Phila. joins airports offering 'trusted traveler' program

Pity the international travelers who endure leg-cramping, elbow-bumping, babies-wailing-in-their-ears flights for eight hours or more only to stand in line for up to an hour at the ride's end to clear customs at the airport.

Relief - at least from that last bit of torture - is now available at Philadelphia International Airport.

For a $100 nonrefundable application fee, U.S. travelers who pass a background check will be able to breeze through customs in less than a minute for up to five years thanks to a new "trusted traveler" program that officially begins there this morning.

It is an expansion of a program U.S. Customs and Border Protection rolled out in June 2008 at three airports - in New York, Washington, and Houston - to try to alleviate the waiting, waiting, and more waiting that has come with air travel since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Global Entry, as it is known, allows U.S. citizens or those holding lawful permanent residence (green) cards to skip the customs lines and, instead, use an automated kiosk to get official approval to reenter the country.

The minimum age for participation is 14. Those who would not qualify for the special clearance status include individuals with criminal convictions or immigration, customs, or agriculture problems, said Customs spokesman Steve Sapp.

"It's low risk and strictly for trusted travelers," Sapp said of Global Entry, now available at 20 U.S. airports.

Travelers in the Philadelphia area will be given an appointment for an in-person interview to be conducted by a Customs and Border Protection officer at the airport's international arrival terminal.

Those accepted into the program will be fingerprinted. Those prints, along with each applicant's photo, will be entered into a database.

When Global Entry travelers arrive at participating airports from an overseas trip, they would proceed to clearance kiosks in customs. Philadelphia will initially have two kiosks and will add more if needed, Sapp said.

At the kiosks, passengers would scan their passports or green cards, and place four fingers on a sensor pad that would determine whether a match exists with prints on file. The travelers must also look into a monitor so a comparison can be made with any photos stored in the system and they must answer a few questions that are standard on customs declaration forms, such as: "Are you bringing with you fruits, plants, food, or insects?"

If everything checks out - a process that Sapp said was averaging 56 seconds at the 76 kiosks currently in use at U.S. airports - each traveler would get a receipt that would allow them to head to baggage claim - and the airport exit.

Customs is currently working on building reciprocal "trusted traveler" agreements with other countries. So far, qualified Dutch citizens can use U.S. customs kiosks and vice versa.

Apply online for the Global Entry "trusted traveler" program at www.globalentry.gov

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