Global Entry and MCO?
 

I just paid for my Global Entry at GOES, and I'm currently "Pending Review"--we'll see how long that takes. Once it comes time to schedule the interview, I'd like it at MCO, which is closest to my home in Tallahassee.

According to http://globalentry.gov/enrollmentcenters.html, interview times are M-F, 0830-1230.

A regional bus carrier can take me straight from Tallahassee to MCO within the same day: outbound trip, 0030-0600; inbound trip, M/F 1440-1915, T-Th 1730-2205. This way, I not only don't have to drive an 8-hour round trip, but I also get to avoid a hotel stay, and I might be able to only take one day off work. Good deal all around.

This also means I'll be having breakfast, lunch, and possibly dinner at MCO landside. I'm confident I'll be able to find lunch and dinner, but I want to ask about breakfast. When I arrive at MCO at 0600, will I be able to get any sort of decent breakfast landside?

Also, I have the standard GE questions:

- How long will "pending review" take?
- After the interview, how long until they issue me the physical credential to allow me to participate in TSA PreCheck?

Thanks!

Outside of fast food I would eat at the Hyatt.

I've heard the background check is taking 6-8 weeks now.

As for the physical card, I'm not sure, but it took like 5 business days to receive my NEXUS card from the office that makes them in Vermont. If the make the GE cards in the same place, I wouldn't be surprised if its the same timing.

A couple of weeks ago I had an appointment with CBP for GE at MCO. The whole process took 20 minutes, including fingerprinting, photo, and a demo of the GE machine. The officer never did an interview as I was pre-approved. I arrived on-time and did not even have to wait.

By the way my background check took about 10 days.

Hope this experience helps.

Pro-tip: The Global Entry processing station at Sanford (SFB) is open on Saturdays. That way you don't have to take off of work.

According to http://globalentry.gov/enrollmentcenters.html, it's also open on Sundays from 1000 to 1600, which would be even better.

To get there by Saturday, I'd have to leave work straight away at 1700, drive there (4h43m per Google), and get to my hotel around 2143. For a Sunday interview, I could drive there Saturday and back Sunday; I'd still obviously need a hotel.

RedCoach has first-class bus seats (2-1 rows instead of 2-2, recline 135 deg), and I could go round trip straight to MCO for $115. That's a good deal cheaper than a round-trip drive plus a hotel. Plus, I won't have to drive 9 hours across two days.

The "cost" of me taking a day off work is zero, as I have plenty of vacation days banked up, and I don't use as much as I probably should. :-)

SFB is not served by mass transit, and that would be a 32.7-mile ride from MCO...that taxi round trip would probably cost more than the bus fare all the way from Tallahassee.

So MCO it is. But yeah...I did notice the SFB weekend thing.

I also noticed two locations in Atlanta, but there are no possible one-day bus trips...and once again, it would be the whole "9 hours of driving across two days plus a hotel" thing. And both Atlanta locations are only M-F 0800-1600, so no real benefit.

It's pretty obvious my goal here is to minimize the amount of work I have to do for something I shouldn't even have to get--that is, an interview to let me bypass the worst of the TSA.

Wow - this all sounds like quite a hassle. Why not try to schedule an interview to coincide with your next connection through Atlanta, Houston, Miami, or whichever hub(s) you head through out of Tallahassee?

No clue when that will be; I don't fly very often. I'm flying to CLT in June 2012, but I'd like to have my GE card _before_ then, so I can take advantage of TSA PreCheck at CLT on the way home (http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/escreening.shtm).

GE costs $100 for 5 years, and I'll do maybe 8 flights in 5 years. My home TLH doesn't participate in PreCheck, but I typically fly to airports that do/will have it. If, on each round-trip, my GE gets me a pass from the Shoe Carnival, NoS, opt-out, and Freedom Grope, that's $12.50 per pass. If TLH were to implement PreCheck as well, that would be $6.25 per pass.

I considered flying unpleasant before 9/11, but terminal security wasn't even a blip on my complaint radar. It has since been been promoted to my _only_ complaint, and I have a near-anxiety attack going to the airport wondering what the TSA has in store for me. For me, $12.50 per TSA pass is a bargain.

While I realize that "TSA will always incorporate random and unpredictable security measures throughout the airport and no individual will be guaranteed expedited screening in order to retain a certain element of randomness to prevent terrorists from gaming the system.", the bulk of the comments I've seen wrt PreCheck compare it to 9/10 or Pan-Am. Again, well worth it. As side benefits, I get Global Entry and a photo ID card with no home address or country stamps.