asdfmkay

I don't have any answers for you, but my wife and I just went through Global Entry at Houston Hobby (the smaller Houston airport) and the machine just took a quick picture (no fingerprints or passport scanning). It worked just fine for me, but it gave my wife a big X and she had to report to "passport control". I am a US citizen while my wife is a permanent resident (green card holder and foreign passport). We have used Global Entry before no problem with the old system, but this time we would have been better off going through the standard line. This is because they took my wife into a separate area and it took 20 minutes to clear her. My wife did not fully understand what they were saying and they were super rude - nearly making her cry. It was typical intimidation ........, but I could not even be with her to help her. Of course, no explanation was provided and I was quickly brushed to the exit to wait anxiously.

Now I am not sure if her being green card status had anything to do with her being flagged. We have made the same trip before two years ago and had no issue. I suspect that this facial recognition software just didn't work similar to how sometimes Face ID from Apple doesn't work. I really hope they go back to fingerprints or scanning passport/greencard as those are much more reliable particularly with hair, sunglass and mask complications. It should at least be an option in the case the facial recognition fails. It's really a disappointment to pay extra money and have it result in getting flagged and harassed by staff. The whole point of Global Entry is to check your background ahead of time to make the process smoother...can't say I'm surprised though.