@momof adult- often check a bag. At our airport, GE has a faster exit lane once you have bag. GE itself doesn’t impact your luck with when bag lands on conveyer belt though. That depends on luck and seating category.
^^^ORD usually has a dedicated customs line for Global Entry also. You have to know to look for it. The problem, as you note, is in the wait for the bags. The tie up with bags is frequently significant enough that I only carry a checked bag unless absolutely necessary. I haven’t noticed that a “Priority” sticker on the checked bag makes a consistent difference either for having it appear earlier.
My precheck has shown up every time I’ve flown and it was easy to get because I did an online appointment reservation. Some people in the office were miffed that I was escorted in while they had been waiting for a long time when they showed up without an appointment.
DH has a KTN because he was inadvertently flagged because of sharing a birthdate with a known person of interest. After several long waits at airports with body searches etc, he was able to verify that he’s not the black hat. But if I travel with family members who don’t have precheck, I simply arrange to meet them afterwards rather than waiting in steerage
If you fly to or through Dulles (IAD), get the mobile passport app. H and I didn’t have it and they did this facial scan that tagged something for him. We had a very long line after that and the agent asked him if he had ever lived in Miami, lol. Hopefully, their facial recognition technology has improved, but I would get mobile passport or GE and not have that long line.
This is all before baggage claim.
Love GE. I just checked to see if it was time to renew as you can renew up to a year early. Makes a big difference just about 100% of the time and dh and I both have never had it not appear on our boarding passes when we’ve entered it during purchase. We try to fly without checked bags but, when we do, agree with others about the wait. Still, I’d rather not wait in a long line but have that time to hit the restroom, make a phone call in (relative) peace/privacy, etc.
Never knew about mobile passport and will check that out as we have an international trip in January. Not quite sure how GE differs from MP though. Can anyone clarify the benefit to having both and then do you just look to see which line/kiosk has less congestion?
Time to renew my Nexus, which would be $50, or GE is $100. Am I correct that the only advantage to GE over Nexus is if I fly outside of NA, on the return I can use GE?
Does GE allow you faster entry at locations abroad?
Does Nexus allow us to reenter in the quick line in North America? I think it does, even when coming from further afield.
I got patted down frequently. Finally got an explanation, maybe: a few not obvious sequins on my jeans back pocket design confuse the usual scan. Probably an unexpected variant of the hip replacements some mentioned.
You can have your GE interview on arrival from abroad at any time if you are pre-approved. The CBP will send you a list of airports where this is possible after you are pre-approved.
What is Clear? I flew out of LGA last night and there were “salespeople” next to the lines. I listened to them for 5 minutes, but still didn’t understand the differences. He kept pointing to the Clear line, where no more than 3 people walked right through. The TSA pre-check line was as long as the regular line, which was only about 15 minutes.
It’s an add-on to Pre-check or Global Entry. Definitely a shorter line, but it’s $15 a month.
H and I signed up for GE (with included pre-check). At that time - about 2 years ago - the wait for an appointment at SFO was about 4 months. We debated whether or not to try and schedule an appointment at another airport which we frequent, and where the wait was shorter. In the end, we just sucked it up and waited went to SFO. The funny thing is the actual interview took - literally - about 2 minutes. Yes, we are that boring.
ASAIK…Virgin Atlantic is the only international carrier that honors TSA precheck for their flights departing from the US.
SFO has gotten a little better, but as I posted on a previous post, it still looks like a 2 month wait. The bad thing is that unlike other coastal or port cities, there’s SFO or …nothing else within 300 miles.
There are many more foreign carriers that honor Pre-Check than just Virgin Atlantic. This is a change over the initial GE perks at the time the program began. When I was first enrolled, no foreign carriers were involved. My Asia based carrier has been noting it for a while now, but I don’t remember when it started. https://www.tsa.gov/precheck/participating-airlines
Clear is not at all airports either. Some frequent flyers can get it free. H flies between two airports that have it, is a super frequent flyer, does get some benefit.
We love GE and that’s sufficient for our flying. I personally wouldn’t benefit from CLEAR, especially at increased prices.
I get TSA precheck with global ID every time. The only time it I don’t get it is when I forget to enter my global ID #.
I entered the Known traveler number into my frequent flyer acct for me and H and all tickets I buy for us have it pre-entered and we’ve always gotten pre-check with our GE. It’s well worth it for us. We fly at least 4 round-trips/year.
^^^ Different FF programs - different possibilities. US carriers (at least those I frequently travel) have FF account setups with the ability to store Known Traveler numbers. My foreign FF accounts do not - I have to remember to enter it each time. Of course, some foreign carriers may provide the option, I just haven’t traveled with those carriers.
Where do we find the Known Traveler numbers?
I have Global Entry. It is a 9 digit number on the back of the card, upper left corner under the PASSID/Numero d’identification label. Followed by several spaces and SC### (#being a numeral). You input only the 9 digits, not the SC number