The Fastest Way Through Customs Is With Your Phone

Cynthia Drescher

A sign for the Mobile Passport app at Chicago's O'Hare Airport

What if we told you there is a way (a completely free way) to bypass the lines at immigration and customs when re-entering the U.S. at select airports—and all you needed was your smartphone?

The secret is no secret at all, but a downloadable app available to both iPhone and Android users via theApple App Store and Google Play Store that allows users to enter their passport and travel information, submit it electronically, and generate a receipt to show at customs and immigration checkpoints. It's calledMobile Passport and its technology eliminates the need for traditional forms and line waits. The catch is...there is no catch. The app, launched in 2014 by Airside Mobile and Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) in partnerships with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is free to download and free to use. Entirely separate from the paid Global Entry program, Mobile Passport boasts a speed and ease that has Global Entry users eating its dust.

For now, use of the Mobile Passport app is limited to U.S. citizens holding a valid U.S. passport, as well as Canadian citizens with a valid Canadian passport. Five airports are currently a part of the program: Atlanta (ATL), Miami (MIA), Seattle (SEA), Chicago (ORD), and San Francisco (SFO). The goal is to have at least 20 airports accepting the app over the next year.

Once the app is on your phone, there's nothing left to do until your plane lands back on U.S. soil at one of the participating airports. When you turn off "airplane mode," open the app, complete the steps, and you'll have your immigration and customs clearance ready before even stepping off the aircraft. The profile includes the traveler’s name, gender, date of birth, and country of citizenship. According to CBP, the process is simple (a claim we can vouch for): travelers complete the “New Trip” section by selecting their arrival airport and airline, take a selfie, and answer a series of custom declaration questions. Once the traveler submits the form through the app, the traveler will receive an "electronic receipt with an Encrypted Quick Response (QR) code," which expires four hours after issuance. Travelers then bring their passport and mobile device with their digital bar-coded receipt to a CBP officer to finalize their inspection and be welcomed back into the United States. Voilà.

Written by Cynthia Drescher, www.cntraveler.com

In Case Of Travel Emergency, Download These Apps

Fuse

There's only so much you can plan for on vacation. For the rest, be it pollen counts, heat exhaustion, or a coup, you’ll have to rely on luck—but these four apps just might help, too.

Sure, the best travel stories tend to have an element of calamity to them, but we’re betting most travelers would rather avoid any mishaps if given the chance. But there’s only so much you can plan for. If a travel emergency comes up, you’ll want backup—and these apps provide it, in the form of helpful tips, travel warnings, and illness alerts. You may not be able to avoid an issue, but you’ll at least be better-informed.

Allergy Alert, free

For travelers plagued by allergies, Pollen.com's mobile app is a must-have. The app details both weather and allergy forecasts, noting the levels of specific types of pollen found in your locale so you can prep for the day ahead (or just avoid going outdoors). For those hoping to narrow down the cause of their misery, there's also a built-in diary (with downloadable data) that tracks your symptoms and pollen count, as well as photos and descriptions to help you spot allergens in the wild.

Smart Traveler, free

If you can get past the creep factor of installing a State Department-produced app, Smart Traveler is an essential tool for travel into less stable regions. Sort of like an abridged version of the CIA's World Fact Book, it has a dossier on every country around the globe, as well as up-to-the-minute travel warning, be they political uprisings or natural disasters. Especially handy is the inclusion of STEP, which lets travelers e-register with their local U.S. embassy or consulate when abroad for an added layer of safety, and to receive alerts by email. And in case you're worried about snoops of the foreign or homegrown variety, the app doesn't save personal data or keep track of your searches.

Courtesy Sickweather

Sickweather, free

For those looking to inoculate their vacation against the dread summer cold, there’s Sickweather, which uses data from social networks to record and map outbreaks of about two dozen ailments, from common allergies to serious communicable illnesses. Using GPS, it alerts you to nearby threats via a daily roundup, and uses color coding to reflect how recent a particular outbreak may be. It may seem tailor-made for hypochondriacs, but ask anyone who's ever spent quality time with a norovirus—we bet they’d firmly disagree.

WikiHow, Free

The Red Cross's First Aid app is comforting but lacks how-to steps for dealing with most medical emergencies. That’s where the crowd-sourced wisdom of WikiHow's expansive know-it-all comes in. Click on the menu and scroll to Survival Kit, select among the 11 categories of potential situations—First Aid, Home Emergencies, Wilderness Survival, and so on—and then scroll through dozens and dozens of articles detailing specific steps for virtually any situation one might encounter. Granted, a painstakingly detailed 20-step CPR lesson for choking infants might be a tough read in the moment, but the info is all there for you to research beforehand, and covers a wide swath of issues.

Written by Jon Chase

 www.cntraveler.com