Travel
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Global Entry?
Have you gone through the application process? How long did it take? Has it really been a timesaver when travelling?
Thanks!
Re: Global Entry?
I was just approved on Friday, so I just did it. For me the application didn't take me long to complete since I had pretty much all the information from completing my background investigation paperwork for DHS two years ago. So I didn't have to dig up addresses and work information from the past five years since I had done that already. That is really the most cumbersome part of the application.
Once you do the app, then you wait to get your conditional approval notification which allows you to schedule your "interview" at one of the enrollment centers. I just went on Friday morning for my "interview". I was in and out within 30 minutes. You watch a 6 minute video, get a picture taken, get fingerprints, and they ask you a few questions (why do you want to enroll, where have you traveled in the past year, etc). It was really really easy. I wasn't approved on the spot because they were having problems with one of the databases they run your fingerprints through, but the CBP officer told me I would most likely be approved since I work for another DHS component. A few hours after I left the enrollment center, I was approved.
Obviously I haven't used it yet, but I will be next month so I can't wait. also once you are in Global Entry, you will be able to use your number when booking flights so you can participate in TSA Pre-check which is expedited screening (if the airport and airline you are flying participate). No taking off shoes, no taking out liquids from your carry-on, and you get to keep your jacket on.
Also I should add that from time of application to approval was less than a month. I think my conditional notification came within 10 days of application. I just waited until I had a day off work to go to the interview since Dulles Airport is not convenient to where I work and I didn't want to take time off.
My dad has also done the interview part of it, and they could not get his fingerprints to take, no matter what they did. They actually told him they think he will be approved regardless, and that basically when he enters he goes to the desk next to the Global Entry area and he will have something that explains the fingerprint situation and he will be let in. He travels overseas at least once a month so it should help him a lot.
It tooK about a month for my approval in 2010. I wouldn't think it is worth it unless you enter the US 5+ times a year through busy ports of entry that have the machines.
My husband travels a lot but recently has been entering the US through Charlotte, which doesn't have the kiosks so he sees it as a waste. I usually enter through IAD which routinely has an hour plus wait for US citizens. I realized I needed it when for the third time in four months I arrived off the direct flight from Addia Ababa with dozens of Americans and their newly adopted Ethiopian babies. The time to process a foreign adoption at immigration is horrific apparently.
I would add that I also don't think it would be worth it if you usually check bags because you clear immigration so fast that (at Dulles at least) you're left waiting 15-30 minutes for baggage.
FYI - Global Entry is now at Charlotte. It just expanded to there and Denver very recently.
I did the process in Houston in Sept. Start to finish it took 4 days. Application approved in two and my interview was two days later - tons of options for interview times. DH just did it in February through IAH and his approval time was the same. When DH and I came back through together in Jan (IAH). I went through with my global entry, he went through the regular line for no checked bags - typically shorter and you skip customs. I cleared global entry, waited for our checked luggage, passed customs and still had to wait 10 minutes for DH.
ETA: the time saving benefit is almost a bonus for me. Not having to deal with the hassle of standing in line is the true perk.
Side note--I've been selected for secondary customs screening far more frequently since signing up. I was told anecdotally by the last customs inspector that they are required to get a certain quota of GE members and at present there aren't that many so people are getting frequent inspections.
So twice now it has taken me hours to get out of the airport. I don't really mind but I wish they would let you use cell phones so my husband wasn't left in the parking lot for hours thinking I'd abandoned him! And I kind I wish they would actually open my bags since that is the point of customs. Asking the ethnic origin of my name and my husband's occupation doesn't give one x ray vision!
Awesome. We would be going through IAH.
So Tasty, So Yummy
Those with Global Entry status are now eligible for TSA Precheck. This means the benefits of Global Entry expand to cover far more than international travel. The "known traveler" information is encoded in your boarding pass, and may permit you to utilize expedited screening that doesn't involve removal of coats, shoes, taking out liquids baggy, computer, etc.
I applied about a week ago. The online application probably took about 30 min to fill out. I was conditionally approved within three days. I've scheduled my interview for April (since I don't reside near a Global Entry center).
