StingWest

I also went through last week at IAD. And yes, you can use the left-hand line at the exit from the customs area. I was a little reluctant as I was the only person in that line, but the officer called me first and said "thanks" once she collected the receipt from the kiosk. That was the only conversation with a human. What a great system! I must have saved at least 30 minutes based on the lengths of the lines.

milepig

I'm surprised/confused by the varing documentation asked for. Once I was approved after 2 weeks, which seems long but I also signed up for Privium and I suspect the Dutch were taking their time, all I had to do was take my Passport and the acceptance letter to ORD - no bills, no payroll documentation, nada.

I'm going to do the Privium bit at Schiphol in a couple weeks - this will be interesting.

kylemore

I've used GE about 5 times and have been very pleased with the results. If I flew through AMS more and if the cost for Privium wasn't so outrageous I would consider doing that also. Maybe as more countries enter the FLUX alliance it will be worth it.

To add another data point, here have been my experiences.

Sign up was easy and fast. I signed up in March and was given a conditional approval almost immediately. I then scheduled my appointment for MIA as I was going to be flying in and out of there for the Ultra Music Festival/Winter Music Conference (largest techno/trance music fest in the US).

I was worried about the interview process, not because I have anything to hide but for some reason I tend to get worried around people who can arbitrary say things like "well he was acting suspicious so we threw him in the interview room for a few hours and proceeded with interrogations and anal probing." Of course me thinking about this possibility gets me worried and things go downhill from there. (NB, I've had a couple of run-ins with the AMS "security" people prior to US flights that have seemed to come close to this)

Of course, to make matters worse my interview was scheduled on my departure day and by then I had gone to various clubs for a few nights in a row, had little sleep, spent four nights in a hostel and came down with a respiratory infection. I'm actually a little surprised that I made it through the interview, mostly because I had a fever, was feeling woozy and sweating all over the place. (I hadn't slept at all the night before because I was feeling so bad)! I got a handful of travel related questions, one or two questions about my job and then was fingerprinted, given a CBP sticker and sent off. Phew! I don't remember having to give any extra paperwork and the entire process took maybe 10-15 minutes.

The one difference is that this was about 6 months ago, right when it changed from a pilot program to a real program. Its possible that there is increased vigilance with applicants now that there are likely more applying.

Since getting the magic sticker I've used the machines in IAH, SEA, and ATL

The most recent time I used it, in IAH, it helped out quite a bit. I would likely have made my flight without it but this gave me time for a quick shower at the PC before heading off for my next flight.

So far one time the machine was unable to find my correct flight so it spat out an "X" marked slip, which was quickly handled by an CBP officer. (He actually stopped processing another person's passport to deal with my ticket). Once the machine wasn't working and the CBP officer handled my form immediately and waived me through.

One officer did spend some time looking at some files on his computer, I think this was in SEA and they had just rolled it out so he was probably just double checking what to do.

Its an amazing feeling to be through C+I in 10-15 minutes or less. Honestly the longest part now is waiting for your bag to show up. If you had just carry-ons I would be surprised if you spent more than 5 minutes on the entire process. (The one time I had just a carry on it was even faster than that).

The one piece of advice I have is to always have a partially filled out customs slip. That way if something is not working you just add your flight number and are good to go.

tl;dr: Do it

LHSEN

That means, if I just got off an international flight exiting customs, I will make a left and the enclosed hallway is basically at the far left, right?

If I recall correctly, inside that hallway is where domestic baggage claim comes out ... I don't recall seeing a sign for GE or NSEERS, but I probably have missed it.

Can someone be more concise as to where it is down that hallway?

Many thanks.

nrr

There is an area to assist with rechecking baggage from intl to domestic, the day I was there 9/21 at 3:00pm, there were 4 or 5 agents, right after this area is a sign for GE, and some seats to sit on while waiting. The GE office is in the back, but there is an agent in front who deals with other CBP issues.
There is also a general info desk on the arrivals level of T4, if you are still lost, they can give directions.
PS: On my appointment letter, it states that GE is right near this baggage recheck area.

HeadInTheClouds

Interestingly, the only time I've used it at DFW, it couldn't find my arrival flight, and "American" wasn't even an option of the airlines to choose on the screen (only had MX, BA, LH, etc.) So I entered "Unknown Airline" with my flight number and fully expected the big "X", but I got a valid ticket. ^
No need to preface that with "honestly"... "ABSOLUTELY" would be a better beginning to that sentence. In fact, if you have checked bags, that is now 95% (if not more) of the entire process, and just about the only time you spend waiting.

German Expat

I have no checked bags on 95% of my international flights (I got trained for this flying through IAD a lot with their awful luggage handling).
Therefore Global Entry works perfect for me. The longest wait is now secondary screening for my connection.

altaskier

I did my Global Entry approval back in mid August. Since then, on all three international flights I have arrived on (two at JFK, and one at LAX) I have had the machine print me out the big X after the first screen even though I had nothing to declare for customs. It never asked me about my flight, all three times. I have paid careful attention to the screen to make sure I'm checking the right boxes.

After the first two times, I stopped in at the Global Entry office at JFK (since I had time between flight connections) and asked them about it. The officer checked my record but could see no glitches that would affect me. The officer did say that they sometimes (always? often?) don't get the downloaded passenger list from the flight into their systems until the first passenger from that flight has cleared.

Color me frustrated...

bradfordm

Dumb question (sorry) --- does this eliminate passport stamping? My guess is yes?

nrr

Yes, in fact the agent for my interview, made a point of this--saves passport space.
[This for me is not really a big issue, since CBP and foreign agents have been nice and placed stamps over stamps--on one page I have 7 stamps.]

LHSEN

Did my interview at JFK - very friendly + professional agent. Only asked a couple of simple questions - got instant approval. Quick and painless.

greg99

So I logged in, and posted was the letter advising me of my conditional approval, pending the interview (less than 2 business days). The letter says that I have to login to GOES within 30 days to schedule the interview.

I've done that, but there's no button or other area on the system where I would schedule an interview.

I called my local CBP enrollment center, and they weren't able to help me, saying only that I had to do it online.

I've sent an email to DHS, but I thought I'd see if anyone had any suggestions.

Thanks,
Greg

greg99

Further to my earlier message, my status updated (I received an email) and I was then presented with a button to schedule my appointment. Lots of convenient times.

Hopefully, it will not be an extensive grilling. My professional affiliation included a fairly detailed background check, and I was a Clear member, so my background/biometrics are pretty well known to the authorities, and my travel in the last 5 years has been quite benign.

Greg

greg99

Last update. There were a few technical glitches where they couldn't find my information on the system, but once sorted, the process was very simple. Handful of questions, fingerprints, picture and out.

Officers could not be more polite, process couldn't have been smoother (other than apparently inexplicable technical issue w/ their computer system).

My guess, from a couple of things that happened with the process, is that the system does not respond well to people aggressively trying to get this done. E.g., trying to schedule an interview immediately after getting the notification, and having the interview the day after conditional approval is granted, causes problems.

My advice is to have a little more patience than I had, and it probably goes easier.

Greg

karenkay

mr kk and i just had our GOES interviews. we both applied about 10 days ago, got conditional approval emails after a day (him) and three or four days (me). i applied over a weekend--and from china, perhaps that slowed down the process.

we scheduled the interview about a week out, had our choice of times. neither of us was really asked anything of importance...we were in the same room, but with different agents. had a little chat, got fingerprinted and were given a 'how to use the kiosk' tutorial. process was friendly, fast and efficient. ^

based on what i've read in this thread, i'm already THRILLED with the program and am looking forward to using it on our next international trip later this month.