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How does Global Entry work for You?

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Old May 4, 2017, 12:01 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: drewguy
US Airports

Atlanta (ATL)

E concourse/transfer passengers
Global Entry kiosks are on the left wall as you enter the immigration area (the queues for the non-GE are to the right). After completing with the kiosk (facial recognition, no reset), continue to the far side of the room and turn right for the GE exit booths. Your face will be matched visually by the agent (against a line up of those recently through the kiosks) and you proceed to baggage claim. If you have no problems with your connecting flight (and no reason to open the bags) move them over to the drop off belt. There are two queues at security. Sometimes one is set up as TSA Precheck, sometimes they are both regular. Amusingly, when they have a Precheck line, there's usually nobody in the other one.

Boston (BOS)

All passengers follow a first hallway, then a bend, entering a second hallway; at that point you see the non-GE situation to your left through the glass. GE kiosks are at the far end to the left, with one (or two) immigration agents checking for slips with an X, then downstairs to baggage claim. GE customs exit, easy to miss, at far end (left side as you face luggage belts).

Charlotte (CLT)

No MPC. Customs exit has two booths. There is a dedicated GE customs lane with signage on the left. May have to walk past (and get dirty looks) general customs queue to see GE signage.

Chicago (ORD)

The kiosks are immediately apparent as you come down to the immigration/customs area, although sometimes long lines for "regular" immigration can slow access to the kiosks. After baggage claim there is a single exit to transfer/arrivals, with a specific desk for GE customers sometimes staffed.

Denver (DEN)
After the long walk from your gate, signs for global entry point you straight down the escalator (non-GE get forms checked and may queue). Kiosks to right using 2.0. If an X or to declare a sign points to agent. Otherwise proceed to baggage reclaim area. Give slip to agent at exit and proceed to airport main entrance.

Houston (IAH):

There is a single, roped off separate area on southern (terminal E) end of the arrivals hall with kiosks as you enter the hall, and an additional bank of kiosks near officers at a desk that check (and keep) GE receipts as one is entering the central immigration area. Proceed to the bag claim escalator past agents that may pull people for further questioning. After claiming bags downstairs, proceed directly to recheck. Agents in the area may pull you aside for bag inspection. There is no GE or standard exit queue.

Los Angeles (LAX):
International arrivals come into the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). After the walk to escalators, GE lines are well marked. LAX uses GE 2.0 facial recognition - just smile at the camera and it will tell you what to do next. You'll then go past an agent with whatever interaction they deem necessary. On to baggage claim and either taxis or a connecting flight.

Miami (MIA):

The kiosks are in the centre of the hall, between US and Tourists. Turn left when you have cleared and down the stairs/escalator to Customs. Turn left at the bottom and your GE Customs line is there.

New York (JFK):

T8
After receiving your "non-X" GE slip, you proceed to baggage area (if you have any), then head for the customs agent. There is a sign on a stand: "GLOBAL ENTRY EXIT", this lets you bypass any "others" waiting to see an agent.; There is a CPB agent who checks your pp (after collecting your slip). You then go to collect your luggage (if you have any), unless you are singled out for extra scrutiny, you are free to leave.
Once you are in baggage collection area, it seems all pax have "equal status" since GE no longer have their slips. [GE pax would still have their GE cards to show if needed.]

T7
Upon arrival in the Immigration area, the kiosks are on the back wall, facing the front of the inspectors booths. Turn left and you may have to walk right across the area to get to them. There is a special exit for Customs.

Philadelphia (PHL):

Global Entry kiosks are immediately on the right if arriving from an A-East gate (A2-A13). After successful facial recognition take your receipt to the Global Entry cubicle next to the kiosks. Hold up your receipt as your pass the GE officer in the cubicle and tell them if you have anything to declare. After claiming checked luggage, exit the FIS through the GE customs line, and give the officer your receipt.

