Automated Passport Control Kiosks USA - being phased out

[Mac502]

Anyone else noticed these are being phased out for ESTA travellers?

 

[SYD]

Anyone else noticed these are being phased out for ESTA travellers?

Meaning? Manual processing only?

Which arrival port(s) did you see this? Cheers

 

[Mac502]

LAX - manual processing only unless have Global Entry or US/Canadian.

 

[OZDUCK]

The US Customs and Border Protection site seems to say that they, sorry EDIT, are usable by those travelling on an ESTA. However it only lists 10 airports, not including LAX, where the machines are in operation.

This is a longish article about the phasing out of the machines.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/travel/customs-kiosks-facial-recognition.html

The US Customs site says :-

"U.S. citizens, U.S. legal permanent residents, Canadian citizens, eligible Visa Waiver Program participants, and travelers entering with B1/B2, C1/D, or D visa can utilize APC kiosks.

APC kiosks are currently operational at the following airports:

• Albuquerque International Airport (ABQ)
• Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
• Oakland International Airport (OAK)
• Ontario International Airport (ONT)
• Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
• Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
• St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport (PIE)
• Stewart International Airport (SWF)
• T.F. Green International Airport (PVD)
• Vancouver Seaport (YHC)"

Global Entry

Securing America's Borders

www.cbp.gov

 

[Mac502]

Yep, no longer at LAX.

 

[blackcat20]

They weren't available when we landed at LAX in August.

 

[SYD]

They weren't available when we landed at LAX in August.

All manual processing at LAX for regular ESTA arrivals. Arriving early on QF11 was a breeze a few weeks ago but I image it could be painful later in the day?

What was curious, when we left the US the other day on QF12, they used facial recognition to board the plane (no scanning BPs!).

When did that come in?

 

[justinbrett]

All manual processing at LAX for regular ESTA arrivals. Arriving early on QF11 was a breeze a few weeks ago but I image it could be painful later in the day?

What was curios, when we left the US the other day on QF12, they used facial recognition to board the plane (no scanning BPs!).

When did that come in?

Last year I think, I had it in September - there's a thread about it

 

[ayebee]

Never saw the point of the kiosks other than making arriving passengers waste time on something before standing in the line for manual processing anyway.

 

[Himeno]

Never saw the point of the kiosks other than making arriving passengers waste time on something before standing in the line for manual processing anyway.

In theory, it reduced overall wait time as the APC machines did 2/3's of what the CBP agent would have otherwise needed to do.

It appears that the APC machines are reaching the end of service life and they are being replaced by a new system called Simplified Arrival which is more about facial recognition and matching the passport photo data to the US-VISIT data.

Some airports may have removed the APC machines before getting Simplified Arrival because the airport, not CBP, had to maintain the APC hardware.