British Airways Improves Immigration At JFK & Etihad Giving Away Points For “Moonlight Check-In”

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A look at a couple of stories that I’ve noticed over the past few days. One will help you earn easy Etihad Guest Miles if you’re departing on a flight from Abu Dhabi to anywhere other than the US and the other is good news for British Airways travelers flying into New York JFK.

Etihad Moonlight Check-In

Etihad has brought back a promotion it last ran, for a limited time, back in December last year – Moonlight Check-in.

The offer from Etihad is as follows:

Check in during moonlight hours and we’ll give you an additional 5kg of checked baggage allowance, an Etihad Guest Miles voucher preloaded with 2,500 miles per travelling guest and one hour’s free parking at Skypark, allowing you to complete the check-in process.

Etihad continues to have a very strange definition of “moonlight hours” as the promotion is valid between 1:00am and 6:00am and 1:00pm to 6:00pm up to 24 hours before departure.

Moonlight check-in will run until 22 July 2016.

Just as in December, there are terms and conditions to this promotion which will disappoint a few travelers:

Moonlight check-in incentives are only available if you are booked to travel on Etihad-operated flights (excluding flights to the US*) where you check in well in advance of your flight. For instance, if your flight departs at 5pm and you check in two hours earlier on the same day, you are not entitled to the incentives. However, if you check in at 5am that morning, then you will receive the additional benefits.

*Flights to the U.S. must go through the dedicated preclearance check-in counters in Terminal 3 at Abu Dhabi International Airport and are therefore not eligible for Moonlight incentives.

British Airways Improving Immigration At New York JFK T7

I have to admit that I always thought that it was up to the US authorities to improve immigration facilities but, it turns out, that the responsibility fall on the airlines.

British Airways has announced that it will be installing 14 “APC Kiosks” at JFK Terminal 7 from mid-July. 

APC (automated passport control) kiosks are the next best thing to having Global Entry as they can speed up the immigration process considerably.

Here’s how the US Customs and Border Protection department describes APC:

Automated Passport Control (APC) is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that expedites the entry process for U.S., Canadian and eligible Visa Waiver Program international travelers by providing an automated process through CBP’s Primary Inspection area. Travelers use self-service kiosks to submit their Customs declaration form and biographic information. APC is a free service, does not require pre-registration or membership, and maintains the highest levels of protection when it comes to the handling of personal data or information. Travelers using APC experience shorter wait times, less congestion, and faster processing.

If you’ve ever been stuck in a US immigration line all of that should be music to your ears!

How Does the Automated Passport Control Program Work?

Instead of filling out a paper Customs declaration form, eligible passengers can proceed directly to the APC kiosks in the passport control area. Travelers are prompted to scan their passport, take a photograph using the kiosk, and answer a series of questions verifying biographic and flight information. Once passengers have completed the series of questions and submitted their Customs declaration form, a receipt will be issued. Travelers then bring their passport and receipt to a CBP Officer to finalize their inspection for entry into the United States. The kiosks allow people residing at the same address to be processed together.

14 kiosks may not sound like much but it should make a considerable difference to the lines at immigration. As people residing at the same address can all be processed together at the same time you don’t need that many kiosks to process a plane load of travelers…especially as not everyone will be eligible to use the kiosks.

All of this still isn’t as good as Global Entry as you still have to be processed by a CBP officer but, based on what I saw when I traveled with a friend last month who used the kiosks, they are a huge time saver and a big improvement on the old system.