This is a joke... 7 months wait for a 10 minute appointment!

Do you have to keep checking for cancellations?

It's totally worth it to check for cancellations
 

It's totally worth it to check for cancellations– Even once a week can usually turn up an appointment before too long.

Yes, SFO is one of the few Global Entry Enrollment Centers that regularly accept walk-in interviews.

Please take a look at this thread (and be sure to check the Wikipost):

yes! Yesterday I had an appointment scheduled in April in SFO. I spent about 2~3 hours continually checking four centers that I knew I'd be traveling to soon. Early openings were popping up every now and then and disappearing within 5 minutes. You have to be lucky or patient.

Will the search calendar immediately show an available early appointment?

For example right now it scrolls to July automatically, if something opens up in Feb do I need to go back and check manually or will the system automatically display Feb as the first available date even though even only say one appointment exists?

You will see the earliest appointment available when you login
 

Is That your question? Do you mean if something opens up while you're looking? That I don't know, but it will always show the earliest appointment available when you login even if there's only one.

FYI, for anyone in the Detroit area, interview availability at the GE enrollment center near the Ambassador Bridge is wide open. I'll be in Detroit in a couple weeks for work and booked one there. A 6:45 PM appointment there seemed a lot more appealing than waking up for a 6 AM Sunday appointment, or sitting in rush hour traffic for a 9 AM weekday appointment at my home airport (STL)

I tried to do my interview at the SEA or SFO office, but both were booked way in advance. I also had a MIA trip coming up and checked for MIA. their whole calendar was pretty much empty and the officer told me that I dont even have to make an appointment at MIA I can just walk in. Well thats what he told me. He is also the one who told me to use my VISA page instead of passport ID page to get scanned at the booth. Luckily I figured that out myself before going back in line and waiting for ever in the regular immigration line...

Copied from Global Entry - Processing Time thread:

When did downtown start processing interviews again? It said unavailable all Decembe. Same first week in January when I checked for my mother. Rockford was equally unavailable.

My wife just got approved and there isn't a single appointment available in Milwaukee. Closest place is ORD.

I suspect that MSP isn't a lot farther from Madison than ORD. It might even be an easier drive. You might want to look for MSP appointments, although I know they were fully booked around the beginning of summer.

We booked a night at an ORD hotel. This process should be easier and more readily available -- no reason there's only one location in an entire state -- and it seems like around us it's either MSP, ORD, or MKE -- and good luck.

When I did my renewal, I was looking at driving up the Grand Portage but fortunately I was approved without an interview.

It sounds like you've sorted it out and are all set. Maybe you'll have a bit of time to have fun in Chicago.

Permanent GE interview sites are mainly located at major hub airports plus certain border crossing points and a few big city locations. I wouldn't expect one everywhere. This is said by someone who did the initial GE interview at JFK, long before it was possible at MSP.

I think we're planning on working in the morning from the hotel, going to the interview, then going to IKEA. Not that much fun, but we're boring.

My renewal is coming up in a year or two. I hope that can be approved without an interview, too.