San Francisco (SFO):

International arrivals G concourse - United/*A
Corridor from planes with floor and ceiling markings for different categories (GE, MPC, US, Foreign) that ultimately end up in lanes demarcated with tensa-barriers. GE is to the far left, where the kiosks are along the wall. Use kiosk, wait for agent, who will ask any questions, then pickup any bags and head past all carousels. Connecting flights to left; exit to right.

Seattle
Just before taking the escalator to the baggage hall the GE kiosks are on the right. New software so no receipts. After baggage collection join queue to the left for GE passengers. Agent asks questions as well as checks you for the GE kiosk record.

Washington (IAD):

Main Terminal
The kiosks are around the corner to the far right after you come down the escalator from the moon rover, behind a metal swinging gate marked for crew and GE. Starting Spring 2017 After using the kiosk, you'll enter a lane to for an agent to review your slip and to make any declarations (food, etc.), and then you proceed out a central door to the baggage claim area. There is no further check after this point. Post-2021: Using GE 2.0 and agents tend to take more time studying passport; door to baggage area a bit closer to GE checkpoint. Spring 2023: New facial scanners in place that are touchless - just look at screen, it images face, and directs you (in most cases) to proceed to the line. CBP agent confirms identity and checks passport, and asks if anything to declare.

Midfield (transfers) terminal (UA-UA only; limited hours)
The GE terminals are against the wall, on the left, immediately that you enter the arrivals immigration area. Do not join the barricaded area as you have gone too far. After you have your receipt you walk down the back of the inspectors booths to Customs. Note: No TSAPre available here.


Foreign Preclearance Airports

Montreal (YUL)

(All US bound flights)After CATSA security, the GE machines will be in your left. Facial recognition and no receipts will be issued just instructions to proceed to US or GE officer.

Vancouver (YVR)

(Most daytime US-bound flights. Not available for late-evening / night US-bound flights) GE/Nexus get expedited access to security, although it takes a bit of talking to convince the line guard to grant access because there is no reason to carry the GE card for air travel. Post security, the GE machines are in a dedicated area off to the left. After getting the receipt, you hand your receipt, passport and boarding pass to an available agent. Agent scans your boarding pass and if you have checked bags, a picture of your bag is displayed to the officer. American Citizens are waved past with ease. Non-American citizens are required to answer the standard "Where are you going / what are you doing" questions that apply to non-American citizen travellers. Non-American business travelers using GE at YVR can expect all the standard probing immigration-related questions regarding the nature of your business in the USA.

Dublin (DUB)

Preclearance:
After security, find 3 or 4 GE kiosks located on the left hand side. After getting the receipt, walk up to the CBP agent on the far left (from the passengers' point of view). Need to stop at CBP agent's desk and hand over passport + receipt + boarding pass. The BP is scanned to bring up picture(s) of bag(s) (in case bags were checked).
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How does Global Entry work for You?

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Old Jul 22, 2021, 4:08 pm
  #226  
 
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I wonder if this has something to do with the travel ban from Schengen/UK/India etc. Perhaps a way to keep non-American GE members from slipping through the cracks?
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Old Jul 22, 2021, 6:28 pm
  #227  
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Originally Posted by txviking
I wonder if this has something to do with the travel ban from Schengen/UK/India etc. Perhaps a way to keep non-American GE members from slipping through the cracks?
It's only at IAH and even then UA flights are allowed to use. I've cleared using GE at LAX, ATL, and SAT.

Besides the machines know your nationality. Agent overlooking it isn't concern.
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Old Jul 23, 2021, 4:06 pm
  #228  
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Originally Posted by txviking
I wonder if this has something to do with the travel ban from Schengen/UK/India etc. Perhaps a way to keep non-American GE members from slipping through the cracks?
As an American with GE who is flying frequently between the EU/Schengen zone and the US, I’ve used and seen other use GE during the entire course of this pandemic period with the US restrictions on travel from Europe when it comes to arrivals to the US from Europe. From March 2020 to present; covering airports in each of the CONUS time zones; in ports with “GE 2.0”, and in ports where GE requires passport scanning.

