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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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Old Nov 15, 2013, 1:12 pm
  #1  
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How does Global Entry work for You?

Arriving at Dulles earlier this week we were the first GE passengers at the kiosk and the immigration part was over in less than a minute. However, when we approached the customs exit and headed for the GE exit at the side a very tough acting agent ordered us (and another GE passenger) to drop our bags against the wall and "step away". He was quite gruff. Then he directed his cute beagle to sniff at our luggage and hand carried items. There was a very long line for non-GE customs exit so all these passengers were staring at us and the dog. Well, the dog got very excited at our daypack so the agent told us to take everything into the closed off area where they do a deep search. After he did a manual search of the daypack and found nothing of interest he explained that this was an agricultural inspection and the beagle was a dog in training. We responded that we had carried an apple in the daypack while traveling and that might be what the beagle had noticed. This made the agent very happy and the beagle got a gold star.

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.
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Old May 15, 2014, 10:47 am
  #2  
 
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GE procedure at different airports

I could not find one by searching, but has anybody compiled a list/wiki describing the GE procedures at the different airports? The two points of entry I have used, IAD (several times very recently) and ATL (once, in 2011) had different procedures post kiosk. How can one find out what to expect at other locations, or are they all uniform now?
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Old May 15, 2014, 10:58 am
  #3  
 
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I don't believe one exists, so why don't you describe your IAD experience (as ATL may have changed since 2011) to kick it off and others can add their experiences at GE airports.
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Old May 15, 2014, 11:07 am
  #4  
 
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At IAD main terminal (no experience with midfield transfer terminal), for as long as I have had GE, you go to the right side after coming down the escalator from the moon rover, use the kiosk, and bypass the always empty desk on your way to wait 40 minutes for luggage. After collecting luggage, if the normally long and nebulous line allows for it, you head for the right side of the exit to wait in the (hopefully) much shorter GE exit lane between the stanchions. When called, usually quite quickly, I often have not even stopped before the CBP agent grabs my receipt from my outstretched hand and waves me by while welcoming me home.

ATL was my first GE experience, in 2011. I got my receipt, and stopped at the manned desk just past the kiosks. The agent waved me over and told me that I do not need to stop, and am free to walk by, as long as I hold up my receipt and passport open to the CBP sticker on the last page.

Last edited by Mad_Max_Esq; May 15, 2014 at 12:20 pm Reason: fixing acronyms.
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Old May 15, 2014, 11:52 am
  #5  
nrr
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Originally Posted by Mad_Max_Esq
At IAD main terminal (no experience with midfield transfer terminal), for as long as I have had GE, you go to the right side after coming down the escalator from the moon rover, use the kiosk, and bypass the always empty desk on your way to wait 40 minutes for luggage. After collecting luggage, if the normally long and nebulous line allows for it, you head for the right side of the exit to wait in the (hopefully) much shorter GE exit lane between the stanchions. When called, usually quite quickly, I often have not even stopped before the CPB agent grabs my receipt from my outstretched hand and waves me by while welcoming me home.

ATL was my first GE experience, in 2011. I got my receipt, and stopped at the manned desk just past the kiosks. The agent waved me over and told me that I do not need to stop, and am free to walk by, as long as I hold up my receipt and passport open to the CPB sticker on the last page.
They don't issue CBP stickers anymore.
I use JFK T8 (AA) when I return from an intl. trip. 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.
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Old May 16, 2014, 12:03 pm
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Originally Posted by nrr
They don't issue CBP stickers anymore.
I use JFK T8 (AA) when I return from an intl. trip. 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.
Yup they send you to the same queue as connecting pax - was a god send yesterday when I came on AA101, insane lines to get thru customs. Got some nasty looks as I went to the front of the queue :-)
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Old May 17, 2014, 9:22 pm
  #7  
 
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For Houston-Bush: There is a single, roped off seperate area on southern (terminal E) end of the arrivals hall with 15 kiosks and an officer at a stand-up style exit desk that checks receipts as one is leaving. If you only have carry-on only you get to bypass the customs exit by turning left past the agent and going downstairs to exit with no more checks (just like the one-stop lane). If you have bags you turn right, go downstairs, and after baggage claim the dedicated GE exit queue is to the far right side of the customs exit. Both areas are marked with signage stating Global Entry.
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Old Dec 4, 2014, 9:39 am
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GE procedures at different airports

Just a quick question. A few weeks ago I landed at FLL after departing ELH in the Bahamas. My partner and j both have nexus so we made a beeline right to the the GE kiosks and then left to collect our baggage. As we were doing to final check leaving the baggage hall the CBP agent took our slips and made a comment that they hadn't been stamped, we apologized and he dismissed it saying FLL had slightly different procedures than other units. After answering simple questions about our destination we were sent on our way with a reminder not to do it again.

