FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Observations Flying CDG/ATL Yesterday about CDG & ATL
Old Aug 17, 2016, 2:02 pm
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MSPeconomist
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
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1) Many foreign carriers have weight limits on cabin bags, including SQ, QF, and IIRC LH/LX. Sometimes this is strictly enforced.

2) I had been thinking about downloading mobile passport but when my GE was renewed relatively quickly earlier this summer, I decided to procrastinate. Maybe I should do it before my next trip just in case.

3) DTW has a SkyPriority belt. So does MSP sometimes.

4) At DTW (and for a while at MSP), a CBP officer collects the GE receipts before baggage claim, so logically there shouldn't be a separate GE customs exit line as they have no way to know......Still, I'm surprised at any airport, even ATL, would be allowed to have a separate business class customs line; I've never noticed this at ATL. Where is it? [Exceptions would be where airline staff escort VIPs through immigration and customs, as I've seen often at LAX TBIT and which DL was reportedly doing at JFK for a while, IIRC for Porsche passengers, but was forced to stop.]

BTW, on my last international arrival into ATL, there was a guy giving PreCheck "tickets" to connecting passengers who had used GE. It was really PreCheck lite, but was appreciated as my foreign airport (no OLCI available by law from my destination) printed boarding pass didn't say PreCheck. It avoided looking for a kiosk or agent to try reprinting the domestic boarding pass. At DTW I saw no PreCheck after bag drop so I kept my cart (to the annoyance of staff there) and went up in the elevator to the PreCheck area for originating passengers, which was much better. In this case, I already had PreCheck on the boarding pass from OLCI, although someone with SkyPriority probably would have been better off exiting and going up to departures level to use SkyPriority TSA security lanes.

Last edited by MSPeconomist; Aug 17, 2016 at 2:08 pm Reason: added
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