Originally Posted by
NickB
The purpose of my post was not to express a view as to whether the USA should be given a star for being a good boy at the top of the class or be made to sit on the naughty step. It was meant essentially as a factual statement, highlighting some relevant context for the readers of this board: many Europeans, and in particular many of the readers of this forum, have no access to GE.
So, knowing that GE kiosks work well and that there are plenty of them is interesting... in the same way as, say, knowing whether automated kiosks for EAC nationals at Kigali airport work well might be interesting, i.e. in the sense of being capable of satisfying intellectual curiosity ... but with little practical significance for many here, bearing in mind the readership. I would not have made the same comment on the KL, BA or LH forum, where the existence of GE and how well it functions is of far greater immediate relevance to a much larger proportion of the readers of those fora than is the case here.
C'mon...
People eligible for EU biometric controls by virtue of their EU/EEA citizenship or residence: more than 520 million
People eligible for Global Entry by virtue of their citizenship or US residence: more than 780 million
Entire population of the EAC countries: 167 million, with a much much much lower proportion/frequency of international air travel.
So I would think that GE is somewhat more relevant than any biometric control at Kigali would be. And not only for the size of the eligible population of travelers, but also for the size of the respective international air markets. Even for the readers of this forum, many of whom are not or not only French. Already many are Dutch because of the AF-KL link, so that already includes one country whose citizens can apply for GE, and then you have many Americans and Brits because of the language of this forum, so there you have another two countries with major GE-eligible population. Will there be a higher proportion of readers of the British Airways or Delta forum for whom this is relevant? Surely. Can it be dismissed as rather irrelevant in the AF forum? Don't think so.