A few months ago Gisele and I signed up for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry program. On our recent trip to Taiwan we were able to use some of the benefits.
Global Entry is a program US citizens can apply for, where the CBP does a background check on the applicant, and then allows reduced security inspections when traveling.
At participating airports we can pass through reduced security checks, leaving our shoes and jackets on, though they still scan carry-on luggage and have you walk through a metal detector. Lines are generally much shorter and move faster. We were able to use this program in San Francisco on this trip, but Phoenix has only implemented this “TSA Pre-check” in some terminals and not the one we used.
The other major benefit we used on this trip is that we were able to bypass the long lines at immigration when arriving back in the US. Generally after getting off the plane, before collecting your checked luggage, you wait in a long line to be questioned and have your passport checked. The line can take a half hour or more. With Global Entry, you walk past the line to a bank of automated kiosks. Walk up, scan your passport, place your hand on a glass pane for fingerprint reading, take the printed receipt and be on your way in less than a minute. You don’t even need to fill out the customs form that they hand out on the plane — the kiosk asks the same questions.
Traveling is still not as convenient as it was pre-911, but this program sure helps.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Donna // Dec 12, 2013 at 6:20 pm
That sounds cool. Is it a big benefit for domestic travelers, too, or mainly for international travel? (I was thinking of Brian and Ken, who travel a lot for business.)
2 Daryl // Dec 12, 2013 at 9:50 pm
Of the two benefits, bypassing immigration would not help Brian and Ken. The TSA Pre-Check would in some cities (and supposedly more all the time).
I think it is possible to get TSA PreCheck status without doing the whole Global Entry program. Check here: http://www.globalentry.gov/tsa.html
3 Back home for real // Mar 14, 2014 at 3:46 pm
[…] was tight. I was really glad we participate in the “Global Entry” program. I’ve mentioned that program before. We got off the plane, walked past the long 30 – 40 minute lines at US […]
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