Hacker News Reader

Comment by tjohns | Hacker News Reader

Title is slightly misleading. This is only for for international departures, since it's tied to the passport + immigration databases. It's not for all Delta flights, since domestic flights are excluded.

It's a CBP-operated system called Biometric Exit, and from what I've heard is being rolled out at other airports, including Boston [1], San Jose [2], and Orlando [3]. So it's not exclusive to Delta or ATL... though this might be the largest deployment so far.

[1]: https://www.airportfacescans.com/

[2]: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/06/san-jose-airport-show...

[3]: https://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2018/08/five-examples...

View on HN

"Biometric exit"

As if in the past this wasn't done by handling back the I94/I94W to the airline or done automatically through passport numbers in more recent times.

It is the law of the land since shortly after 9/11 that CBP is required to have biometric evidence that the person has exited the country. In some airports, the I94 dropbox was literally just a dropbox in the secure area, and there was nothing stopping you from leaving as many I94s as you wanted to there, or even just dropping in yours and leaving.

The fact that CBP is just now bothering to comply with the law should be more alarming.

Look out for that slippery slope, the first step is a doozy!

Leaving the fallacy entirely aside, this is hardly "the first step". How many people are paying for Global Entry, for example?

Global Entry is certainly awkward. Can't tell what the value prop is, now it's so watered down.

Go through a detailed background check and in-person interviews and biometric capture -- then discover at the airport (JFK for example) anyone with the Mobile Passport app on iOS can breeze right through the same global entry lanes, without having to use the Global Entry machines ...

Mobile Passport - Breeze through Customs

The Mobile Passport app speeds you through U.S. Customs and Border Protection at 3 cruise ports and 25 airports.

This app is officially authorized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection

https://mobilepassport.us

Update: Tried out Mobile Passport on Sunday at JFK to bypass the Global Entry kiosks, worked a charm.

Spoke to customs officer for the express line handling both, who observed because of commingled lines and no kiosk, MP can indeed get you through quicker.

I'd guess that the vast majority of people who have Global Entry either paid for it using credit card benefits (most travel rewards cards have a Global Entry credit) or have it paid for by their workplace.

There are still marginal benefits of GE over Mobile Passport - more airports have GE, you get expedited service at land borders and at Canadian airports, and you can cut the standard line if the kiosks are broken. My favorite part of GE might be the reciprocal benefits you get in other countries though. For instance, you can sign up with the UK to use their automated border gates which is normally limited to EU citizens only.

Funny, I just applied to global entry. I don’t really care about global entry, what I really meed is tsa precheck since I travel domestically a lot. But global entry already covers precheck and the fees are very similar so I went for it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com