CHICAGO — FASTEST AIRPORT ENTRY INTO THE COUNTRY FOR U.S. CITIZENS!

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, infamous for long lines waiting to clear customs in International Terminal 5, is scheduled to implement a new system on July 1st for returning U.S. passport holders that may turn it into the quickest airport entry point in the country.

Known as the Automated Passport Control computer program, 32 kiosks will be set up to allow passengers to answer questions on the automated machines’ touch screens and receive a receipt to present to a customs official, along with their passport and boarding pass.

As with many new electronic programs, the speed and efficiency actually achieved to speed up the lines will depend on how easy it is for the inbound passengers to enter the information and have it be accepted by the machines.

The new kiosks appear similar to those used by the TSA’s Global Entry program to allow frequent flyers, who have been individually screened and fingerprinted, to bypass the regular immigration lines. At the time of registration, a hands-on demonstration showing how to use the machines was provided. Most of the delays at the airport seem to occur when the fingerprints do not copy clearly. With practice, the frequent flyer group now advances quickly through the kiosks, although the number of eligible travelers has also grown rapidly.

The Automated Passport Control kiosks will not have fingerprint information to match up, and it is an entirely free option to bypass the regular lines with the standard paper declaration cards. It will be interesting to compare whether the Global Entry Program, which charges a fee of $100 and requires a personal interview with a TSA official, is superior to the new free Automated Passport Control program when avoiding the long lines.

Do you frequently find yourself caught in long lines at the airport when re-entering the country from abroad?