Eligibility/Experiences with immigration kiosks at US airports

[justcallmeryan]

I've been through LAX twice since the kiosks came around and whilst the total time to clear is not much less, it seems better as you aren't sharing a queue with nationalities that don't speak English... This may seem like an odd thing to say, but the early morning landings from SYD/MEL/BNE coincide with some big planes from Asia. The process for clearing them is much slower due to the language barrier. When you're in a queue with people who hold ESTA visas from Australia, Europe etc it moves quicker even if longer.

Personally I prefer a long queue that moves quicker rather than a short one that takes forever!

 

[opusman]

mrsOpusman & I used the kiosks in MIA arriving from CTG yesterday. I can confirm you can use the kiosks even if you have a new passport (hers was new), however the receipt it prints out will have an X on it which means you then need to go to a normal counter to be finger-printed etc. I had been in before on my passport so could have gone straight through to the baggage hall if it wasn't for her X. Even with this delay it still meant not having to fill out the customs form by hand so I think it's worthwhile. Plus the kiosk is cute the way it lifts up to look you in the eye

I guess we were lucky but after all the horror stories about MIA I have heard I have to say I was pleasantly surprised; our flight was the only one arriving at the time and there were no queues at all at immigration. From plane to street in 20 minutes.

 

[2tall4Y]

I recently arrived in HNL with my wife, daughter and parents in-law. The signage made it clear that first time visitors to the US could not use the kiosks, and I checked with a CBP official if the kiosks could handle passports that hadn't been used to enter the US, the answer was a clear 'Yes'.

My in-laws, who both had renewed their passports after the previous trip to the US, got the X on their print-outs and had to join a separate, longer queue, while my wide, daughter, and I managed to clear the kiosks despite my daughter having a brand new passport. The friendly CBP staff at HNL allowed us to wait for my in-laws to clear the queue (I have been yelled at MIA for trying to wait for a friend), and when they got through they told us the reason for the X was a bad fingerprint scan at the kiosk

So my experience suggests a brand new passport in itself shouldn't trigger the 'dreaded' X on the kiosk print-out.

 

[drross]

LAX the "new" kiosks really slow down the process even if there's not an X on the docket. Flew in from Mexico on AA last month,just after lunch and it was the longest wait we've ever experienced. Not helped by only having a 1/4 of the desks open

 

[Jurahn]

I recently arrived in HNL with my wife, daughter and parents in-law. The signage made it clear that first time visitors to the US could not use the kiosks, and I checked with a CBP official if the kiosks could handle passports that hadn't been used to enter the US, the answer was a clear 'Yes'.

My in-laws, who both had renewed their passports after the previous trip to the US, got the X on their print-outs and had to join a separate, longer queue, while my wide, daughter, and I managed to clear the kiosks despite my daughter having a brand new passport. The friendly CBP staff at HNL allowed us to wait for my in-laws to clear the queue (I have been yelled at MIA for trying to wait for a friend), and when they got through they told us the reason for the X was a bad fingerprint scan at the kiosk

So my experience suggests a brand new passport in itself shouldn't trigger the 'dreaded' X on the kiosk print-out.

We used the kiosks at LAX in February 2015, and we both got the dreaded X - my husband had a new passport, I didn't. However from your comment, mine may have been due to a bad fingerprint scan as well, as I lost the end of my right thumb some years ago so that thumbprint might look a bit "odd" when being scanned.

I'm heading back to the US in March and will be on a new passport and have a new ESTA as well - might be quicker just to go straight to the normal counter rather than try to use the kiosks, especially given drross' comment above about the LAX kiosks!!

 

[drron]

We've not had a problem with the kiosks in LAX.
As to bad fingerprints I had a very helpful guy in MIA-yes MIA of all places.Got the x but he came over,reset the kiosk and said do it again without pressing so hard.Voila problem solved.
Will be back through LAX in August and November so will give updates.

 

[Jurahn]

We've not had a problem with the kiosks in LAX.
As to bad fingerprints I had a very helpful guy in MIA-yes MIA of all places.Got the x but he came over,reset the kiosk and said do it again without pressing so hard.Voila problem solved.
Will be back through LAX in August and November so will give updates.

That would be great, much appreciated .

We weren't exactly assisted but rather "told off" by a rather harassed-looking assistant at the kiosks for pressing too hard when trying to do the fingerprint scans!

 

[drross]

We used the kiosks at LAX in February 2015, and we both got the dreaded X - my husband had a new passport, I didn't. However from your comment, mine may have been due to a bad fingerprint scan as well, as I lost the end of my right thumb some years ago so that thumbprint might look a bit "odd" when being scanned.

I'm heading back to the US in March and will be on a new passport and have a new ESTA as well - might be quicker just to go straight to the normal counter rather than try to use the kiosks, especially given drross' comment above about the LAX kiosks!!

we weren't given the option of going straight to a kiosk

 

[Himeno]

I've used the kiosks at LAX 3 times since they rolled them out. First time was with my new passport which I'd only gotten a few months before (first use of passport), no issue. The system likely linked it to the fingerprints from the old passport.

Had an issue this time (June 30) where the first one I used couldn't read prints right. Tired both hands a number times, ended up using a different kiosk.

There is a difference in the questions between the card and the kiosks. The card says "food" meaning anything edible. The kiosk doesn't say "food", listing the types of food they are looking for. Hence if you have something like TimTams, you'd have to say yes if you use the card and no if you use the kiosk.