SJC AA

In every other airport where I've used Global Entry, there has been a separate queue (or a queue-jump) for Global Entry at the Customs exit after baggage claim. However, that was not the case at ORD on Wednesday, and we had to wait in the normal line. Is that typical for ORD? Seems like a major oversight.

ords

Hi, were you told you had to wait in the exit lane after retrieving your luggage?

There's 3 exits, A (AA side) Center and B (UA side) unless a specific exit is closed down you should be able walk up to the CBP officer collecting forms regardless if there's a line and hand them your receipt. If they're telling you to go to the back of the line, they're wrong.

If anyone has experienced this, please post. I'm meeting with CBP next week and will bring it to their attention.

SJC AA

We only saw one obvious customs exit after arriving on AA. There were two lines there, one left and one right, converging on a single podium with two agents. There was no signage about Global Entry passengers. At other airports, there is a Global Entry sign pointing to a shorter line (sometimes with a dedicated agent, or sometimes an additional approach to the same agent serving the regular line).

We did not have the chutzpah to just attempt to cut the line without some sort of sign indicating that it was OK.

Often1

It's not chutzpah, it's perfectly fine. There really ought to be a sign, but the lack of one shouldn't stop you.

SJC AA

I am extremely dubious about this. Do you have a source for it in writing? I am afraid of death stares from the other passengers, and then being sent to the back of the line (or, worse, to secondary inspection) for doing the wrong thing.

legalalien

+1. I don't think anything "in writing" is a good substitute for a sign that everyone can see and that eliminates the need for me to prove anything to a crowd of tired travelers.

davie355

See page 12 (PDF page 14) of this CBP publication.

I can't find the actual regulation, but this matches what I've been told by CBP officers.

This privilege applies most usefully to secondary (e.g., agriculture) inspection lines. Once at DFW, I got pushback from an airport agent who manned the line -- she claimed everybody, including GE, had to stand in line -- but the CBP officer who processed me said that he would have taken me if I had just cut to the front and said I'm GE.

MSPeconomist

This happened to me about a month ago at DTW. I arrived on DL at the McNamara terminal.

I did the GE kiosk as usual and got a receipt. However, there was a station and a CBP employee collecting GE receipts between the receipts and baggage claim. I questioned the procedure and was emphatically told that now GE people go through the same customs exit and stand in line with everyone else. At the customs exit, there was no indication that I was GE, although I guess I could have pulled out my GE card to try to flash it around.

Given that USA citizens without GE now use the machines and don't need to wait much anymore, I don't see the point of having GE if this is the new procedure.

davie355

If you had no receipt and (I presume) no blue customs form to exit then what did you show -- just your passport?

ords

From the GE FAQ's.

http://www.cbp.gov/global-entry/faqs

Do Global Entry benefits allow head-of-the-line privilege at U.S. airports where Global Entry kiosks are not available?

The head of the line privilege is only available at U.S. airports that have Global Entry kiosks. The head-of-the-line privilege is reserved for program members if the kiosks are out of service, if a member gets referred to a CBP officer, and at the exit points.

carsnoceans

I declared some food while returning from HKG and was told the same at DFW. I asked a CBP officer if there is an expedited lane for GE (in secondary) but she told me there is only one lane. Didn't tell me to move up ahead either.

Btw, I went through customs at ORD last week. Didn't see a separate exit lane for GE.

linglingfool

The last few times I have been through T5, I have been lucky that lines on one of the customs sides has been much shorter than the other, so I've been through in under a minute.

However, back in March, there were long lines on both sides, and the area directly in front of the CBP podium (on the B side, IIRC) had tensabarriers which prevented people from approaching the podium directly. I overheard someone in line slightly behind me ask a CBP K9 handler if GE members could cut to the front of the line, and she said that while there are facilities for that at other airports, it wasn't allowed at ORD.

As I had chosen the shortest line, I decided to wait the 5 minutes in line rather than pick a fight, since I, too, haven't found anywhere in writing that head-of-the-line applies to customs lines, just immigration.

bombnthud

Same experience here at ORD with GE. All the GE kiosks were working, so that wasn't an issue. There's a dedicated customs line for GE before baggage claim, but after baggage claim, everyone exits through the same podium area. I also didn't have the gall to cut everyone without a sign specifically pointing GE members to the front. Fortunately, the line moved fairly quickly.

jrhall

I forgot about this line issue when i booked my return through ORD. ::grimace:: Have they gotten the special line set up for GE after baggage claim yet?

With the specific line clearly indicated for GE, LAX (Bradley terminal), IAH (though my flight was at a late enough hour that I didn't get a TSA precheck line), and EWR (waved at the agent as he waved me by it seemed so fast, no one in line in front of me several times through there while the general line was many dozens long) have been awesome. It seems to take so long through ORD, and the customs agents seem to like singling me out and talking to me when i'm in that large mass of people exiting out of ORD baggage claim.

Thanks!

LtKernelPanic

From the ORD T5 thread: