andrelux

Nope. Happened on both BA and AA, flying both ways.

Gomac

It sounds awful! What does it actually compromise of?

I was once selected before a BA1 flight from LCY but as I was running late and only arrived 30 minutes before they decided to skip it and let me straight on.

NoTiersForMe

Some further experience on process if wanted...

I'm a US and Irish citizen long resident in UK and have finally applied for GE as the regular queues at BOS and elsewhere are becoming too tedious: and the new kiosks reject my details so I always have to speak to a CPB person anyway

I applied for a slot at BOS in April and got one just around Nov, in time, conveniently for the regular Thanksgiving trip. But there were none before then, so lucky I applied then. Checking today first BOS availability 15 Feb 2017.

I also checked MIA availability for interviews and, behold, they have space from 25 May and every day thereafter. I am somewhat surprised after hearing such 'horror stories' about MIA immigration on this forum that the GE office would thus be so well staffed. But there you go.

It took me about 10 days to get the conditional approval which then enabled the more torturous interview booking process to begin.

Good luck.

HilFly

Maybe because you were randomly selected.

BA is not one of the airlines included for TSA pre-check.

https://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/map

QueenOfCoach

I am a US Citizen and have had Global Entry / Pre-Check for over five years.

It's totally worth it. I love zipping past long Disneyland-style lines of people waiting for Immigration and, then, Customs. The first time I went through with GE, it took me all of 10 minutes to get from entering the immigration hall to the curb with my bags, waiting for my ride.

I can tell you exactly why you have received Pre-Check in the past.

The TSA has, in the past, randomly picked low-risk travelers to go though Pre-Check lines as a means of introducing people to the convenience of Pre-Check and enticing them to go through the full vetting process. Coming back from Hawaii, for example, my German friend got that random Pre-Check but my husband did not. This random "gift" Pre-Check is being phased out, so don't expect it as often (or at all) in the future. The same is true for airline-elite "gift" Pre-Checks.

When GE became available for German citizens, my German friend jumped at the chance. He already had plans to come to the US in March, 2015, so he signed up for an interview at LAX. At the same time, he saw on their website they had GE interviews in Frankfurt and Munich for a couple of weeks at a time later in 2015. Had he not already been planning the Los Angeles trip, he would have gone to an interview in Germany.

My German friend was approved right away, and used GE to enter the US this year, 2016. He told me of his glee at seeing the long 45-minute wait line and being able to walk right by to a GE kiosk and quick check at the GE podium. He was sipping coffee in the Admirals Club while others on his flight were still in line.

(1) Does that mean that ESTA entry has been ‘enhanced’ or that I will no longer see the magic words ‘TSA Precheck’ on my boarding pass unless I have global entry?

ESTA is separate from GE and Pre-Check. If you have GE, you will automatically get Pre-Check, however, TSA does randomly select Pre-Check people for the full screening process. Having said that, in 6 years of GE/Pre-Check I have never been selected for the full screening. If Pre-Check is in a given airport, I have gotten it every time.

(2) reading through the process, it states I need to pay Ł42 and another USD 100 to attend an interview, but only in the US. Have I misread the details?

I think you might have misread the details. I paid $100 for the entire process, then five years later $100 for renewal. The Ł42 might be for a background check in the UK, though. That I can't tell you. My German friend had to get a German goverment background clearance before applying for GE.

(3) I see that the interviews could be carried out at Miami airport, among other places. With enough notice, and say a 5 hour layover in Miami, would it be feasible to go through the process for my wife and me?

In LAX I could definitively state that a 5 hour layover would be plenty of time, simply because I know exactly where the BCP office is. Chances are in Miami the BCP office is near the international arrivals area, so you should be OK there. The interview itself is fast, assuming your record is squeaky clean. The interview appt time is not set in stone. I have heard of people showing up late or early. If the BCP folks are not busy with other on-time appts, they should be willing to go ahead and do your interview if you are not exactly on time. When I took my German friend to LAX for his interview, we were about an hour early, and they took him right in.

(4) how long does the whole process take, end to end. I read months here, months there, six months elsewhere, but what are people’s experiences?

Hard to say, since they have to investigate your background. Back in 2011 when I got GE, it was several months before I got my conditional approval. Last year my husband's conditional approval arrived within a few weeks. Best to just apply now and hope for the best.

(5) Do you think it is worth our while? In some cases, throwing c Ł120 at the problem for five years may be worth it, if it provides significant improvement (or at least, the status quo and no degradation, but only without major hassle. I’m guessing that renewals after 5 years would be more straightforward, although I suppose no-one has got to that stage yet.

I have been through one renewal in early 2016. I was able to do it totally on-line. I just filled out the info, told them that nothing had changed (no arrests, no address change, etc), paid the $100 and got notice of renewal the next day. I asked about it when I took my husband in for his interview, and was told to apply for a renewal about 3 months before the expiry date. It's worth noting that my expiry date was my birthday, and the new expiry date is the same.

