A mobile app designed to move you through customs quickly and efficiently is now available at 14 of the country's international airports. The latest addition, Washington Dulles in the nation's capital, joins Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle; Raleigh Durham and Tampa are up next.
Available for free at the Apple App and Google Play stores under the name Mobile Passport App, the program lets U.S. passport holders use their mobile devices to submit personal info and travel details before getting in the customs line. You can save basic information like your name, birthday, and passport number for use on each trip. Then once the plane lands and you're taxiing to the gate, you can enter your flight information and answers to the same declarations questions on the standard customs form. After you get a receipt with a bar code, you can go straight to a customs officer, who will scan the code and send you on your way—ideally in significantly less time than it would take using the old way.
The app debuted in 2014 and is expected to be in 20 airports by the end of this year. Eventually the goal is to have it available at all of the country's international airports.
