D and I applied for pre-check a couple years ago. Appointments were 3 weeks out, and approval took another 3-4 weeks. And this was before the current rush. I’m impressed to hear that they have the approval process down to a few days now.
W had been putting it off, but changed her mind over Christmas break when we took D to the airport to go back to school. The security line was huge, but D cruised through the very short pre-check line in a few minutes. That gave W visions of our next potential vacation where she’d be sitting the regular security line for an hour while D I breezed through pre-check without her!
Just based on my personal experience over the past couple years (I fly once or twice a month) the pre-check lines have slowly been getting longer. With all the current news about long lines I’m sure that trend will continue and accelerate.
@Ynotgo we would cheerfully sell our soul to be able to schedule an interview. Thank you for letting me know you experienced a lengthy “pending review” period. I was beginning to wonder if we were lost in the system
@saffymum - I think H waited around two weeks before hearing back from them to schedule the interview. I have texted him and will let you know when I hear back.
So what’s the etiquette when flying with people who don’t have the tsa precheck? Must I wait in the long line with them, or is it okay to meet them at the gate?
@Ynotgo not to sound ignorant but you were emailed? Our GOES account had said to revisit the website for application status updates and that it would be posted to our GOES account when we could schedule an interview.
I’ve paid zero attention for any emails, who knows what I might have deleted
@Ynotgo, I was given a sheet of paper at my interview that had my global entry/known traveler number and told I could go to my airline website and add the number to my reservation to receive PreCheck status right away. Worked fine, although I was still selected for a random special screening when I went through security prior to my flight
Lines here havent been too bad, however TSA still feels the need to pat my hair, which I thought had been resolved since they were accused of profiling last year. Sigh… I guess not.
Terminal A at Newark Airport, heading to the gates where Southwest departures are, most of the time midday doesn’t have a separate TSA pre-check line. My wife and I have debated why not with workers there. As mentioned in another post you have to wait in line with everyone else and then when you get to the TSA person checking ID’s they give you a card identifying you as a TSA Pre-check member. We haven’t had to take shoes off or liquids out. But often they tell us to get computers out, which for Pre-check, you shouldn’t have to do.
Absolutely meet them at the gate. Why should both parties have to suffer? They can text you their Starbucks order!
Just renewed my global entry today. Anyone have experience doing so / how long it takes? It was kind of unclear whether they’d require another interview - nothing has changed since 2011 when I first got it.
I got global entry over a year ago in anticipation of a trip to Europe. If you have an Amex platinum card global entry is free if you charge it on the Amex card. I wouldn’t count on getting a walk n appointment for global entry, although it might vary b city. I recently read that appointments in Boston are now 8 months out for an interview. https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/travel/2016/06/16/global-entry-applicants-find-themselves-grounded/wyvGUIAptBYD5P091UvFZK/story.html
I think global entry is definitely worth it. It’s saved us from missing a flight at least once when security lines were crazy. If there’s any chance you’ll travel internationally in the next 5 years I recommend global entry over or check. It’s only $15 more.
One bit of advice I received was once you have your Global Entry appointment, to go on-line and keep checking to see if any appointments have opened up, since business travelers’ schedules change frequently and they end up cancelling appointments.
That worked great for everyone in our family - with everyone initially having appointments weeks away and then grabbing cancelled appointments.