For me, it's totally worth it. Saving myself 45 minutes standing in line at the end of a long trip is priceless. Going through TSA Pre-Check for domestic, as well as international, trips is similarly priceless. With the current TSA Security crunch in US airports with hours-long waits, it's especially worth it now.

MPH1980

I will also just give a recent timing statistic for you.

Landed at PHL Terminal A. Texted my wife as the plane was taxiing off the runway to say I'd landed. Signal hadn't kicked in - it did about 2 minutes later. Time stamp on the text was 15:30.

I exited the aircraft (from CW), walked to immigration - used the empty GE kiosks - went through customs, turned back around into security using pre-check and walked the short distance to the PHL terminal F shuttle.

I then sent my wife another text as she was concerned about my short connection time. It timestamped at 15:48.

Consider 10 years ago - it would be unimaginable to have gone through american immigration, customs and security in 18 minutes as a non-citizen. Top that off with the fact that it wasn't *actually* 18 minutes - it was more like 13-14 as the plane had to still park at the gate and the F passengers had to get off first.

All I saw was the snaking 'non-US Citizen' line that made me glad to have Global Entry.

However, those new ESTA kiosks really also make a difference and reduce the value of GE where they have been deployed.

Steve_ZA

For whatever reason MIA does seem to be one of the better places to have the GE interview. I'm not sure how many other offices consistently have appointments available for the next day but my regular US gateway of SEA has a 3 to 4 month wait. The office is opposite the Lufthansa check-in desks right at the end of concourse J - I turned up 30 minutes early and was out 5 minutes later.

aidy

Yup correct Canada and UAE

My interviews in Toronto

Fitch

I love it overall, but have found the time saved varies wildly by airport.

Departing
MIA - fantastic, 45-60 mins
PHX - good, 20 mins
JFK - good, similar
EWR - useless, all lines mixed up

Arriving from abroad
MIA: still fantastic
LAX: almost as good
PHX: good
JFK: good
EWR: so-so (not busy the couple of times I've been through with GE)

Moral of the story
Avoid EWR

LBP2

I use PHL regularly too.. last 'regular' entry was early Jan when it took over 90 mins to get through immigration - straight into my pre-booked interview.

I have had 4 entries since and 3 have taken less than 10 mins plane to baggage hall. 6 mins last Sat The odd one out was when the machine decided it didn't like me and directed me to the 'GE problems' desk, which had no queue and added a couple of minutes.

So the hassle of application and scheduling the interview has been totally worth it for me.

HilFly

Which airlines are you departing on?

chucko

You might find more info in the Trusted Travelers forum.

I've had GE for about six years, and it's a big time-saver. If I come back to SEA with hand baggage only, the shortest time between aircraft door opening and opening the door of my flat has been 30 minutes, and I live about 12 miles from the airport. Checked baggage slows it down. You get Pre-check as part of GE, but not for BA flights (unless its randomly assigned, which TSA are reportedly cutting back on).

PHLGovFlyer

For question #3 my wife did her GE interview at MIA on a 3.5 hour layover. It was plenty of time. The key is having your appointment time right.

The GE office is landside at end of terminal J (about as far away from the AA and BA gates as you can be at MIA) so you will need to re-clear security. We walked from our arriving flight to GE, then walked back through security to terminal D and had time to spare to go the lounge.

I absolutely recommend GE (and the associated Pre-Check) when transiting the US. It's saved me tens of hours of waiting time this year already.

andrelux

Thanks all for the valuable information. Much appreciated.

My personal experience in recent trips to MIA is that with the ESTA booths, immigration has really not been a pain. Maybe 10 minutes from getting to the machine to handing the form in and getting through. Sometimes less.

Customs has been a pain, especially when travelling from the UK onwards to an international destination when the bags are checked through anyway and don't need clearing. A daunting queue. If GE offers a way to shorten that, then I'm all for it, although I don't seem to remember a separate exit (perhaps because I wasn't looking for one).

TSA Precheck is another advantage. Seems like this was a 'random'/regular benefit which will now be denied to me. However, in MIA at least, this especially applies when leaving from the US (i.e. MIA) rather than going through the connecting passengers route - even without TSA PRECHK this has been reasonably fast (especially when travelling in a premium cabin) - I found this out last time when at MGA the TSA PRECHK was printed by mistake on the MGA - MIA boarding pass (as much use to me as a one-legged man at an a**e kicking contest) rather than the more useful MIA-LHR leg BP.

In summary, I probably won't apply for GE for this summer (appears time is too short anyway) but will probably do so in time for next year's travels, if it shortens time wasted in customs (rather than immigration).

Thanks for all the input.

Edit - nb because of timings of flights, my views may be coloured by the fact that I never really have any time-critical connections (assuming no outrageous delays). Therefore time spent going through the system generally just means lost time in the lounge, rather than missed connections

MPH1980

GE does, generally, have it's own customs exit. It also removes the need to fill out that blue form.