My sis travels internationally for work regularly and completed the whole process. She's mentioned several times that she glad she did it. After 28+ hours of travel, often coming in at the busiest times of day at IAH, she just breezes right on through. IAH is busy enough, IME, that even with having to pick up checked bags, you'll still save a ton of time at immigration (both from what she's said and what I've observed when flying internationally).
Any anecdotal data about how far out you had to schedule your appointment? Now that I don't have to worry about compromising my XH's green card by acknowledging my foreign residency, GE is back at the top of my to-do list (esp since the only useful "platinum" perk in the new United plan is that they'll reimburse the application fee). However, I'm concerned about how hard it will be to arrange the appointment since I'm not in the US that often.
What kind of secondary checks are taking hours?! I've been randomly chosen to go through the x-ray line at customs, but that only takes an extra 10-20 minutes. If I fly through Newark and make sure I'm one of the first off the plane, I can make it through immigration in 10 minutes, so gambling on hours of waiting time sounds worse than just dealing with the occasional 40-minute wait when I'm stuck flying through IAH.
...now if I could fast-track UK immigration? OMG that is slow. A few months ago I was 8th or 9th in the non-European line, and it took over 30 minutes.
I'm aware of that.
It is a pilot program for select AA and Delta FFs and Global Entry/NEXUS members. It's only operational at select security points at select airports and only if you're flying those two carriers.
It's also unclear just how much better the security is. From what I've read you may be referred to a special lane where you can sometimes keep on your shoes and belt and sometimes keep your laptop or liquids in your carry on. That hardly seems worth it to me, but I don't find that aspect of security to be particularly challenging.
Once they roll it out more widely and it actually covers flights on carriers other than AA and Delta I agree it will be immensely useful and more than worth the $200/5 years to no longer be groped 2x a month. Right now it doesn't even operate at airports I use and I very rarely fly AA or Delta, so I'm not so excited about it.
$100 application fee (non-refundable). Valid for 5 years if approved.
It's not the check itself, it's the line for the secondary inspection. At Dulles, at peak times it can take 60-90 minutes to get to the front of the line, and then they ask you all kinds of inane questions that are both offensive and unrelated to the contents of your bag. They have never even x-rayed mine. Or opened it.
You'd think that if you are in a trusted traveler program and are paying a premium for it you could at least skip to the front of the line, and they'd at least have the courtesy to open your bags. But no. So I surreptitiously send text messages from the line
*I* don't find "that" aspect of security particularly challenging. It's all the people who *do* that slows the process down.
It's only $100, btw. And you can get it comped if you have an American Express Platinum card. With an anticipated 35 locations by the end of the year and AA elite status, it's worth it to me.
They must have dropped the price. It was $200 when I signed up. $100 is a much better deal.
I'm not trying to talk anyone out of it. I just don't think it's universally great for everyone. I love it, because I enter the US ~6-7 times a year after 35+ hours of travel and by that time I have very low reserves of patience and tolerance for stupid, irrelevant questions like "why didn't you take your husband's name?"
When DH did it in February he filled out the application a few days before we left for the States then scheduled his appointment for when he was flying out two weeks later. The interview office in IAH is in the arrivals area at terminal E - over by Starbucks after you come out of the doors from customs. So he checked in upstairs, went downstairs for his interview and then flew out when it was over.
The only thing that almost tripped up DH was the proof of his address which was in London. Luckily I could access our gas bill online and print something for him.
Recent WSJ article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303863404577281483630937016.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read
I signed up for GE last fall. It was super easy and the interview literally lasted about 7 minutes, with most of the questions being centered around the fact that I listed myself as 'retired' on my application. He also asked about a recent trip to Turkey / Greece, but didn't seem real interested in anything else. I did not watch the video others did.
In terms of how long the process takes - I think it varies by airport. For SF, the waiting period to get an interview slot was several weeks; however, when I signed DH up for it, we were flying through Atlanta 2 days later and I could have gotten him a time slot on that short of notice there. No idea why it varies so much, but usually a couple of days to a couple of weeks. I was approved on the spot, they put the sticker in my passport, and I was good to use the GE kiosk when we came home from the DR.
I absolutely love GE. Just love it. I am sooo excited for PreCheck to roll out - I've already been comped in for free through my airline, as they targeted some of their frequent fliers to sign up for the initial roll out... now I just need it to hit SFO!