Etihad passengers heading stateside can now clear the US border in Abu Dhabi

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Queuing up at the US border after an international flight can take hours — but, now, all travellers heading stateside from Abu Dhabi will be able to enter the country much faster, with a new pre-clearance facility slashing waiting times for a greater number of flights.

The service has been rolled out for all of Etihad’s direct services to New York, Washington DC, Chicago and Boston, with a new state-of-the-art facility at Zayed International Airport, featuring face scanners, automated kiosks and premium lounges to substantially speed up the process.

The service lets passengers clear immigration and cross the US border in the UAE before boarding, meaning they land as domestic arrivals and don’t need to queue for passport control.

It was previously offered for only two of Etihad’s US-bound flights per day, with passengers processed by Customs and Border Protection officers at Abu Dhabi’s now largely disused Terminal 3.

That meant passengers were forced to endure a lengthy bus journey to the facility when Etihad shifted its flights to the emirate’s new airport in November last year, with officials advising arriving up to four hours early to complete formalities as a result.

Now the pre-clearance facility has officially transferred to Terminal A, there’s no trekking between terminals, and a series of extra measures have been switched on to speed up the time from check-in to boarding.

Biometric facial scanners, introduced at Etihad’s gates in Abu Dhabi and the US, mean the experience is completely touchless, with no need for passengers to show their passports or boarding passes.

Meanwhile, passengers who have signed up for and been pre-approved by the US Department of Homeland Security’s Global Entry programme, are flying on the Visa Waiver Programme, or who are American or Canadian citizens can breeze through even more quickly, with automated kiosks handling most of the process.

Etihad will also soon launch an exclusive pre-clearance waiting area for passengers travelling in Business, First or The Residence, although for now, the airline advises using Zayed International Airport’s regular executive lounges and heading to the pre-clearance facility up to 90 minutes before take-off.

The UAE is one of only six countries around the world with pre-clearance facilities, with the others in Dublin and Shannon in Ireland, Aruba, Bermuda, the Bahamas and several cities across Canada.

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Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=672559771da4464cac95b3ede4458547&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cntravellerme.com%2Fstory%2Fetihad-passengers-heading-stateside-can-now-clear-the-us-border-in-abu-dhabi&c=4754265231549350790&mkt=en-us Author : Publish date : 2024-10-31 20:32:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source .

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Etihad passengers heading stateside can now clear the US border in Abu Dhabi

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