From another thread:

Got my Global Entry applications (my wife, kid, and I) approved today (took 4 business days), but holy cruds was finding an interview time nearly impossible.

I knew pre-application that I would have to travel at least 4 hours each way by car to the nearest interview center, but I didn't do my diligence to figure out that those nearest interview centers (Kansas City and DFW) have next to no availability.

The cities I am visiting this fall that have centers are completely booked up during those weeks I am there. Kansas City seems to have zero availability at all, and DFW isn't available until late December.

IAH on the other hand is nearly wide open, including tomorrow. Thought for a few minutes of killing my weekend going down there to get it done with, but decided I might as well wait and go to DFW in December which is less out of the way.

I can accept that only major cities will have interview centers, but it is downright frustrating to find that many cities with centers are nearly impossible to schedule, while other centers must have interview agents twiddling on their phones all day. Making last minute checks for openings is impractical when there are three of us, the trip is 8 hours round trip, etc.

If I were you, I would keep checking for cancellations at Global Entry offices that you are interested in, especially during their office hours. In less than two weeks, you should be able to find something suitable for you.

If you cannot find openings for all three of you on the same day, go together anyway and ask. Worse case is only scheduled individual/s will be interviewed. You have nothing to lose.

Please come back and let us know your result.

+1

Every person who does a "walk in" to a GE interview without an appointment causes their scheduled appointment to free up for someone else. The "totally booked" appointment calendar changes constantly throughout the day - keep checking!

I have a couple short trips to DFW in October and November that the family is coming along that includes a Friday when they are open, and I will check before each trip for openings. The wait isn't all that bad for us since the next family flight isn't until January, and we aren't going international until March at the earliest, but I have a number of domestic flights later this fall and wanted to get the global entry set up sooner just for the TSA pre-check privileges. I may try my own luck with a walk-in during my next business trip just to get me done sooner too.

I'm just annoyed by the fact that not only is the middle of the country underserved in terms of locations, but the locations that are within a day's drive of here are obviously in very high demand while there are certain cities (like Houston) where they may have multiple locations and tons of openings. I don't expect efficiencies in government operations, but they've concentrated so much availability in a just few chosen pockets of the country.

LAX interview schedule
 

Providing another data point..

Applied my infant son for GE 9/21.. Received CA on 9/25.
Logged in today to schedule interview and first available at LAX (we are in SoCal) was FEBRUARY 6, 2018.

Nothing available at Long Beach.

Obsessively refreshed for about 30 mins... (when I applied for myself few years back I was able to reschedule a month earlier so I persisted) and got 10/23!!! It's going to suck trying to get to LAX from Orange County by 9am, but I was really hoping to get GE for my son before our intl trip over Thanksgiving, so it all worked out :)

FYI, I did have the visualping chrome extension set up (refresh every min) and it did work, but it seems a little delayed.. I got the ping for the 10/23 slot I took (which I found through manual refresh) when I was done rescheduling.

Since you know how to refresh, if I were you, I would continue to search for a better time slot at Long Beach.

Good luck and let us know what you end up with.

Hah, I looked again and was able to snag 10/7 -- LAX office is WIDE OPEN from this week on, AND entire month of October. Dunno why all of sudden everything opened up since nothing was available when I last checked few hours ago.

Head on over to the website now if you are looking to snag LAX appt in the near future... :)

Blaine, Washington
 

From the Global Entry - processing time thread:

I've rechecked my DFW location appointment a few times over the last couple of weeks, and today, a BUNCH of openings in October opened up.

I got the family and I scheduled now mid Oct on a Friday we were already going to Dallas. :D

Don't know about Chicago, but Cleveland's next opening are in Dec... I was going to be in Detroit for work and found an opening on the date I wanted 2 weeks prior to being there.

The new login.gov systems really rocks! I scheduled our interviews very easily for my family of 4!
In ORD and Chicago Field office. :)

Just to clarify, it's the new TTP system that does almost everything, including the interview scheduling (ttp.cbp.dhs.gov).

Login.gov is only used for the the initial user authentication into the TTP system.

I got Long Beach for next week.

Update: Despite there being maybe thirty total Oct/Nov openings earlier today for Long Beach, the earliest is now Nov 29th. Did anyone else get in on this feeding frenzy?

I don't know if they take walk ins, but Long Beach was quiet enough that (if they do) it could be worth a shot.

I got there early, fearing it would be a DMV-like madhouse where appointment times were routinely ignored. I instead found a quiet office with just one other applicant in the waiting area.

They interviewed me an hour before my scheduled time and I got a quick approval.

Of course, it may be chaotic at other times. I'm just one data point.