Being a nexus member this was our first time using GE outside of YYZ and for the life of us we had no idea what he was talking about. In the customs hall we saw nothing that would lead us to believe we needed to get the slip stamped nor anywhere where we could have done it short of going to one if the regular lines. We were also surprised that we were able to leave to collect our baggage without anyone noticing we did something improperly.

Is this typical of other airports with GE? My only other (recent) experience with clearing customs in the US was at EWR however this was before I got nexus and as far as I can remember the customs hall was very similar to how YYZs preclearance was set up.
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Old Dec 4, 2014, 1:10 pm
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Originally Posted by iMedic
Just a quick question. A few weeks ago I landed at FLL after departing ELH in the Bahamas. My partner and j both have nexus so we made a beeline right to the the GE kiosks and then left to collect our baggage. As we were doing to final check leaving the baggage hall the CBP agent took our slips and made a comment that they hadn't been stamped, we apologized and he dismissed it saying FLL had slightly different procedures than other units. After answering simple questions about our destination we were sent on our way with a reminder not to do it again.

Being a nexus member this was our first time using GE outside of YYZ and for the life of us we had no idea what he was talking about. In the customs hall we saw nothing that would lead us to believe we needed to get the slip stamped nor anywhere where we could have done it short of going to one if the regular lines. We were also surprised that we were able to leave to collect our baggage without anyone noticing we did something improperly.

Is this typical of other airports with GE? My only other (recent) experience with clearing customs in the US was at EWR however this was before I got nexus and as far as I can remember the customs hall was very similar to how YYZs preclearance was set up.
Did you make a declaration or get pulled for secondary? If not, there is no reason to get the slip stamped.

The whole point of using GE is so you don't have to talk to a CBP agent. You answer the questions, get your slip and head to baggage claim and the exit.
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Old Dec 4, 2014, 1:40 pm
  #10  
 
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Originally Posted by dustman81
Did you make a declaration or get pulled for secondary? If not, there is no reason to get the slip stamped.

The whole point of using GE is so you don't have to talk to a CBP agent. You answer the questions, get your slip and head to baggage claim and the exit.
Yes that was my understanding of the process however at FLL the agent seemed to believe that I needed a stamp. So was this a case of an agent not knowing the program or rather a local CBP detachment implementing their own policies and procedures.
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Old Dec 4, 2014, 1:56 pm
  #11  
 
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I made a post a while ago about this, with almost the exact same thread title.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trust...-airports.html

Maybe when it fills out a little more it can be stickied.
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Old Jan 2, 2015, 1:42 pm
  #12  
 
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Or the agent was bored... (like the agent who decided I needed a "secondary screening" when coming in on a Saturday night). The agents doing the secondary screening said I was the 15th person to be sent through (and the norm is 4-6) - my comment was that the agent outside must be ticked off at something or someone, the inside agents just chuckled... After a couple of minutes BS'ing about my trip, I opened my suitcase, the agent looked inside and sent me on my way.

J
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Old Jan 2, 2015, 2:55 pm
  #13  
 
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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)

Florida is a third world where no one knows the proper procedures. Even at Mia I get inconsistent behavior often
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Old Jan 8, 2015, 10:54 pm
  #14  
 
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ORD doesn't have a dedicated GE customs line, but it also doesn't have long customs lines. I also get ORD agents demanding to see my passport at the customs gate, despite the photos on the passports now.

Originally Posted by 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)

Florida is a third world where no one knows the proper procedures. Even at Mia I get inconsistent behavior often
MIA has that absolutely ridiculous loop you have to walk in to get to GE. Its WAY worth it there, however, where customs lines are insane.
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Old Jan 9, 2015, 4:58 pm
  #15  
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Procedure at YVR is that you must have filled out the blue customs form when handing the officer the GE slip from the kiosk. Have not questioned them on it, think it better if I don't.
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