HGHUA

Happened once to me, the CBP officer looked at my passport, hit a few buttons, asked me like 2 questions, stamp and only my way within 60 seconds. lol, no biggie.

nrr

Once I got the "X", sent to the special room--the agent thought it was fingerprint related. He did NOT stamp my pp.

Iflynwa

On my way back from Canada yesterday, I got the "X" for the first time. I could not figure out what caused it but PP control guy simply told me in a rather rude manner, "don't worry about it". When I tried to asked again what it was about, he simple replied "don't worry about it". I thank him and left. So I ready have no clue what it was about.

Majuki

I agree with the officer at passport control. Don't worry about it (as I mentioned a few posts up).

Jeannietx

I was told to expect the X, and secondary due to my fingerprints being unclear.

BobbySteel

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry8700c: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 4.4.4; HTC6525LVW Build/KTU84P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/40.0.2214.45 Mobile Safari/537.36)

After getting my third x in a month, I went onto the office this week. Turns out they didn't clear something when processing my renewal. They sorted it out, though despite grilling me whether I was sure I didn't have any duis. All fixed now. So seems worthwhile to go in if you get more than one x in a short time imo.

raehl311

You are crossing an international border. The whole point of Customs and Border Patrol is to make ABSOLUTELY SURE you are worried about getting your bags checked in a secondary screening. Global Entry is NOT AT ALL meant to change that, it's merely meant to make the process of getting you into the country more efficient.

The LAST THING GE is intended to do is create a class of traveler that has no chance of having a secondary screening. That's just an invitation to smuggle stuff.

I've been pulled into secondary once.. for being the first to get to the exit control agent when there was no one in secondary. They asked a few questions, went through everything, found nothing, and I was on my way. It wasn't nerve-wracking at all, because I both knew it was just a random check because we have to have them, it was my turn, and I hadn't done anything wrong.

Random screenings are simply part of border control. Sometimes it will be your turn. There's really no reason to have any anxiety about it at all.

AsiaFlyer2014

Er, I think you mean Global Entry is meant to make the process of getting you into the country less inefficient.

raehl311

Honestly 95% of the time getting into the country for me with GE is a breeze, with the exception of United taking FOREVER to deliver bags to bag claim.

5% of the time the GE systems are down for whatever reason and that can be a PITA.

steveman518

There were a lot of people getting the X on Jan 2 at LAX-there was a bug in the system displaying the wrong information for some people on at least two flights (OZ and BA) and people were getting the X on their receipt. In the end the officer just wrote down the flight number on the receipt, stamped it, and sent us on our way.

Iflynwa

I've had GE since 2011 but cards were not automatically issued then. I went to the site and wanted to request a Global Entry card. In going through the application process the since "year/month" box for my address is already filled in but highlighted. When I click continue, it brings me back to the same page asking to correct it. Should I place the current year and month? If somebody has gone through this process, I would appreciate the help.

N1120A

I got an X at YYZ yesterday when the machine said my flight was going to BUR (my final destination) and not DFW (destination of my flight). I accidentally hit the wrong button to correct it and got it. There was no one at booth 1 to clear me, so the guy in booth 2 sent me to secondary. The officer there cleared my super fast.

Majuki

I got the X again, and a CBP officer mentioned that the cause was indeed a bad fingerprint read. (The kiosk had worked flawlessly last week.) The officer said a couple of tips are to keep the fingers toegether - don't separate them - and apply firm pressure with just your fingertips. (I had been doing more of a resting motion, applying light pressure with the whole finger.)

I know it's difficult to get a good read sometimes after a long flight as your fingers are dry. Have others had success in applying a bit of hand lotion? Other times I think the machines get a ton of use and the fingerprint scanners can get dirty. Any other success tips for a better fingerprint read?

wilp888

I used to have the same problem with dry fingers until a CBP officer told me to try rubbing my fingers on my forehead before the scan. Haven't had a problem since.

Majuki

I will try that next week. Thanks for the tip. ^