When a GE member is coming in on a non-US passport under an exemption of one or more sort to the US restrictions on travel from Europe, the CBP agent handling GE can still direct a GE member to secondary for exemption verification if that is the concern.
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Old Jul 23, 2021, 7:24 pm
  #229  
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I have always arrived in E and always found a whole bank of GE machines and more recently elimination of the customs checkpoint entirely. But that was 2 years ago so not sure what has changed.

If there is no GE at IAH that will be a big deal for me as IAH is typically the gateway for my UA flights to Central and South America. For sure I would avoid it, though it would be a shame to move to DL at ATL, and AA at MIA is horrid.
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Old Jul 23, 2021, 7:37 pm
  #230  
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Originally Posted by Boraxo
I have always arrived in E and always found a whole bank of GE machines and more recently elimination of the customs checkpoint entirely. But that was 2 years ago so not sure what has changed.

If there is no GE at IAH that will be a big deal for me as IAH is typically the gateway for my UA flights to Central and South America. For sure I would avoid it, though it would be a shame to move to DL at ATL, and AA at MIA is horrid.
UA flights still get to use GE. All others (basically terminal D) no longer get to. The machines are roped off on the D side. You aren't allowed to use the ones on the UA E side if not on UA flight.
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Old Jul 25, 2021, 10:03 am
  #231  
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You have a House rep and 2 US Senator so contact their offices. It's what they are there for - helping constituents with issues the have with the Federal Government.

They are more likely to get you a proper answer than CBP media or the airport.
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Old Jul 29, 2021, 5:53 pm
  #232  
 
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I used GE at IAH in March, end of April, and a couple of weeks ago and they all worked. Granted all flights were in on UA so Terminal E side not D.
IAH is one of the original three airports where GE was beta tested so it has had GE a very long time. I'd presume it has something to do with the 'Rona or possibly the major terminal D reconstruction and expansion project going on at IAH.
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Old Jul 29, 2021, 8:24 pm
  #233  
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Originally Posted by FlyingHoustonian
I used GE at IAH in March, end of April, and a couple of weeks ago and they all worked. Granted all flights were in on UA so Terminal E side not D.
IAH is one of the original three airports where GE was beta tested so it has had GE a very long time. I'd presume it has something to do with the 'Rona or possibly the major terminal D reconstruction and expansion project going on at IAH.
Machines are there, just they're rioed off on D side. When you arrive the TV screen directs your NON-UA flight to only use lanes on term D side.
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Old Mar 29, 2022, 5:58 pm
  #234  
 
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DFW experience

My previous home airport was LAX and now it's DFW... i've been using Global Entry for few years through LAX and loved it but today was my first experience using Global Entry coming into DFW. Global Entry in DFW is fully biometric and uses only face id (no fingerprints or any passport needed) which is pretty amazing, the whole experience took only 2 minutes. I usually do not check bags but this time around due to a circumstance I had 1 bag to collect which unfortunately added about 1 hour standing at the belt. This delay meant that I did not gain much time on those who stood in the immigration line and caught up to the belt later to retrieve bags. So my thoughts are that Global Entry makes most sense only to those WITHOUT check in baggage.

The interesting thing to note is that at LAX there is a separate custom exit line for Crew/Global Entry. At DFW you join the main exit line which somewhat defeats the purpose of Global Entry since this line can be super long if there are other flights that just landed. I asked various officials and they confirmed that there is only 1 line. Is this consistent with what others have experienced at DFW?
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Old Apr 1, 2022, 9:38 am
  #235  
 
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Originally Posted by entrada
I must say that for a United passenger a transfer at Dulles is horrendous. After clearing the customs area we waited in a long line for 20+ minutes to get back into the terminal. There is no priority customer line. People were missing connecting flights. It was chaos. I remembered this from several years ago but thought UA would have fixed this by now.
I assume you're talking about the TSA line after the "in transit" transit customs clearance. Yeah, it's still bad.
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Old Jun 8, 2022, 2:46 pm
  #236  
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Global Entry not that effective at MIA

I hope I'm putting this in the right place.

Coming back to MIA from LHR a couple weeks ago. My wife and I have Global Entry. They had only three machines working, which was bad enough. But after getting a receipt, instead of just showing it to a CBP agent, the (only) guy on duty is quizzing everyone, just as though they didn't have GE. The line was brutal. Finally, a second CBP guy, who'd been clearing our flight crew, finished with them and started taking GE people and moving them through quickly.
But what's up with the first guy? Isn't the point of GE that you're not supposed to have to be questioned? And no, it wasn't just one group, it was several.
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Old Jun 8, 2022, 7:46 pm
  #237  
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Originally Posted by OTD
I hope I'm putting this in the right place.

Coming back to MIA from LHR a couple weeks ago. My wife and I have Global Entry. They had only three machines working, which was bad enough. But after getting a receipt, instead of just showing it to a CBP agent, the (only) guy on duty is quizzing everyone, just as though they didn't have GE. The line was brutal. Finally, a second CBP guy, who'd been clearing our flight crew, finished with them and started taking GE people and moving them through quickly.
But what's up with the first guy? Isn't the point of GE that you're not supposed to have to be questioned? And no, it wasn't just one group, it was several.
This bears similarities to my experience in MIA five years ago.
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Old Jun 9, 2022, 11:18 am
  #238  
 
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When I tried it in DEN last November I had to use the kiosk manually (it wasn’t 2.0 and it didn’t appear that others were 2.0 either) and there was a CBP gent talking to a passenger and I think he was looking at an iPad. The kiosk spit out the receipt and as I made my way to the baggage claim area, the officer stopped me for a sec, glanced at the receipt and told me to go ahead. I doubt this is the standard or common procedure. I also couldn’t catch why the other passenger was talking to him for what seemed like a good while.
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Old Jun 9, 2022, 1:23 pm
  #239  
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Originally Posted by TWA884
This bears similarities to my experience in MIA five years ago.
Yep. That happened to us as well. Much confusion about which line was for which people. I guess it's just a Miami thing.
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Old Jun 15, 2022, 2:18 pm
  #240  
 
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Originally Posted by OTD
I hope I'm putting this in the right place.

Coming back to MIA from LHR a couple weeks ago. My wife and I have Global Entry. They had only three machines working, which was bad enough. But after getting a receipt, instead of just showing it to a CBP agent, the (only) guy on duty is quizzing everyone, just as though they didn't have GE. The line was brutal. Finally, a second CBP guy, who'd been clearing our flight crew, finished with them and started taking GE people and moving them through quickly.
But what's up with the first guy? Isn't the point of GE that you're not supposed to have to be questioned? And no, it wasn't just one group, it was several.
I've had several interminable waits going through the lines at MIA; indeed, it was one of my motivations for enrolling in a TTP to begin with. Last time, however, they had the new GE terminals. This was in January 2022.

I walked up to the terminal, had my photo taken, and had my passport ready to scan. But it identified me based on the photograph alone, and printed a receipt right away. The officer at the far left lane saw I had a receipt in my hand and waved me through without so much as looking at it. I also did not get a chance to declare that I had food items (nothing that's not permitted, mainly just candy from Norway) either on the kiosk or verbally.

I think that was my fastest entry into the US ever. I collected my bags, walked out to my friend who was picking me up, and while I was waiting for him to battle his way up to where I was waiting outside, I was left with a feeling of "what just happened"?

I mean, I'm happy that the process was fast and trouble-free for a change, but the change in procedure from last time was so drastic that it left me a little dumbfounded.
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Last edited by txviking; Jun 15, 2022 at 2:19 pm Reason: Adding month of entry.
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