Did you know that Customs and Border Patrol personnel are in 6 countries at 15 airports and one ferry terminal? This allows passengers to be pre-screened prior to flights on popular routes to the U.S.
At the time of this post, the approved airports are:
- ARUBA – Oranjestad
- BAHAMAS: Freeport and Nassau
- BERMUDA – St. George
- CANADA: Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg (plus the Victoria vehicle ferry)
- IRELAND: Dublin and Shannon
- UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Abu Dhabi
With Pre-Clearance, your plane will land at U.S. domestic gates, allowing for quicker connections and expedited airport departure.
I’ve flown out of Toronto a few times and it seemed to be a constructive use of time, since I had to be at the airport 2 hours early for an international flight.
Also, you will notice that people on these routes don’t have to drag their checked bags while clearing CBP. Passengers are associated with their bags when they drop them off, and the bags are screened prior to their clearance with CBP. The exception applies to about 2% of people who require secondary screening, but this a huge time-saver for most passengers.
Watch for more airports to come!
The following airports are being examined by CBP as future pre-clearance locations:
- BELGIUM: Brussels
- DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Punta Cana
- JAPAN: Narita
- NETHERLANDS: Amersterdam Schipol
- NORWAY: Oslo
- SPAIN: Madrid-Barajas
- SWEDEN: Stockholm Arlanda
- TURKEY: Istanbul Ataturk
- UK: London Heathrow and Manchester
Does pre-clearance make international travel more appealing? Have you taken a route with pre-clearance yet?
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