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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 Jan 24, 2023, 11:22 am
  #316  
 
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Originally Posted by Need
The GE kiosks at LAX TBIT are amazing. The 3 of us just got to kiosks, scanned face and we were good to go. Didn't even to have to scan passport. No custom form to fill, no paper receipt, no nothing. The officer at the end just call out our first names and wave us thru.
Same at JFK T4. Though officer didn't ask name. There should be some indication on the screen that you have been processed. I was about to try again!
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Old Jan 24, 2023, 12:03 pm
  #317  
 
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Originally Posted by Acid
Same at JFK T4. Though officer didn't ask name. There should be some indication on the screen that you have been processed. I was about to try again!
I don't remember if there was anything even on the screen after the camera. I think there was some instruction telling you to look at the camera or something at the beginning. Then after that, nothing. I had my passport out and prepared to fill in those Yes/No answer to custom questions. The 3 of us just standing in front of kiosks not sure what went wrong. Then the officer at the end just start calling our first names and told us we are good to go. It's pretty incredible that the face recognition recognized my son. His GE picture was taken like 6 years ago when he was 10 years old. His passport (linked to GE) picture was taken 4.5 years ago when he was 12. I guess GE probably has the passengers list who arrive around that time to narrow down the field? Or maybe there is not that many kids who have GE?
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Old Jan 29, 2023, 4:27 pm
  #318  
 
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They take a picture when you get GE don't they? The one on my GE card itself is a lot newer than the one on my passport.
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Old Feb 8, 2023, 9:16 pm
  #319  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
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Just came back to EWR B and had this new GE kiosk experience. No more hidden FOOD declaration gotcha moments. Was wondering, where do I declare if anything? Officer yells your name and you GO! No papers, nada.
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Old Feb 9, 2023, 12:43 am
  #320  
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Originally Posted by sillypainter
Just came back to EWR B and had this new GE kiosk experience. No more hidden FOOD declaration gotcha moments. Was wondering, where do I declare if anything? Officer yells your name and you GO! No papers, nada.
The only possible person is the chap with the ipad.
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Old Feb 14, 2023, 8:38 am
  #321  
 
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Any reports for GE at Denver? Length, process?
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Old Mar 3, 2023, 12:40 am
  #322  
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I went through YYZ today. The two lines of the old kiosks have been replaced by 7 new style kiosks on the right hand side of the entry corridor. There are signs that tell you not to touch the kiosk. You walk up to it and look. For me, the screen changed to a picture of me for about 1/4 second and then a green light came on and the screen said something line, "Proceed to officer." From the time I stopped in front of a machine until the time it told me to proceed was about 5 seconds. Some people at a neighbouring machine were confused because it happened so fast. Thankfully, while there was a small line of non-GE/NEXUS passengers near the area I was directed to, the GE/NEXUS line seems to have pririty, as it did before. I proceeded to an officer who had me look at a camera he had mounted on his booth. A few seconds later he mumbled for me to go. That was it.
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Old Mar 3, 2023, 7:51 am
  #323  
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Originally Posted by Xyzzy
I went through YYZ today. The two lines of the old kiosks have been replaced by 7 new style kiosks on the right hand side of the entry corridor. There are signs that tell you not to touch the kiosk. You walk up to it and look. For me, the screen changed to a picture of me for about 1/4 second and then a green light came on and the screen said something line, "Proceed to officer." From the time I stopped in front of a machine until the time it told me to proceed was about 5 seconds. Some people at a neighbouring machine were confused because it happened so fast. Thankfully, while there was a small line of non-GE/NEXUS passengers near the area I was directed to, the GE/NEXUS line seems to have pririty, as it did before. I proceeded to an officer who had me look at a camera he had mounted on his booth. A few seconds later he mumbled for me to go. That was it.
Which terminal? I recently went through T1. None of the machine except 1 worked. Agents were manually having to process anyone that didn't try the 1 working machine. (They would take picture then lock up)
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Old Mar 3, 2023, 8:37 am
  #324  
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Originally Posted by flyerCO
Which terminal? I recently went through T1. None of the machine except 1 worked. Agents were manually having to process anyone that didn't try the 1 working machine. (They would take picture then lock up)
Sorry -- I should have said -- this was at T1. When I went through a couple of weeks ago the old machines were still there and most of them were ut of order.
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Old Mar 23, 2023, 9:27 am
  #325  
 
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Originally Posted by Zorak
First time for me through the relatively new IAF at SEA. As you come down the escalators from the skywalk into the actual arrivals area, the GE kiosks are wedged into the far back corner, but that's also where the escalators down to the baggage carousels are. But since it was completely deserted and I was the first one there off my flight (not even close to first off the plane, but fastest walker ) it made me wonder if they were even in service. Also one row of kiosks had heavy glare from the sunlight streaming in through the windows but still worked fine, the only wrinkle being that the kiosk I walked up to had a camera that had half fallen out of its mount, so the "line your face up" picture was at a near 45 degree angle and I had to contort my body to match. There was a dial that could have been used to adjust the camera angle up/down, if it had still been mounted correctly...

No receipt (there are stickers to that effect at the slot at the bottom where you might expect a receipt to come out), then, having no checked bags, had to hike clear to the opposite corner to find the GE exit lane multiple agents seemed to be handling GE exits; I was beckoned to one of them, who asked me a few routine questions about where I'd been and how long, anything to declare, then welcomed me back to the US.
This echoes my experience yesterday. There is a bank of GE kiosks before the escalators coming down to the baggage hall, but they still did not appear to be in service two months later. SEA is a bit different most other FIS facilities since you collect your checked baggage before proceeding via passport control. The GE kiosks you use are against the wall to your left coming down the escalator. Fortunately there were no odd camera angles from the kiosks there. A USCBP officer was at a booth right after the kiosks. Like your experience, these ones have no receipt.

One thing to note is that if you have a connecting flight and proceed straight to the recheck desks and transit security is that there is no Precheck at this checkpoint. I asked if there was Precheck light or equivalent to the TSOs if one can show a boarding pass with the TSA PRECHECK designation, and they said there wasn't at this checkpoint. It's a bit disappointing considering the facility is new and expansive. I understand the limitations of the old transit security at the S gates, but I would have thought they'd have rectified this with the new FIS. If you value Precheck, I'd exit landside after transit security and go to the Precheck checkpoint.
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Old Mar 23, 2023, 10:53 pm
  #326  
 
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Went through GE at DEN today. It just had me position my face and tap a button to take a picture and in less than 10 seconds in let out a receipt. There were no officers with iPads or anything and went straight to baggage claim. After that, just gave my GE receipt to an officer and walked out. Didn't talk to anyone.
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Old Mar 23, 2023, 11:08 pm
  #327  
 
Join Date: Dec 2022
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The GE machine at ORD wasn't working when arriving passengers tried the machines. The machines didn't have any written sings of the machines not working. The GE line passengers told the officer the machine wasn't working and was let go. The passengers before me were group of like 4 people and maybe on greencard, they told the same thing to the officer but they were asked to be waited and I heard something like the officer saying your green card expired or something. I walked up with my US passport in hand but officer just gave me a card saying mobile EXIT or something and let me pass without any question. collected my bag and there was another officer waiting right after the baggage pick up and final exit. handed over the EXIT pass. I have GE for the past 6 years recently renewed but my first time trying to use GE machine at POE.
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Old Mar 24, 2023, 9:20 pm
  #328  
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Originally Posted by Majuki (Post # 325)
SEA is a bit different most other FIS facilities since you collect your checked baggage before proceeding via passport control.
FIS = Federal Inspection Services
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Old Apr 5, 2023, 2:23 pm
  #329  
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Arrived back at SEA with a non-GE companion. Did my kiosk thing and then had to get in line to see an agent (all GE folks did). The line was short but taking forever. There was a group of five people at the agent booth. The line monitor said they were allowing families to use GE even if only one member had GE and that's what was taking so long. The group at the booth at the time were a family of five - teenage children, mom, dad - and only dad had GE.

Eventually I got to the agent, and other than a slightly shorter wait in line, it was like I'd never gotten GE - the usual nonsense gotcha questions and finally I was free to go.

No 'welcome home'. If I have to go through the '20 questions' nonsense I signed up to GE to avoid, I should at least get a 'welcome back'.
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Old Apr 5, 2023, 9:25 pm
  #330  
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Originally Posted by chollie (Post # 329)
I got to the agent, and other than a slightly shorter wait in line, it was like I'd never gotten GE - the usual nonsense gotcha questions and finally I was free to go.
What questions are these?
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