random as there were no red flags.

In February of last year, Jet Blue landed late in Kennedy. So our 1-1/2 hour layover became 40 minutes. Several people on the first leg of the flight were also on the second leg. Michael and I have Global Entry and we were the only ones who made the second flight. Thank GOODNESS for GE. The passport control took us all of 30 seconds. What a relief

there probably is no advantage of having both…we’d had GE for years, and a couple of years ago my wife heard of MPC and decided to try it…we were impressed how it worked practically just as well as GE, but was free…and sometimes it even seemed to maybe be a little quicker, as you use the same line as GE, but don’t need to stop at the kiosks, you go straight to an agent…but with GE you will also usually get Pre-check, which you don’t get with MPC…so that could be a reason to have GE, or i guess you can pay for pre-check separately, although it probably costs close to what GE costs anyway

since we usually get our GE fees reimbursed by our credit cards, we’ll still continue to renew, but unless the procedure changes, we’ll most likely continue to use MPC instead